Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/1454968. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Rape/Non-Con, Underage Category: M/M Fandom: 名探偵コナン_|_Detective_Conan_|_Case_Closed Relationship: Kudou_Shinichi/Kuroba_Kaito_|_Edogawa_Conan/Kaitou_Kid Character: Kudou_Shinichi_|_Edogawa_Conan, Kuroba_Kaito_|_Kaitou_Kid, Hattori_Heiji, Hakuba_Saguru Additional Tags: Shota, Blackmail, oh_boy_i'm_going_straight_to_hell_for_this_if_i_wasn't already, Gang_Rape, Rape_Recovery Stats: Published: 2014-04-13 Updated: 2014-04-21 Chapters: 4/? Words: 27826 ****** Chronophobia ****** by orphan_account Summary Tantei-kun left the Mouri residence late at night for Kaitou KID's heist, but he never made it there. Kaito investigates and isn't at all pleased with what he finds. ***** Kaito: Side A ***** Chapter Notes Kaito worries. Implied rape/noncon. Nothing explicit just yet. “Took you long enough, Nakamori-keibu! What’s wrong? Did I go overboard this time?” “Shut up, you damn thief! Tonight’s the night I’ll finally arrest you!” KID laughed, his shoulders shaking with mirth as he gripped the Comet’s Spark in his right hand. The inspector standing across from him flared his nostrils, but the effect was completely lost with his bright yellow hair. “You never fail to amuse me, keibu. Now tell me, is Tantei-san here today? I haven’t seen him around lately.” “Right here, KID,” a smooth voice said from behind, and KID turned his head to see the familiar blond hair blowing in the early morning breeze (and probably from the downdraft of the helicopter that was hovering above them, recording the heist).  Though even he couldn’t escape KID’s traps, as the phantom thief caught the ever present sparkle of glitter clinging stubbornly to the British detective’s jacket. “I must say, KID, I wasn’t really expecting you to actually listen to the complaints of parents and schedule your heists so late.” “Technically, it’s two in the morning, Tantei-san. Morning,” KID smirked. Ah, Hakuba Saguru. What fun it was to mess with him. Now if only his other two favorite detectives would arrive soon… he’d heard Hattori Heiji was in Tokyo for the weekend. He usually came to KID heists whenever he was around. Hakuba frowned and pulled out his ever trustworthy watch. “No, not two in the morning. It’s been exactly thirty five minutes, fifty three seconds, and forty one milliseconds since then.” “Not anymore,” KID shrugged. “Always so punctual. Where’s your Osakan friend?” That caused a sour expression to form on his rival’s face. “He’s not my friend. And obviously, wouldn’t he be in Osaka?” “Not right now!” A loud voice rang through the night, and the three turned to see a dark skinned figure burst through the door to the roof just behind Nakamori. “Got called for a case a few days ago… lucky me to be in town during a Kaitou KID heist, huh?” “Please go home,” Hakuba muttered, out of the Osakan’s hearing range. That makes two detectives, KID smiled, feeling giddy inside. Now to wait for just one more. He’d sent his doves to go spying on his favorite detectives, and the one keeping watch on Tantei-kun had come back ten minutes ago to inform him that the tiny sleuth had finally left the house. So he was going to be a little late, but that was fine. KID could stall. “Go home!” Nakamori was shouting at the two teenagers, struggling to be heard over the loud blaring of the helicopter. “You two have no business here!” “On the contrary, Nakamori-keibu,” Hakuba smirked. “KID is entirely my business.” “You can’t make me leave!” Hattori agreed. “Kazuha’s going to be so mad at me when I get back to the hotel…” KID blinked. “You aren’t staying with Tantei-kun?” “Ku—Conan-kun’s grounded,” the dark skinned detective grumbled, “for bein’ out so late. No friends allowed.” “Shame,” KID said, but knew that the faux-child was on his way anyway. He should be here very soon with that know-it-all smirk of his. KID could only bounce in anticipation. Time to get the show rolling. With a snap of his fingers, a cloud of pink smoke smelling vaguely like strawberries popped into existence, engulfing the entire roof and preventing any cameras from the helicopters above any coverage. “Damn it, KID!” Nakamori’s voice shouted, and KID saw his figure reach towards him in the smoke. Too slow, keibu, and he easily sidestepped the grab. With the agility only he could have from countless times dancing around and evading the police, he maneuvered around the man and the Osakan detective and slipped back in the building. He’d already checked the yellow jewel for Pandora’s qualities, and it was predictably a bust. Usually he’d wait for Tantei-kun to arrive before returning it, but since the mini-detective was running late he’d just have to suffer the consequences of not leaving the house sooner. “He went back in the building!” Hakuba’s voice echoed from above, and KID felt his razor sharp poker face grin slide into place. Already he could hear the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs he had just finished descending, and so he turned into a hallway to find a mob of KID task force officers blinking owlishly at him. “Whoops.” He jumped over the bodies that had launched themselves at him, laughing giddily as he stepped on their heads and caused them to crash into each other. As he sailed above them, he released pounds upon pounds of glitter below, making them all sparkle like the stars he knew them to be. Then he pressed a button in his pocket, and spray paint shot out of the walls to paint them the colors of the rainbow. Just for fun. It seemed as if he had spent too much time, however, as Hakuba’s face suddenly came into view around the corner. He glanced wide-eyed at the task force members sprawled out on the ground in astonishing colors before looking up at KID with a glare. KID waved and continued his way back to the seventh floor, where the Comet’s Spark was being showcased. Tantei-kun should be here in about one minute, he thought excitedly to himself. Maybe he’ll get here just in time to intercept me! But he didn’t. KID had made it back to the showcase room with relative ease, stopping only to put the guards who had stayed behind to sleep with his favorite pink smoke. The Comet’s Spark was placed carefully back in its case, and he let out a disappointed sigh. Maybe on my way back to the roof, then. Really, if Tantei-kun hadn’t been so late, he would have just left the jewel with one of the detectives and already be on his merry way. The only reason he had stuck around was to see his favorite mini-detective. Heists were the only time they ever got to see each other anymore, and Tantei-kun was late! How rude, he huffed. But it wasn’t as if sticking around was putting him in any danger, even if Tantei-han was around. Tantei-han was too brash, too reckless, and while KID was sure he was a fine detective in his own merit, those qualities would not do for a Kaitou KID heist. Add Tantei-san, and that was a recipe for disaster. Or humor. KID found it humorous, anyway. Even if the other two didn’t. “KID!” Hakuba stumbled into the doorframe, hands on his knees. “Stop right there!” He pulled out his trusty handcuffs from a breast pocket on his jacket. “You’re under arrest!” “You may as well just not talk,” KID sighed. “We both know how this heist is going to end, anyway.” “This heist’s ending is going to be different this time,” the blond smirked. “It’ll be the time I—“ “KID!” KID burst into laughter as Hattori Heiji flew from the side and ran over Hakuba with the force of a steam roller, sending them both spiraling to the ground. Nakamori-keibu arrived just a moment later, breathing heavily, and collapsed on the two teens. “You should really get some exercise,” KID quipped. “It might help you catch up with me. Maybe.” “Shut up, you damn thief…” Nakamori wrestled Hakuba’s handcuffs from his fingers and waved them nonthreateningly at the teen clad in white. “… And put these on.” “Not today, sorry,” KID shrugged and easily walked over their tangled bodies, his good mood dwindling down. He’d stalled long enough. Where was Tantei-kun? Without another word, he turned on his heel and made his way back to the roof, ignoring the muffled curses and swears coming from behind. The doors to the roof burst open with a slam, and not a moment later he was sailing out into the sky with a grim expression on his face, ignoring the hundreds of gathered fans screaming below and the confused muttering from the helicopter crew above. --- He’s not home. Kaito had shed his KID outfit, stuffing it in a bag he had brought along and kept in Jii’s car. He was now fitted in a snug black attire from head to toe. Kaitou KID was only seen when he wanted to be seen, after all. The first place he had checked was obviously the Mouri residence. He found Mouri Kogoro and Mouri Ran sleeping soundly (well, in the latter’s case. The former… not so much) in their bedrooms, and the futon that occupied the space next to the older Mouri’s bed was empty with the sheets unmade.  So his Tantei- kun dove returning to him wasn’t a fluke after all. The small not-child really had left the house. Just in case, he had checked the Kudou residence as well. Nothing was different other than the Okiya man living there, and Kaito had to be extra careful to make sure he wasn’t seen. That man was uncannily sharp, and Kaito wondered where he even came from. But he wasn’t the problem – Kaito shoved him out of his thoughts. The next place he checked was the large house next door. He found the old scientist snoring away in front of a computer, and the creepy little girl sleeping in a lab downstairs. If she was anything like Tantei-kun, then her being surrounded by hazardous looking chemicals wasn’t dangerous at all. He was almost caught when one of his feet fell a little too loudly and she looked up instantly, casting a wild glance around the room. It had taken nearly half an hour for her to go back to sleep, and Kaito had almost found himself falling asleep as well. He left the house even more worried than before. It was four in the morning. Thirty minutes to get from the heist location to the house, twenty minutes to look through the Mouri and Kudou residences, and half an hour waiting for that creepy little girl to go back to sleep. Tantei-kun had left the Mouri residence, but didn’t make it to the heist, and wasn’t at any of the two other places he could have been hiding. … So where was he? He later found himself back at the Mouri residence, though he had no recollection of ever making the return trip. Kaito watched from the roof as the blond man with tanned skin he met on that mystery train walked inside Poirot, though not without looking up in his direction first. The teenager tensed even though he knew there was no way the man could see him from his vantage point, and only relaxed when he was gone. Kaito waited for a while. He didn’t know how long, maybe twenty, thirty minutes, when he heard soft footsteps. He peeked out from over the roof when he saw Tantei-kun (sweet, sweet Tantei-kun – but he seemed to be missing his shirt, and he looked very, very tired) turn to head up the stairs to the Mouri residence. He was about to call out, when— “Conan-kun?” It was the blond man from earlier. “What are you doing out so early? It’s four in the morning on a Sunday. Don’t you have school in a few hours?” Kaito leaned closer to hear Tantei-kun speak. “Just… just taking an early morning walk… Amuro-no-niichan.” His voice sounded hoarse. What on Earth had he been doing? “Where’s your shirt? It’s freezing out here. What’s that you’re holding?” Kaito nearly fell off the roof leaning ever so closer to see that, indeed, Tantei-kun was clenching something tightly in his tiny hands. His body seemed to be shaking, though it may have been due to the cold. “What are you doing out so early, Amuro-no-niichan? Poirot closed hours ago.” Kaito clicked his tongue at this – he knew a diversion tactic when he heard one. It seemed Amuro knew this, too. “Ah… I was doing some last minute cleaning and checkups for later in the day. It’s not the first time I’ve done this. But you still haven’t answered my questions.” “I’m okay. I’m okay.” Tantei-kun was finally dragging himself up the stairs, and Kaito moved back to his original position. Where had he been? He most certainly was not okay – there was absolutely no reason to be walking around outside in the freezing cold without a shirt, no matter how urgent his business was. Kaito was going to get to the bottom of this. He moved swiftly into the Mouri residence through the window of the daughter’s room without making a sound. The phantom thief watched as Tantei-kun’s small body made its way to the kitchen and returned naked with a plastic bag, stuffing something inside with such force that Kaito wondered if he was going to tear the bottom of the bag open before even attempting to close it. But he did, and he stuffed that bag underneath the older Mouri’s bed. Tantei-kun, instead of heading to bed like Kaito thought he would, went straight to the bathroom after getting rid of the bag, and a minute later the teenager heard the shower start up. Curiosity peaked, he reached under Mouri’s bed to grab at the bag his favorite detective had tried to hide. He could barely see its contents even through the clear plastic, so he moved to the kitchen and brought out his flashlight, dumping the contents of the bag over the counter. Whatever it was smelled awful, fell in separate pieces, and from the light Kaito could see that it was pieces of fabric. Gloves on, he sifted through each piece – they had crisp, clean edges. Not ripped. They were cut with scissors, maybe, or a knife. As he sifted through the pieces, Kaito felt an odd moisture seep through the thin layer of his gloves. What the…? He moved his flashlight so that it was shining directly above the fabric pieces – he realized with a hiss that the pieces were the remains of Conan’s dress shirt and jacket combo he loved so much. That explains the missing shirt, then. The pants that Tantei-kun was wearing earlier were also stuffed inside, and Kaito noticed that they seemed to be a bit… damp. Bringing it up to his nose, he gave it an experimental sniff – that’s where the foul smell was coming from. Tantei-kun definitely wasn’t one to soil his pants, and it didn’t smell like it either. It was something different, and Kaito had a bad feeling about it. Quickly sweeping everything into one hand (and ignoring the thick liquid dripping from the pants smearing over the counter), he grabbed the bag with the other and waited for Tantei-kun to finish his shower of shame. Almost an hour later, the shower finally stopped. The door opened slowly, revealing Tantei-kun in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, his form seeming smaller than ever. That didn’t stop Kaito’s rage, however, as his lips were curled down in a frown that was very unfitting for Kaitou KID. He thrust his hands forward, almost shoving the offending bag and its prior contents in Conan’s face. “What the hell is this?” ***** Conan: Side B ***** Chapter Notes What happened during the heist. Explicit rape/noncon. Please proceed with caution. Five minutes outside of the Mouri residence and he could already hear the sounds of screaming and excited fans over in the distance. “Leave it to KID to schedule a heist at two in the morning,” Conan groaned to himself, tugging his jacket a little tighter. He couldn’t say he didn’t understand why, however. Curious parents tended to bring their little children to the heists and tend to lose track of them, focused only on the elaborate lights and tricks the elusive magician pulled off… said children would inevitably wander off and get lost, and while they were always found shortly after, it was becoming enough of a problem that KID finally seemed to have gotten the hint and started scheduling future heists after the kids were all put in bed. It didn’t mean that Conan didn’t mind it either, though. Ran didn’t approve the idea of letting her surrogate little brother out so early, even if a large audience was already guaranteed with KID heists. So he ended up having to wait for her to go to bed, and thanked whoever was up there that she didn’t know what time the heist was scheduled for as her father had ‘lost’ his notice before he could solve it (read: Conan took it and it was never returned) and assumed that after midnight, everything should have been over and done with. She finally went to bed, and Conan took that chance to sneak out. He and the thief had gotten into a rather mutual relationship – sure, they were still on opposite sides of the law and Conan really should be focusing more on arresting KID than having late night conversations with him – but KID wasn’t really at all a bad person. Despite his uncountable cases of breaking and entering, he did always return what he stole… and he’d helped the police force catch criminals more dangerous than him in the past. No, he really wasn’t a bad guy at all. But then again, he hadn’t scheduled a heist at two in the morning before, when temperatures were dipping low and almost freezing. Conan felt another shiver run through his body and he moved to get a tighter grip on his jacket. Friendly thief or not, he was definitely getting an earful or, more preferably, a soccer ball to the face when he got there. If he even got there before the heist ended. He was already running half an hour late.  He walked past a dark alley – the museum the heist was taking place at wasn’t too far from here, if he kept moving along at this pace he could get there and make it to the roof just in time for everything to start – when he heard the sound of cloth ruffling within. His ears twitched and he looked inside, but was met with nothing but a resounding darkness. “… Must be my imagination,” he laughed quietly to himself. Being on the run from the Organization for so long tended to put him on the paranoid side… but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, if he had to say so himself. He was about to walk past when he heard the noise again – this time accompanied by a desperate sounding female voice. Curiosity now peaked, he ducked into the alley and hid behind the nearest trash can, trying to see what was happening. “S-stop!” It was definitely a woman’s voice, and he saw a rather feminine figure being shoved rather roughly against a wall by a large man. Another man, one with a beard he could just barely make out in the darkness, was going through what seemed like a duffle bag on the ground – Conan narrowed his eyes and switched on the night vision in his glasses to get a better look. “Shh, no one’s here, it’s okay,” the man pinning the girl – now that he could see her more clearly, she definitely seemed around Ran’s age – cooed, his hands roaming over her body in a way Conan could only assume to be indecent. He pawed at her chest and seemed to relish in the squeaks the girl made with each touch. The other man finally stood away from the bag he was roaming through, holding a roll of duct tape in his hands. Deciding he’d had enough of this scene, Conan moved away from the trash can and a hand flew to his belt. Before any of the other three could even notice he was there, a soccer ball flew at the man holding the tape and smashed into his face, sending him sprawling backwards with a startled cry. “What the hell?” The man pinning the girl to the wall looked around wildly for whoever had attacked his partner, but before he could make his own move, he felt a prick at his neck and fell like a sack of potatoes. The guy who had been hit with the soccer ball was already groaning and moving to get up – they had no time to spare. “Come on, neechan! Let’s go!” Conan grabbed the startled girl’s hand and together they ran out of the alley and back onto the main streets. If they could make it to the heist where hundreds of other people were already gathered, could blend into the crowd and they’d be safe— His pounding heart nearly came to an immediate stop in his chest when he heard the sound of a gunshot from behind. The girl he had been half dragging along fell immediately with a cry, and before he could see if she had been hit anywhere vital, the man who was still awake was already upon them. What the hell—Conan thought, mind racing with ideas of how he could get both himself and the girl out of their situation. Before he could settle on one, the man lifted his leg and slammed it down on Conan’s head, sending him straight down into the concrete. His vision swam and the only thing he could see before he blacked out was the man grabbing the girl’s arms and dragging back towards the direction of the alley… --- When he came to, the only things he could think of was that his head hurt like hell, and that something smelled terrible. He would have groaned, but he felt a sort of sticky pressure over his mouth that he could only discern as tape – most likely from the roll the bearded man held earlier. When he tried opening his eyes, he found that the same thing was there, preventing him from doing so. He was blinded. Trying to will the growing panic away, he quickly realized his position and tried to discern where he was. His arms were behind his back, and he couldn’t use them – they were taped at the wrists. He could bend his knees, but his ankles were taped together as well, preventing him from running. He was laying on some hard, plastic surface – a garbage bin? That would certainly explain the rancid smell. His ears twitched as he heard the sound of skin smacking skin, like a slap or… something else, something horribly different, that he didn’t want to think about. A moment later he heard a thud – something, or someone, had fallen to the ground. “No use, she’s going cold,” one of the men – the one who had been talking to the girl earlier; the dart’s effects must have already run out – groaned. “I can’t get anything from her.” If that guy was awake now, how long had Conan been out? “Great,” a deeper voice spoke, obviously the one with the beard Conan had tried knocking out with the soccer ball. “She was the only one out in the streets – everyone else is probably at that stupid thief’s heist by now.” “If you didn’t kill her, this wouldn’t be a problem.” Kill her? The girl was dead? Conan felt something tug at his heart. If he’d managed to knock that other guy out, she wouldn’t have been shot at all, much less somewhere fatal… “How else was I supposed to stop her? This kid came out of nowhere and did something to us to get her out.” Conan felt himself be picked up by the back of his sweater and tossed roughly to the ground. He refused to make a sound; he didn’t want them to know he was awake just yet… not that he could say much with the tape gag, anyway. “Fucking brat,” the other man said, kicking Conan in the stomach. The child’s body rolled away from him. “I can’t fuck a corpse.” The other guy exhaled – now that Conan thought of it, he could definitely smell the smoke of a cigarette – and spoke up. “Well, we have this boy here. It’ll be too dangerous to grab someone new when the heist ends – too many people. You can either fuck the kid or go home with nothing.” Conan felt dread pool in his stomach – whatever they decided to do then, he couldn’t do anything about it. Unless he could get away when they undid his binds… but they were armed. How far could he really run? They’d already killed the girl – there was nothing stopping them from killing him as well. “If he was a girl, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I’m not into guys, pint sized or not,” the other man complained. “Though… doesn’t he look kinda familiar?” “Hm? Yeah, he kind of does. … Ah, Edogawa Conan! The KID Killer! This is him, right?” “I think so… I’ve seen him in the newspaper a couple of times. He’s also Mouri Kogoro’s son, right?” “Probably not, they look nothing alike. I think he lives with ‘em, though.” “Hm… well, that changes a few things. It’s not every day you get to fuck someone famous, after all. Kids have small enough bodies anyway.” Shit, was the only word Conan could think of. He had been worried for a moment that they recognized him as a younger Kudou Shinichi, but he couldn’t decide if this was better or worse. “Hey, kid,” the man he had put to sleep earlier picked him up and shook him, “I know you’re awake – you probably have been this whole time, from what I’ve heard of you. I know you’re a smart kid, but I don’t know exactly how much you know about the real world. Obviously enough to know what I’m about to do to you if you tried saving that bitch earlier.” He felt the man grab his chin and lift his head up and a moment later a knife was pressed before his neck; not deep enough to draw blood, but deep enough for the faux child to feel a discomforting pressure. “Make any noise, call out for help, do anything to try and run away, and you’ll end up as dead as that girl you tried so hard to save. Got it?” Knowing the man was expecting an answer, Conan hesitantly nodded his head, wary of the knife still pressed at his neck. Like hell he’d just lay there and let them do whatever they wanted – he’d get out of there and get them arrested for sure. He just needed to figure out how… “Glad to see you understand.” He could practically hear the sneer in the man’s voice. The knife finally moved away from his throat and he felt something tugging at the tape binding his ankles. A moment later, and his legs were free. Immediately he tried kicking the man leering over him, but he simply grabbed his ankles and held them almost painfully apart. “Ah, ah, ah,” he scolded. “You said you wouldn’t try anything.” The other man moved around them both so he could get at Conan’s shoes – one was pulled off, and the other followed immediately after. “He might try to grab at something with his toes; I’ll keep his socks on.” “Good idea. If he tries kicking me again, it’ll soften the blow.” His legs were still being held apart, and the other man moved from his feet to his belt. “Weird device you have here, kid – does this have something to do with what you did to us earlier?” Without waiting for a response, he unhooked the contraption and tossed it somewhere off to the side where it landed with a clang. Almost immediately he felt his pants being pulled down, exposing his plain boxers. While one of the men pulled the pants off completely, taking the suspenders that were attached with it, the other moved up to his sweater and unzipped it. “I don’t trust undoing your arms. I hope you didn’t like this sweater.” He felt the knife from earlier press at his back and cut through the fabric of his sweater and eventually his shirt. His bowtie hidden underneath fell to the ground. “People still wear bowties? That’s kinda cute,” one of the men laughed. “Cute kid.” “Dangerous kid,” the other muttered, plucking the bowtie up and tossing it off to join the belt. His sweater and shirt, torn and tattered, fell away, leaving him in nothing but his boxers and socks. Even his watch was removed and tossed. He shivered as his naked skin was exposed to the frigid temperature of the night – and against his will he could feel the cold begin to harden his nipples. “Ah, that’s cute. Maybe fucking a kid won’t be so bad after all,” one of the men snickered, pawing at his boxers. Conan would have kicked him away, but his ankles were still being held by the partner. The knife found its way to the thin fabric of his boxers and he found himself not even a minute later in nothing but his socks. “Hm, what to do with you first, I wonder…” The man with a grip on his ankles shifted his body so that his clothed erection rubbed painfully over Conan’s exposed form between his legs. The small body jerked unconsciously, trying to get away from the unwanted sensation – the man merely laughed and pressed himself closer. He felt fingers pull at the tape on his mouth, and the man pressing up against him spoke, “If I take this tape off, will you scream for help? If you don’t, we’ll make this as pleasurable as possible for you. If you do, well… I don’t know what we’ll do. There are so many options,” he purred, and it made Conan feel sick. The child shook his head, deciding that things would be better the less bound he was. “This’ll hurt,” and the tape was ripped off. Conan would have had to blink tears away from the pain if the tape still over his eyes didn’t prevent him from doing so. He instead gasped, inhaling the frigid air that made his body shiver with the cold. Unfortunately, the man took the shiver as to mean something else. “Hm? Does this feel good, brat?” He started rubbing between Conan’s legs again, and Conan had to suppress a groan. The other man, who apparently had been shifting through the same duffle bag from earlier the entire time, finally spoke up again. “We brought this to use on the girl, but I guess it won’t be different if we use it on the kid.” “I guess. So what are you going to use?” They both looked through the contents of the bag, and Conan lay there in fearful anticipation of what they were going to do. Even if he could run, getting up was going to be a problem in itself – his arms were still taped painfully behind his back, raising him up just a little off the ground. He heard the pop of a bottle cap, but none of the other men made a sound. Getting the feeling that they were waiting for him, Conan finally decided to speak up. “Wh… what are you going to do to me?” The little innocent child act would probably go better than his more mature voice, he figured. “Tch, you don’t sound all that smart. Maybe we thought of the wrong kid?” “Nah, he’s probably trying to trick us. Fool us into thinking he’s more innocent than we think he is, as if we’re idiots. Isn’t that right, boy?” One of the men grabbed at his member, and he couldn’t help but let out a squeak. Cold! And… what was that covering that guy’s hand? The hand in question started to slowly move up and down, and Conan had to seal his mouth shut to prevent himself from making a sound. It felt weird… what felt pleasurable and enjoyable to Kudou Shinichi the teenager only felt odd and strange to Edogawa Conan the child. But even as he was assaulted with the strange sensations, he could feel himself hardening to the man’s touches… whatever his mind thought, his body was enjoying it. Traitor. “Hm, that’s cute. Even if we did get the wrong kid, you can’t deny he’s cute. Even that girl you tried to fuck earlier was more ‘cute’ than ‘woman’.” “Tch,” the other guy barely responded, and Conan felt himself being moved so that he was lying on his stomach. “Alright, kid. If I feel teeth, there will be hell to pay.” Conan didn’t even get a chance to respond before he felt something hot and pulsing press against his lips. He shivered; he didn’t want to put that anywhere near his mouth! But if I’m going to live to see the morning… hesitantly, he slowly separated his lips – just for the man to roughly grab the back of his neck and shove himself inside. “Hey! Don’t choke him!” Apparently his pained noises brought pity from the other man, and he felt the hand at the back of his neck loosen just a little. It was too big; he almost felt as if just having the thing in his mouth would dislocate his jaw. And if it could barely fit in his mouth… he refused to think of how they were going to shove it elsewhere. Apparently he had been thinking for too long, as the grip on his hair tightened once more and the man started to growl. “Move.” That one word was enough for Conan to get the hint and he slowly started bobbing his head back and forth despite the painful ache in his jaw. For good measure, he trailed his tongue along the underside of the man’s dick. The more he pleasured the men and played their game, the easier and sooner he’d get out, he figured. “That’s good… Just like that, boy.” He moved back enough so that he was almost kissing the tip, and he took that chance to get his precious gasps of air. He only had a moment to savor, however, before he man’s hand insisted at his head and he found himself engulfing the enormous length again. The whole thing throbbed in his mouth, and Conan felt disgusted. He continued his motions, however, and eventually he started to taste something salty that he most definitely hadn’t been tasting earlier. “Sh-shit, I’m…!” Before the man could finish his sentence, he released and Conan nearly choked on the thick liquid that tried to go down his throat. “Drink all of it, kid. Don’t let a single drop fall,” the man smirked, still riding out his orgasm, and Conan gagged. He gulped down the disgusting fluid nonetheless, and when the man finally, finallypulled himself away, Conan collapsed on the ground, heaving and trying to throw up what he had just been forced to swallow. He barely had a moment to rest, however, when he felt himself being pulled up and – the man was kissing him? He briefly registered lips and teeth and – yes, that was most definitely a tongue forcing its way into his mouth. Conan was nearly about to bite down on it when he felt a gun press against the back of his head. He made a pitiful noise and dropped all resistance as the tongue invaded him and did as it pleased. Just when he thought the man was about to pull away, he felt something suspiciously like a pill go down his throat. The man finally let him go and Conan fell, coughing. “What the… what the hell did you give me…?” “Children shouldn’t talk like that,” the man scolded, but explained anyway. “Just think of it as something that’ll make the night a little more fun for you. You know, for being a good boy for listening to all my orders thus far.” Despite the cold atmosphere, something warm started to pool in Conan’s belly, spreading throughout his body. Shit, shit. That was… “Hahh…” the moan escaped his lips before he could realize and stop it. The man who had given him the pill laughed and turned him so that he was on his back once more, arms pressing painfully into the ground. “So you can just relax and let my partner do the rest, alright? I’m pretty tuckered out for now.” Before Conan could ask what he meant, the two men switched. Now the man who hadn’t been knocked out with the soccer ball was in charge, and he was already pushing a slick digit in between Conan’s legs. “W-wait! No, stop!” His hole gave way despite his outburst, and the finger moved deeper and deeper, invading his insides in a way that was completely unfamiliar to the child’s body. A second digit pressed in, and eventually a third, and at that point Conan felt that he was going to burst. “S-stop… it hurts…” He tried kicking his feet, but the higher he raised his legs, the deeper the man’s fingers went. “Don’t worry,” the man leaned in close and let his teeth graze over a small nipple. Involuntarily, Conan’s hips bucked up at the contact. “This’ll feel good in a moment.” Defiantly, he pressed his lips shut tight. If he didn’t make any further sounds, they wouldn’t get to hear what effect their administrations was having on his traitorous body. He didn’t want this, damn it! No matter what his body said or how it reacted, he didn’t want any of it! The three fingers were too much, however, and unconsciously he spread his legs wider to give them more space to roam. The man smirked at the display – legs spread wide, three large fingers inside of him exploring all over his inner walls, hands tied behind him, blindfolded with tape, face flushed red and lips pressing together as an act of defiance… the kid looked more arousing than any kid had the right to be. “Ah?!” A surprised yelp escaped Conan’s lips as the man’s fingers brushed against that one spot – he wasn’t expecting that in the slightest. Why did it feel so good…? Without a sound, the man removed his fingers and reveled in the whimper the child gave. He probably didn’t even realize he did it. That aphrodisiac worked wonders. He grabbed the child’s hips and brought him closer so that his stretched hole was positioned just above his already-lubed dick. A moment later, and – it was pressing in. Conan shook his head frantically at the intrusion – it was too big! It wasn’t going to fit…! But the man kept going despite his unvoiced protests and forced his way inside, stretching Conan far wider than his fingers had been. Unable to keep it in, Conan opened his mouth to scream – only for him to be denied as the man’s large hand covered his mouth. The man was only halfway inside, and Conan felt like he was going to die. Children’s bodies really weren’t made for sex, and this man was going to kill him by forcing his way in – He felt the man fold his knees and lift him up so that he could fit more of himself inside, and finally, after an agonizing five minutes, the man was completely in from tip to base. “Heh… I don’t think even that virgin girl would be this tight,” the man breathed against Conan’s ear, making the child shudder. “I’m glad you came around, boy.” I’m not… But he couldn’t voice his thoughts as the man still had his hand over his mouth, and after a moment of what he assumed the man was giving him to get used to the size of his girth… he started moving. In and out, in and out… the motion was going to make Conan sick. Especially with the giant dick inside of him – he couldn’t handle this… if it weren’t for the sticky tape covering his eyes, he would be sobbing. But the man’s hand was still over his mouth, so at the very least he didn’t have to focus on keeping his lips sealed tight. The man’s labored breathing was getting to him, and the penis inside of him didn’t feel pleasurable at all despite the aphrodisiac, it only felt – “Mmph?!” There it was again! That spot the man had brushed over earlier with his fingers! It seemed the man had noticed his muffled cry and aligned himself so that on every single thrust he would either brush against or pound directly into that one spot. Conan shook his head frantically – no, no, he didn’t want it to feel good…! Despite his mental protests, he felt something akin to electricity shoot throughout his body, leaving pleasurable trails behind. That man thrusting into that spot felt so good… and Conan felt ashamed with himself for even feeling a single thing out of it. The girl was dead, the girl was dead, the girl was dead— But he couldn’t help himself. The man let go, and Conan found himself on his back once more. Large hands found their way to his hips and were gripping so hard that the child just knew it was going to bruise in the morning. But the thrusting wouldn’t stop, and with the new position he was only pounding into that one spot more and more efficiently… He didn’t even recognize the near silent clicks off to the side. Conan only realized that the man had moved his hand away from his mouth when he heard the sounds of his own labored gasps echoing throughout the alley. His heart was pounding, his body was on fire, he couldn’t help it – it felt too… good… With a sharp high pitched scream, he felt the intense pressure that had been gathering between his legs finally let go. Thin, clear liquid shot out of his member and splattered messily against his own stomach and the ground. The older man came not a moment later, squeezing his hips so tightly it was painful. He felt the man release inside of him, but he couldn’t think of anything but the bliss that finally filled his body due to his own ejaculation. Only barely did he register the man finally pulling out. He didn’t hear what the men said, if anything, as they left him where he was, sprawled against the ground. His body heaved with every breath he took, and was still coming down from its feverish state. It seemed almost forever had passed when he finally calmed down and realized that they had left him alone. Slowly he rolled himself over to the side and used his knees to get to an upright position. He maneuvered himself so that his still-bound arms were moved underneath his body and under his legs so that they were now in front of him. The tape around his wrists was removed easily enough with his feet, and he scrambled for a bit before carefully peeling off the tape around his eyes. For a moment he feared that he really was blind, as he couldn’t see a single thing upon opening his wet eyelids for the first time in what must have been hours. Eventually his blue eyes got used to the dark, and he could barely make out a silhouette of a body somewhere to his left. He felt a bit ashamed for thinking he was alone. Conan tried moving closer to her – see where she was shot and where she bled out, see if her eyes were open so he could close them and give her peace – but his legs wobbled and gave out not even a  moment after he stood up, and he fell unceremoniously to the ground, disgusting liquids splashing with him. The only sound he could hear was his labored gasps of exhaustion – he couldn’t even hear the excited murmur of the crowd from earlier. Looks like he completely missed KID’s heist. “I don’t care,” he told himself. “I had to save this girl…” But he couldn’t even do that, and very quickly found himself as a victim. Speaking of which, why did they even let him live? They may have killed the girl on accident, but they didn’t seem too distressed about it. He even saw their faces… Then he realized that they didn’t know that he had seen them. He only knew what they looked like due to the night vision mode in his glasses, and his glasses most definitely were not on his face at the moment. That must have been why they taped his eyes shut and let him go, he figured. He didn’t know what time it was. His eyes were just barely adjusted to the dark, but he could see the certain shapes of his gadgets off to the side. His boxers, shirt, and sweater were ruined. But he could still wear everything else. Silently he clicked the watch back onto his left wrist and pressed an illuminating button so he could see the time in the dark. 4:15 AM. He’d been out for a long time, then. The fact that it was a school night barely registered in his mind. With the light coming from the watch, he moved it over the ground to see what he had missed, and his heart nearly stopped in his chest when he found one of his phones – the Conan phone, not the Shinichi one, thank god – laying on the cement. If they had gone through his phone, then… He didn’t want to think about it. He pulled his pants up, feeling empty. He felt odd without his boxers, but he’d have to go without them, even if the feeling of the liquid he couldn’t wash up yet started to soak through the back of his pants. He clipped on his suspenders and slipped his glasses back over his face so he could take advantage of its nighttime vision mode. The shoes were put back on last. Conan reached for the tattered remains of his clothes and idly wiped up whatever spot of liquid his glasses could show him, trying to leave no trace that he was ever there. The police would probably find whatever he missed in the morning, along with the body. He stopped. The police. He still had his Shinichi phone in his pocket – apparently the two men hadn’t bothered looking through more thoroughly after finding the Conan one – and idly thought of calling Takagi-keiji to report the body. And while he was at it, he could report the rape as well, and they could take samples of the semen still on his body and get the men who did this to him and the girl. But… he really wanted to take a shower first. He felt disgusted and dirty, and a shower was all he wanted… But that would remove the evidence, the analytical part of his mind warned him. “I have the clothes,” he said out loud. His voice sounded more broken and hoarse than he would have liked to admit. “I’ll keep them. I’ll turn them in after noon. It’ll be okay…” He gripped the wall and slowly pushed himself to his feet. His legs were still wobbly, but he had more confidence that he could walk than he did before. So he did, limping slowly, back to the Mouri residence, leaving the poor girl behind. As he moved, he dialed Takagi-keiji’s number. He knew it was a good thing to have the shy man on speed dial. “C-Conan-kun? Do you know what time it is?” Was the first thing the man said upon picking up the phone. Conan didn’t feel like using the voice modifier. It was easier to explain away the call as Conan than to make an excuse for why Shinichi was suddenly back in Beika, anyway. “I’m well aware. I need to report a murder.” “A murder?” Conan could hear Takagi’s frantic moving and the rustling of the fabric of his bed sheets over the line. The sound reminded him of what he first heard passing by the alley before… no, no, don’t think of it. “Where?” “About a five minute walk from home.” He knew Takagi-keiji knew what ‘home’ meant. “East. Right next to the new café that opened up here last week. There’s an alley right over there. She’s inside. I don’t know her or her name. She’s Ran… neechan’s… age. She died around three and a half hours ago.” “Got it, I’m on my way. But, ah, Conan-kun…” Conan knew what the officer was going to ask before he did it. “What are you doing over there?” Without answering, Conan hung up. He limped the rest of the way back to his temporary residence, which took about ten minutes longer than it normally would have. Briefly the lights being on at Poirot at four in the morning caught his attention, but he paid it no more mind as he turned to climb the staircase and finally, finally, take his shower. Before he could take the first step, however, the entrance to Poirot opened, and out walked the last person Conan ever wanted to see. “Conan-kun? What are you doing out so early? It’s four in the morning on a Sunday. Don’t you have school in a few hours?” “Just… just taking an early morning walk… Amuro-no-niichan.” Amuro Tooru raised an eyebrow. “Where’s your shirt? It’s freezing out here. What’s that you’re holding?” Too early, too soon, too early for Black Organization operatives to be questioning him. He decided to change the subject. “What are you doing at Poirot so early, Amuro-no-niichan? Poirot closed hours ago.” “Ah… I was doing some last minute cleaning and checkups for later in the day. It’s not the first time I’ve done this. But you still haven’t answered my questions.” “I’m okay,” was all Conan said before finally turning to drag himself up the stairs. “I’m okay.” He wondered for a moment if Amuro would actually dare to follow him and interrogate him some more, but to his relief the blond simply walked back into Poirot. Conan let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding – he did not want to deal with that on top of the rest of the stress he felt. Slowly he made his way to the top floor and opened the door, careful not to wake Ran or her father. If the shower woke them up, well… he’d say he was feeling extra energetic that day and couldn’t sleep. Just thinking of that excuse almost made him want to break out into frenzied laughter. But he kept himself composed and grabbed a bag from the kitchen to stuff his ruined and soiled clothes into. He stuffed that bag under Kogoro’s bed – Ran would never clean there, afraid of what horrors her father wanted to hide, and Kogoro never hid anything there anyway. He felt safe in keeping it there. Finally, finally, he made his way to the shower and turned the knob as far as it would go, as scalding as he could possibly make it. He barely registered the burning water as it splashed against his naked skin, finally washing all the… the evidence away. “What am I doing,” he muttered to himself. He felt his legs give way again, and he fell onto his knees. Maybe I can convince Ran to let me stay home. I can feign illness. I need time. He felt empty, so he watched the water swirl down the drain. And watched. And watched. What felt like hours later, he finally got up and turned the shower off. He wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the bathroom door – only to see a violet eyed teenager frowning furiously down at him, holding his evidence bag in one hand and the contents that used to be in that bag in the other. “What the hell is this?” ***** Kaito: Investigation ***** Chapter Summary Kaito makes some choices concerning Conan, runs into a certain Osakan, and together the two try to piece the clues together. Implied rape/noncon, nothing explicit in this chapter. Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes “What the hell is this?” Kaito realized that he may be being a little harsh on the kid – if what he thought had happened was true, then Conan was in no position to answer any of his questions or even respond to anything he said. But he needed to know. To make sure that the worst really hadn’t happened, despite the evidence to the contrary. Conan’s eyes were wide and he looked panicked; his body trembled and Kaito only just realized that he had come to Tantei-kun’s temporary residence sans disguise. “Who are you?” Kaito had grown to like Conan’s voice; not the high- pitched childish one, not Kudou Shinichi’s, but Conan’s deep, mature one, when he wasn’t trying to hide anything. But hearing it now, hoarse and cracked, he only felt the pit of disgust in his gut grow. “It doesn’t matter,” because it really didn’t, not when the situation was like this, “What matters is what I’m holding in my hands. What have you been doing, Tantei-kun?” “Who are you?” Conan asked again, this time with a desperate tinge to his voice. The small child’s eyes looked around wildly, not realizing that Kaito could read every single one of his movements like an open book (which was wrong, wrong, wrong;Tantei-kun should not be this disheveled and predictable), looking as if he were going to dash away from the magician at any moment if he didn’t stop him. Kaito sighed. “Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire. You may know me better as Kaitou KID.” If Tantei-kun really was in as bad a shape as he seemed, then he wouldn’t even remember Kaito’s admittance of identity in the morning anyway. And even if he did, well then. He had more pressing matters to think about. Kaito could almost see the gears turning in the child’s head as Conan processed the name. Kaitou KID, he must be thinking. He probably doesn’t even remember therewasa heist a few hours ago. Of course he does, the disbelieving part of his mind told him. Of course Tantei-kun remembers, because you are thinking of the worst possible scenario, which didn’t happen. It couldn’t happen, because this was Tantei-kun. Something like that couldn’t happen to Tantei-kun; Tantei-kun was smart, fast, and could think his way out of any situation. You’re jumping to conclusions. Unless he was restrained, the more rational part of his mind spoke up. Tantei- kun is smart indeed, but he can’t do anything without his gadgets or if he’s tied up. He may have the brilliant mind of Kudou Shinichi, but in this child body he couldn’t do a thing on his own. If he was caught unawares, as was definitely probable since it was the night of a Kaitou KID heist and no one should be wary of Kaitou KID heists, then he could have been grabbed and easily overp— No. Don’t think about it. “Is that a false name or did you just reveal your identity to me?” Kaito was almost caught by surprise when Conan suddenly spoke up, but his poker face slammed into effect. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he felt the familiar razor sharp grin begin to form, but he quickly forced it away. Now was notthe time for making jokes.  “But that isn’t the point. What’s important right now is that you’ve been out doing something you shouldn’t have been doing.” It was vague, and not at all directly implying what Kaito feared. But apparently it was the wrong thing to say, as Conan suddenly growled and stepped forward with a scathing glare. “You think I wanted this?!” Kaito took a step back and gulped; if Tantei-kun started yelling then surely his keeper would wake, and he really didn’t feel like dodging karate kicks at four in the morning.  But he needed to hear him out. “I didn’t want this,” Conan continued, seemingly oblivious to Kaito’s internal dilemma, “Any of this. All I wanted was to go to your stupid heist, not for – not… not for that girl to die, not for those men to use me in place of her—“ “Girl?” Kaito breathed. Someone else was involved? “What girl?” Conan continued with his rant, blatantly ignoring the magician. If Conan had even heard him, he would never know. “—and not for my night to end like this. Please, KID, go away. I don’t want to talk to you or anyone else right now. I just want to go to bed. I want to put this night behind me and forget everything that’s happened. I’ve already been violated enough tonight – I don’t need you prying into it.” Kaito sucked in a breath and took a step forward – that was most definitely a confession that the worst scenario he had come up with was in fact true.  Tantei-kun. Conan continued to glare up at him, but took a step back for every step Kaito made to move closer. They walked completely inside the bathroom, and only stopped when the back of Conan’s thighs hit the edge of the tub and the child’s eyes widened as if he had forgotten where they were. “Tantei-kun. I—I don’t know what to say.” “You don’t have to say anything,” Conan’s voice wavered, and Kaito realized that his eyes were red and puffy. He had never seen Tantei-kun cry, and he didn’t want to. “Leave. Or else I’ll make you.” “I’m not going to do anything to you, Tantei-kun,” Kaito tried, because he couldn’t leave yet. He couldn’t leave Tantei-kun like this, not when he had confirmed what happened. He couldn’t leave him here by himself. “I just want—I just want to talk,” he finished lamely. “I don’t want to talk.” “You don’t have to tell me anything you aren’t comfortable saying. We don’t even have to talk about what happened earlier. Just—please talk to me. Tell me what I can do.” “You can leave and never talk to me again.” Kaito felt something squeeze inside his chest. That really hurt, more than Tantei-kun seemed to realize. But Tantei-kun’s face suddenly softened, and he looked down at the floor with a guilty look on his face. Once again, Kaito could almost see the gears turning in his head. It wasn’t reasonable to say that what had happened was the fault of Kaitou KID – he had no way of predicting anything like this was going to happen. Even if he did schedule the heist so early in the morning, it was Tantei-kun’s decision to go. But it wasn’t Tantei-kun’s fault either, because there was no way he could have prevented being caught in his weak, current physical state, but it seemed that that was exactly where Conan’s mind was headed if the increasingly despondent look on his face said anything. “It’s not your fault,” Kaito found himself saying suddenly, taking another step forward. “Whatever happened.” Because he didn’t know the exact details, and he didn’t want to. “I know you wouldn’t do something like this; at least not…” in your current body, his mind finished for him. But he was positive that even Kudou Shinichi wouldn’t willingly indulge in something like this, though he did have the much bigger advantage of being bigger and physically stronger. “Never mind. But please, Tantei-kun. Let me stay. Or if you’re sure you don’t want that, then at least let me help. Let me take this bag home; I’ll handle it. You don’t have to do anything.” He still didn’t like the idea of leaving Tantei-kun by himself, but Kaito had to remember that Mouri Ran lived here. Conan would never tell her anything like this, but she was a person who could sense if anything was wrong, especially if he was as bad at hiding it to her as he was to Kaito.  If Tantei-kun made even a tiny slip, then Mouri would instantly shift into protective older sister mode. It was annoying sometimes, but right now it could only work for Tantei- kun’s own safety. “This isn’t your problem,” Conan finally spoke up, his voice much softer than before. “Please leave. I’ll deal with it myself.” Not a chance.“I won’t let you. I’ll leave now, but I’m taking this with me, okay? Get some sleep. And don’t go to school.” The last thing you need right now is to be surrounded by grabby people who don’t know the meaning of personal space, even if they are elementary children.“I’ll see you later.” Whether you want to or not, becausedamn it, Tantei-kun, I am not leaving you to face this alone. He stepped forward with his arms outstretched with the intention to give Conan a big hug, but quickly thought better of it and retracted them. No touching Tantei-kun, not for a long while. If he ever comes to any of my heists ever again, I’ll have to go easy on him. Without another word, he turned on his heel and left Conan standing in the bathroom. As he turned a corner, he stuffed the sticky clothing back into the bag and left through the window, not even bothering to close it behind him. Old man Mouri could take the blame for that, he figured. Right now, I need to find Jii. --- “Bakaito! What do you mean you aren’t coming to school today?” Aoko banged her hands on his locked door. “You big dummy! Did you forget we have a huge testtoday?” “Sorry, Aoko, but I think I’m coming down with something,” Kaito called, sneezing and coughing into his hand for good measure. “I don’t want to get the whole school sick, so I think it’s better if I just take today off. I’ll make up the test when I get back, don’t worry!” “That’s not the point!” His childhood friend continued pounding on his poor door. Kaito briefly worried about it breaking, but then he remembered that he had once specifically reinforced that very door to be able to withstand Aoko’s fury. “You also said that you’d take Aoko down to that new restaurant that opened today! Aoko was looking forward to it!” She never had been able to shake that childish habit of referring to herself in the third person. “Ah, that’s right, I did, didn’t I?” Truth be told, Kaito had completely forgotten all about it. Oh well. Tantei-kun was a more pressing matter at hand anyway. “I’ll have to take you down next week, then.” “Next week?” Aoko’s voice raised an octave. “Why?” “In addition to being sick, something kinda… came up, and I have to put all of my attention onto that right now. So no matter what, I was going to skip school today anyway.” There was a pause and then Aoko sighed. “… Okay, Kaito. I’ll leave you to whatever it is. But… please hurry, alright? I haven’t seen much of you lately; you’re always holed up in your room. I kinda wanted to go out today because we haven’t had much of a chance to just hang out in a while. So… whatever it is you need to take care of, go do it. But if you’re saying all that just to spend time away from me, then you’ll get the mopping of a lifetime!” Kaito gulped before responding shakily. “No way, Aoko! I promise I’m not doing anything like that. But this isn’t really something I can rush either, so… I don’t know how long I’ll be. … Anyway, shouldn’t you be off to school now? You’re going to miss the test at this rate.” “Shoot!” He heard the shuffling of clothes and a school bag before Aoko called back again, her voice fading. “I’ll bring back your homework for today! Talk to you later, Kaito!” “See you, Aoko.” He knew she couldn’t hear him, but he felt it needed to be said anyway. They had moved on from their awkward ‘will-they-or-won’t-they’ phase. Sure, they were still great friends, but they had known each other as children and all Kaito felt for her was the love of what a brother would feel for his sister. It was hard, since they’d been together their entire lives and Kaito couldn’t really imagine life without her, but he didn’t feel comfortable with perusing a romantic relationship either. Luckily, Aoko had felt the same, and eventually they took some time to talk it out. So it was then that she started going out with Hakuba, of all people. Kaito was honestly surprised that the British detective could ever get anyone to care for him in a romantic sense, though maybe that was being too harsh on the blond. It was still weird to think about. As for Kaito himself… he didn’t know where to go from that point. He didn’t plan on seeking out a relationship at the moment anyway – his primary goal was Pandora. After Pandora was taken care of… he’ll see where life takes him. And as long as it would take, he’d keep an eye on Aoko and make sure nothing ever happened to her. Hakuba wasn’t the type to hurt her, but… just in case. If it weren’t for Kaitou KID, maybe they could have been friends. … But nothing would ever convince Kaito that Hakuba didn’t have something shoved up his ass twenty four hours, seven days a week. Right now, Kaito had to focus on Tantei-kun. The moment he arrived home that morning (he had come straight home; he didn’t want to see the body of the girl – he would watch the news later, or probably steal some police reports about it), he had spoken to Jii about what he had discovered (Tantei-kun didn’t know Jii, and Jii was completely loyal to Kaito, so his secret was best safe with him, Kaito felt) and asked the elderly man to take care of the soiled and wet clothes he had acquired from the shrunken detective. “I need you to get these analyzed as soon as possible,” he had said, handing the rather flustered elder the bag. “It’s very important that we find out who the DNA matches with as soon as possible. Hopefully they’ve committed some crimes before and they’re already in the database. That’d make things a lot easier for us.” “But Bocchama,” Jii sounded rather regretful, as if he knew Kaito wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “I can do it, but… it’ll take a while. A week at least – a few months at most. If Edogawa-san doesn’t report it himself, then the police aren’t going to take this seriously.” “The police aren’t going to take it seriously anyway,” Kaito frowned. “Even if he has become something of a celebrity again, they won’t care because he’s not a girl. Hell, even if he was a girl, he’d have a hard time getting the police on his side. You’ve seen the movements about a hopeful and progressive Japan – the police just don’t care about this sort of thing. It’s even worse that he’s male. Being a minor won’t be on his side either; the sentence is the exact same whether he’s in this body or in his original one. Though with the added charge of murder… we could get them sealed away for a lot longer.” He gripped the front of Jii’s shirt, bringing him closer to his level. Jii gulped, but Kaito was undeterred. “You have to get these analyzed as soon as possible. I don’t care what it takes. The longer this guy,” no, that couldn’t be right, Conan had mentioned men – more than one person – and the realization made Kaito’s blood boil, “Theseguys, are free, the more victims they’ll take. And Tantei-kun won’t say a thing.” He let go of his senior’s shirt and looked down. “No one gets hurt, remember? And if someone does, then damn if I’m going to let it happen again.” “Bocchama,” Jii breathed. “If you’re thinking it’s your fault because of the heist, it’s not—“ “I know that,” Kaito furrowed his eyebrows and looked back up. “I know that. But… if Tantei-kun is going to continue to blame himself, then I deserve some of the blame as well.” “It’s not either of your faults, and you two should know that,” the old man said, more sternly. “I refuse to let you think that way, and if I catch you thinking along those lines again, then I will beat some sense into you.” Kaito felt a wry smile pull at his face. “Literally?” “If it comes to that.” But in the end, Jii had promised that he would find a way to make forensics work faster. But even if they worked at the speed of light, Kaito felt it wouldn’t be fast enough. Because someone had already been hurt – Tantei-kun had already been damaged. Speaking of Tantei-kun, I’d better check up on him. I don’t know if Mouri stayed home to watch him, and alone is the last thing he needs to be right now. With that in mind, he quickly grabbed his bags and headed out for Beika sans disguise – the faux child had already seen him without it, anyway. If he hadn’t reported him by now, then it was highly unlikely that he would anytime soon. He could have taken a train or taxi, but there was no fun in that. Instead, he opted to walk part of the way before giving in to his KID instincts and sneaking to the roofs of buildings, jumping from rooftop to rooftop until he arrived at his destination. There wasn’t much danger in being caught – all teenagers and children should be at school, and he doubted anyone would believe a person screaming about someone jumping roof to roof like an action manga character protagonist. That was absurd. Plus, it was faster. So there. He made it to Beika in record time, careful of the lower buildings and of the truancy patrols. Kaito wasn’t dumb enough to wear his school uniform for his journey, but he couldn’t trick anyone by saying they had school off that day – he had no way of telling if each individual cop had children or not, and if they did then they would recognize his lie right off the bat and drag him all the way back to Ekoda. Or actually, maybe even Teitan High since it was closer and he didn’t have his identifying uniform on. Wouldn’t that be amusing. When he arrived at the Mouri residence (but not before making a stop at the Metropolitan Police Department Headquarters, of course), he got there just in time to see a certain dark skinned detective leave the steps with a sour look on his face. Curiosity peaked, – what was Tantei-han doing here? – he walked up and made idle conversation. “Yo!” He held up his hand in greeting, catching Tantei-han’s attention. “You’re Hattori Heiji, right?” “Why, do you have a c—what the hell?” Hattori raised an eyebrow, looking at him in disdain. Sorry, Tantei-han, but you’ve got a hundred more heists to go before you can patent that Kaitou KID glare. But the Osakan quickly shook his head, dispelling whatever thoughts were plaguing him. “Sorry, you look a lot like someone I know. Anyway, I’m not really taking any cases right now – I’ve got something else I’m working on that’s taken top priority.” Kaito blinked and took a step back in surprise, ignoring the Kudou comment. Did Tantei-kun tell him what happened? No way; no matter how much he trusts Tantei- han, even he wouldn’t… “Does it have something to do with the murder of a teenage girl this morning in an alley not far from here?” Tantei-han’s eyes widened. “You know about it? Are you a witness?” “What did Conan-kun tell you?” “You… how do you know Ku—Conan-kun?” Still making that mistake, I see. Kaito offered a polite smile. “Conan-kun and I go way back. Depending on how much you know about the case, I can offer you more information. Or… maybe the other way around. I’m trying to investigate it too, you see. The reason I came here actually was to ask Conan-kun a few things and keep him company. Is anyone else home?” “No, it’s just him right now.” Hattori – because he had to be Hattori right now, not Tantei-han – leaned in closer. “But really, you know about it? How much do you know?” “How about you tell me what you’ve found out first, and we start from there?” Hattori looked around. “Fine, but let’s go somewhere a little more private. I don’t want any bystanders hearin’ about this.” --- Poirot wasn’t exactly the most private of places, but it was right there and Hattori insisted on it, so it was there that Kaito found himself being served by that dark skinned, blond waiter while discussing the double rape/murder case. “He didn’t really tell me much about it, honestly,” Hattori muttered, taking a sip of his smoothie. “What I know, I had to work it out myself and have him confirm it. He… doesn’t really look so good right now. I think he witnessed what happened and clammed up – he’s never dealt with a rape case before. Victims usually don’t speak up, and even if they do, they don’t get much sympathy in this country.” I can only imagine, Kaito thought bitterly. “How did you get on that topic?” “He slipped up and said something he didn’t mean to say. I wasn’t supposed to find out. There was a KID heist last night, you know,” oh boy do I know it, “And he didn’t show. So he said something that got me suspicious, and I ended up drillin’ ‘im about it. I know there are two men involved.” This caught Kaito by surprise – he knew there was more than one, but he never confirmed how many exactly. “How’d you find that out?” “He told me himself.” “Is everything alright here?” That blond waiter – Amuro, Conan called him earlier that morning – walked up to them, smiling the politest of smiles with his hands crossed patiently in front of him. This guy is a good actor, Kaito thought bitterly, remembering his involvement in the mystery train. “Do you need anything?” “No thanks, we’re good,” the magician irritatingly waved him off, and Amuro nodded and left – but he didn’t go too far, Kaito noticed. Was he trying to listen in on their conversation? Why? What was his relationship with Tantei- kun? Hattori didn’t seem to notice Amuro’s eavesdropping, however, or simply chose not to comment on it, and he continued as if nothing had happened. “He told me himself that there were two of them. Then I brought up the possibility of rape, and… he freaked out. It looked like he was trying to hold it in, but that kind of reaction couldn’t be suppressed. Whatever he saw, it really spooked him.” Not exactly what hesaw, Kaito bit his lip. He had promised Hattori information in exchange for what the Osakan knew, but he wasn’t sure if he was willing to reveal that Tantei-kun was the one that was raped, and not the girl. Tantei-kun wouldn’t be happy with him in the slightest, and from what he knew of Hattori, the other detective was brash and hot-blooded. He would try to act instantly without provocation, and that was something they couldn’t have. Kaito would keep silent. “Then I found out that apparently he had evidence, but somehow doesn’t anymore. Then we kinda got into a heated argument and then he stormed away. And… that’s when I left and met you,” Hattori finished, taking another sip. “So… what about you? What have you found out?” “Uh…” Crap. He couldn’t tell him the truth about the victim, but he had to say something. “I… actually don’t have much more to add on. Sorry.” Smooth. “Really?” Hattori, predictably, was disappointed.  He leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “I guess I should’ve expected this – you not having anything to reveal. You aren’t a detective, after all.” Kaito was tempted to take that lead and dance, but they had other things to talk about at the moment. “Did Conan-kun say anything else? Or maybe it wasn’t something he said, specifically, but something he did?” “Hm,” Hattori raised a hand to his chin in thought. “He was actin’ kinda jumpy, yeah. I poked him at one point and he just completely fell down – I didn’t even push him or anything. When he got up, he said he was fine, but he sounded out of breath. …Wait a minute.” Suddenly his eyes widened and his nostrils flared. “If he did see something, and there were rapists involved… do you think they did something to him to keep him quiet?” Shit.Kaito’s eye twitched. As much as it seemed during the infamous rants and general hot-headedness he heard so much about, Hattori Heiji was not an idiot. He could put two and two together. “I… don’t like thinking of that possibility,” the magician chose to mutter, keeping an eye on the waiter. “That would mean that we’re dealing with possible pedophiles who don’t mind preying on little boys. Then little girls wouldn’t be safe either, as the girl was naked when the police found her this morning.” “How did you know that?” Hattori frowned. “I didn’t hear about this case at all before I met with Ku—Conan-kun. I don’t think any local news stations have run the story yet…” Kaito froze. Shit, that was something he read from Takagi-keiji’s notes when he stopped by the Metropolitan Police Headquarters earlier. “Uh… Conan-kun told me. We talked over the phone this morning and I agreed to come over here.” There. At least a sliver of that was the truth. Hattori hummed, deep in thought, before his head shot up and his eyes were wide and focused. “Wait, wait, wait. So let’s assume that the girl was the original target. Maybe… Conan-kun was on his way to Kaitou KID’s heist when he stumbled upon the scene, and they tried to shoot him, but the girl took the blow instead to save him. Angered, the rapists then took Conan-kun and r… raped him instead… to take their anger out on him for ruining their plans. That would explain why he’s so jumpy and why he’s so scared. Because they might come back.” “C-come back?” Kaito’s voice squeaked. He hadn’t thought of that. “Yeah,” Hattori’s voice darkened. “Conan-kun’s been in the news for a while now; there’s only a slight possibility that they didn’t know who he was before they took him. But if they’ve committed crimes before, then they most certainly would have been keeping an eye on news outlets for a long time. The reason Japan’s rape rate is so low is because almost no one ever confesses – they’re too embarrassed. They go under the radar. And even if they do report it, they get ridiculed. “So if they use a little boy like this… no one will believe him, because he’s not a girl. Male rape is an even more incredulous thing in this country than female rape. They’ll see it as him trying to hang on to his fame as the KID killer – a little kid having sex at the age of six? Crazy. And even if they do look into it, he has to prove that he fought back and did everything in his power to prevent it. What can he do? He’s six!” Hattori brought up points that Kaito had a hard time swallowing down. “So… if they use his small body and Japan’s views on rape to their advantage,” he started, finding it hard to go on. “… Then that means that they can just keep coming back and back, as long as they don’t get caught in the act. And if Conan-kun doesn’t tell anyone, then…” “Fuck!” Hattori cursed, banging his hand on the table. The other patrons at the restaurant jumped and turned their heads to see the cause of the commotion. The Osakan whipped his own head to glare at each and every one of them. “What? What’re you all lookin’ at?” They looked away. Kaito’s head spun. He hadn’t entertained the possibility of the men coming back to torture Tantei-kun some more… but everything Hattori had said made sense. So what was Tantei-kun going to do? Suddenly Hattori’s phone vibrated on the table, indicating a new message. The Osakan scrambled to get it, and looked up at Kaito. “It’s from Conan-kun.” Kaito leaned in closer. “’I got a lead on the case. Take me to this address later tonight, at around eight.’” “Don’t,” Kaito said immediately. “Don’t do it.” Hattori bit his lip. “I don’t want to do it. I really don’t. But… if I let on that I know what happened to him – or, at least I think I know; we don’t have any proof yet aside from his actions – then… he’ll freak out even worse. I think at this point, what I should do is pretend that I don’t know anything about this, and do some investigating on him on my own when he’s there. Since I’ll be going with him. They wouldn’t dare do anything to him while someone else is there, right?” “I don’t want him going anywhere near those people, Hattori-kun,” Kaito growled. “Tell him no.” “He’ll just find another way.” “Tell him no, Hattori.” Hattori sucked in a breath before typing something into his phone that Kaito couldn’t see. It must’ve been a pretty long message – an entire minute had passed before whatever he was typing was finally sent and he rested the phone down on the table. The two sat there in silence until the phone buzzed again, and Hattori snatched it right as Kaito slammed his arm across the table in an effort to grab it. Whatever it was Conan sent, Hattori replied very briefly this time, as not even ten seconds had passed before he sent his own response and put the phone in his pocket where Kaito couldn’t reach. Kaito wasn’t happy in the slightest. “What did you tell him?” “None of your business.” “This is completely my business!” The magician was finding it hard to keep his poker face under check – the current situation was too dire for him to hide behind a mask just to hide his emotions. It just wasn’t important enough. Sorry, dad.“This is my friend we’re talking about! My friend who’s possibly being continuously exploited for rape!” “He’s my friend too!” Hattori’s voice was raised in response. “I’ve never even seen you before – I bet that no matter how close you are to him, we’re closer. I know more about him than you; I know what I’m doing. I’m not going to let anyone touch him. If you don’t trust me, then too bad!” The two breathed heavily – the other customers of Poirot were actively doing their best to ignore them by now. Kaito honestly didn’t want to think too badly of Tantei-han, but – this was Tantei-kun they were talking about, the only thing they had in common with each other. Tantei-kun who, after the events of the early morning, was not currently in a stable enough emotional state to be on his own. And Tantei-han here was offering to drive him back to the people who hurt him? “It might not be them,” Hattori said slowly, trying to keep his anger under control. “He didn’t say if there would be anyone there. He just gave me an address and asked me to drive him there. Hell, it could even be that girl’s house, for all we know. I won’t leave him by himself; trust me… uh, I still don’t even know what your name is.” “… Kuroba. Kuroba Kaito.”  They managed to get on lighter subjects after that outburst, engaging in idle chitchat about their daily lives and the people they lived with. Hattori got to learn about Aoko, and Kaito got to learn about this girl – just a friend, nothing more, Hattori clarified – named Toyama Kazuha (it was astounding how similar his, Tantei-han, and Tantei-kun’s lives were – they all had a female childhood friend growing up who they all thought would marry one day but eventually had somewhat of a falling out with. … At least, he assumed that Tantei-kun would have a falling out with Mouri Ran, if he hadn’t already. He couldn’t imagine living as Aoko’s ‘younger’ brother for such a long time without forever seeing her as an older sister from then on). People came and went, including Mouri Kogoro at one point, curiously enough, and Kaito barely realized that they had been talking for hours until the streaming sunlight poured in from the window they were sitting next to, illuminating the café with a warm glow. It almost made him feel a bit sleepy. Hattori had sent three texts to Conan during that time, all of which went unanswered. “He might be sleeping; he was really tired when I talked to him this morning,” the Osakan suggested, and Kaito felt inclined to agree. If the kid tried sneaking out, they would have seen him through the window. He felt fairly confident that Tantei-kun was safe in the Mouri residence for now. “Ah, what a surprise, seeing you here, Kuroba-kun,” an infuriatingly familiar voice sneered, and Kaito found that he had to physically restrain himself from slamming his head on the table. He turned to face the blond newcomer with an exasperated sigh. “What are you doing here, Hakuba?” The British detective smiled. “I’ve been to Poirot a few times. They have the most delectable tea – I come here often after a nice, long test day at school. But isn’t it strange? What are you, a person supposedly so sick that he had to skip said school, doing here in Beika talking to shady detectives?” “Shady?!” Hattori shouted, standing up. “I’ll show you shady!” “Case in point.” “Shut up, Hakuba,” Kaito frowned and took satisfaction in seeing the blond detective actually blink in surprise at the usually flamboyant magician’s serious tone. “We’re here discussing a case that involves a good friend of ours. We have good reason to believe that he’s been victimized and that the culprits will strike again very soon.” “I’m actually about to go and pick him up,” Hattori muttered. “So you two can stay and talk all you want – you can’t come with.” “Wait, why not?” Kaito frowned. “I’ve been here this whole time, and you aren’t taking me with you?” “He asked me,” the Osakan reminded. “He might freak if he sees another one of us, even if he was planning on you coming sooner or later. I held you back so much; he probably thinks something came up on your end that prevented you from coming over. I think it’s better if you stay here. Here’s my number.” He wrote his cell phone number on a napkin and passed it over to the magician. Kaito frowned but took the number anyway, writing his own on another napkin and handing it to Hattori. “I don’t want to put him in a situation where I can’t keep a close eye on him.” “Don’t worry about it,” Hattori smirked. “I’ve got it all under control.” “Please do enlighten me on what you’re talking about,” Hakuba muttered under his breath, and Kaito couldn’t suppress the snicker that came from his own mouth. It was nice seeing Mr. High and Fancy confused for once. “This doesn’t involve you, Hakuba,” the magician said. “Unless you’ve suddenly taken an interest in rape cases.” Hakuba paled just as Hattori excused himself to leave. “Is that what this is about?” He looked around and kept his voice low. “Do I know the victim?” “I can’t tell you,” Kaito frowned. “It’s bad enough that Hattori knows – he ended up figuring it out himself. I’m trying to keep as little people in the know about this as possible.” “Why? Whoever the victim is – she needs help!” And therein lies the problem, Kaito thought bitterly. “She’s dead, Hakuba. They killed her. But there’s someone else, too. He can’t get help until his rapists are behind bars.” Hakuba managed to pale even further – it almost looked funny, his skin was as white as a ghost. “H-he?” he choked, not sure of how to deal with the implications. “Yes. He,” Kaito confirmed. “Do you get it now?” The blond bit his lip and sat down in the seat Hattori had just left. “Well,” he stuttered. “Now that I know about it, I can’t exactly keep myself out of it, now can I?” Kaito blinked, confused. “You don’t even know him!” “That doesn’t matter. It’s my duty as a detective to uphold the law of this country and bring criminals to righteous justice. Especially if I don’t personally know the victim.” Hakuba looked around and leaned in closer. “I will forgo publicly revealing your identity as Kaitou KID for a while if you clue me in on everything you know about this case.” Kaito would have laughed; this was getting way out of hand. “No, Hakuba. I can’t tell you, for multiple reasons. Two of which being that I can’t reveal anything about his identity to you for confidential purposes, and because I am not Kaitou KID and so your deal makes absolutely no sense to me at all whatsoever.” “I haven’t heard of any murder cases happening recently around this area since last week, and that was the death of an elderly man!” Hakuba growled. “Whatever this is, it’s not something I can find out through news outlets, at least not right now. It happened very recently, recently and unimportant enough that there wasn’t any time to add anything about it to today’s news schedule, and it might make its way to the news tomorrow, but by then it might be too late. Tell me, Kuroba. From what I know, only you and Hattori are working on this – I don’t know what the police force is doing, but obviously it isn’t very high profile if it didn’t make it on the news. I want to protect this last victim.” The magician sighed – he knew Hakuba meant well most of the time, stuffy, annoying, irritating Hakuba, but this was too much. These detectives were all the same. Very, very nosy. He was tired, and all he wanted was to get this guy off his back. “I’ll tell you the name of the victim if you promise not to confront him. Even if you see him on the streets, which I highly doubt you will from now on, don’t say a word about this to him. Got it?” “Fine. I’ll work undercover. I’ll be relying on you and Hattori to get information out of him for me. So who is it? What’s his name?” “… Edogawa Conan.” Hakuba choked. “C-Conan-kun?” He looked around wildly. “Is that why he didn’t make it to last night’s heist? Because he was being raped during it? While we were running around unawares?” “I wouldn’t know,” Kaito bit out a little more harshly than he meant to. “But the murder wasn’t reported until four in the morning. Mouri Ran was watching him until midnight. That puts it between those two times, in which the heist did take place, so there’s a high possibility that he was raped on his way there.” “Bloody hell,” Hakuba bit his lip. “I never would have imagined. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now, he’s – he’s only six years old, Kuroba!” “I know that.” I also know that he’s not really six. “He found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now we need to make sure he doesn’t get himself into even more trouble – which is what Hattori is doing right now. He got a text from Conan-kun asking him to take him somewhere.” “Hattori should have declined,” Hakuba said sternly. “That’s what I told him! But he disobeyed me and agreed,” Kaito huffed, still a little irritated about it. “But he promised to stay with Conan-kun the entire time since they wouldn’t try and touch him with someone else there, so… I hope he actually stays with that plan.” “I hope so too,” the blond sighed. “Conan-kun…” --- Kaito was furious. Absolutely furious. “What the fuck were you thinking?!” He constantly had to remind himself not to strangle Hattori right then and there. He probably actually would have no matter what his brain said if Hattori was actually there and not talking to him on the phone. Though on the other hand, he wanted to strangle Tantei-kun too, for making him go through all of this. He knew he shouldn’t blame anyone, but he was so tired of worrying. “You said you weren’t going to leave him alone!” “I’m sorry, okay?” Hattori’s voice, distorted by the phone line, sounded just as irritated on the other end. “That brat talked me into it! I didn’t even know what I had promised to by the time we got there and dropped him off!” “How the hell did he convince you to leave him alone? What exactly did he say?!” Hakuba sure was lucky he got a ride from his old caretaker earlier. He just may have been the person Kaito would have inadvertently released his anger on if he hadn’t. “He was acting like… well, like a little kid, all timid and shy and stuff. And even if heis Kudou, I found myself not able to say no to that. But he was really intent on going by himself – I thought he’d have an aneurysm if I kept refusing! He’s a manipulative little bastard. He even said I could stick around and protect him all I wanted to after tonight. I… I just didn’t want to say no to him.” “Hattori,” Kaito ground out. The Osakan didn’t even realize his slip of Tantei- kun’s real name. “Don’t blame this on Conan-kun. You’re the one who fell for it.” It crossed his mind that Hattori was still in denial about what had really happened last night. If Tantei-kun hadn’t directly told him yet, then Hattori was still operating under the hope that they were severely overestimating how bad things really were. If only that were the case. “I… you’re right. Shit.” Hattori sighed on the other end. “I’m heading back right now to pick him up. Hopefully I can get there before anything bad happens.” “When did you leave?” “About an hour ago…” “There’s no way they haven’t started by now,” Kaito clenched his fist. “Fucking hell, Hattori.” “He told me he was going to the girl’s house to ask her parents some questions about why she was out there so late at night!” “Where are you right now?” “About to turn back into Beika.” “I’ll meet you there. I looked up the address; I know what road you’ll be on. Since you’re practically already here, pick me up. I’ll come back with you.” “And have you throttle me in the back of the car? No thanks.” “I’m not going to throttle you, Hattori.” Even if he did feel like it, but he felt like throttling everyone right now. Kaito sighed, and continued. “I… I’m sorry. We’re all high strung on nerves right now, and it’s partially Conan- kun’s fault for not trusting you to protect him, anyway. Let’s try to figure out why he would willingly go back.” “Blackmail,” Hattori said instantly. “They took pictures of last night and used it to convince him to come back, lest they reveal those pictures to everyone he knows.” Kaito blinked. “You sound sure about that. Is that what really happened?” “I don’t know,” the Osakan admitted. “But it’s highly probable. And since he went back, they’re probably going to take more pictures and have even more leverage over him. Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Kaito didn’t want to think about it. “Hey, is that you over there? I see a taxi coming this way.” “Maybe. Oh, yeah, it is. I see you. Come on in.”Hattori hung up, and Kaito did likewise. The taxi pulled up next to him and Hattori switched to the backseat, allowing Kaito to take the passenger seat up front. “The bill for this is going to be so high,” Hattori moaned. “Oh, yeah,” the taxi driver agreed with a smile on his face. Kaito would have laughed if he weren’t so anxious about what was going on with Tantei-kun right now. Please hurry. --- They arrived at their destination an hour later, though halfway through the journey Hattori had received a text from Conan saying that he was done. “We’re too late,” was all the Osakan had said, not reading the text out loud. Kaito cursed and banged his head against the window. He saw the small body, dark amidst the orange street lights, stumble his way towards the taxi. “It looks like he can barely move,” Hattori whispered, and Kaito felt sick but had to agree. “We have their address,” Kaito whispered back. “Call the police, tell them we’ve found the girl’s murderers, get them behind bars. Tell them they’re going to abandon the place after tonight, so they can hurry up and make the arrests to stop them before having to worry about a warrant.” “Got it. You’re pretty knowledgeable about all this for someone who isn’t a detective.” Hattori quickly sent a text to Takagi-keiji, the only officer he knew Conan really trusted in Beika, just in time as the child in question made it to the car. He almost literally stumbled his way inside, slamming the door shut behind him without saying a word. The Osakan formed a wry smile, trying to lighten the mood. “You smell awful. What were you doing?” That’s right,Kaito remembered. Tantei-kun doesn’t know that Tantei-han knows. “I have an idea,” the magician spoke up, not particularly feeling like playing a game of mind reader. “You went back to them, didn’t you?” He turned around from his seat in the front to see Hattori give him an incredulous look while Conan stared at him with wide eyes like a deer caught in headlights. “Why are you here?” he asked, voice cracking. “KI—Kuroba-niichan.” At this point Kaito really didn’t care if Hattori figured out his alter ego, but he gave points to Conan for trying. Hattori gulped and decided to go along with Kaito’s lead. “You sound awful, too. Worse than earlier today, actually. Just what were you doing over there? There’s no way that could have been just a couple of questions. Who were those people?” Kaito could hear the disbelief in Hattori’s voice – he knew exactlywho those people were and what exactly Conan was doing over there, but he wanted to hear the child himself deny it and say it wasn’t true, as if that would make everything better. “Yes, Conan-kun,” he muttered. “What were you doing over there?” Conan refused to look at them, choosing instead to stare wide-eyed at the back of Kaito’s seat. His small body shook and his breathing came in labored gasps as his hands gripped the seatbelt so tightly that his knuckles started turning white. Shit, he’s panicking, Kaito thought and reached out to grab him but Hattori beat him to it. “Whoa, calm down!” The Osakan shook the child, more roughly than Kaito would have liked, but it seemed to get the job done as Conan blinked himself back to reality. “Ku—er, Conan-kun. You’re shaking and you’re gripping the seatbelt like you’re gonna tear it into pieces. Here, just calm down and let me—“ “Don’t touch me!” Conan screamed while slapping his hand away, and Hattori whipped backwards so quickly that Kaito almost missed it.  The magician narrowed his eyes – there’s your confirmation, Tantei-han. If you were doubtful before, there’s no second guessing it now. He looked at Conan sadly. What exactly did they do to you, Tantei-kun? Not even twenty four hours ago, you were your normal self… Kaito caught the shrunken detective’s eyes, and the faux child almost immediately curled in on himself, bringing up his knees in a defensive position and covering his face with his tiny hands. And he started to cry. Hattori swore loudly – and Kaito was amazed at the amount of curse words the Osakan knew; he was worse than Nakamori-keibu. Kaito himself could do nothing more but turn back around and look out the window for the rest of the ride back to Beika. I’m taking him with me, he decided. He’s not staying here. I don’t care what his caretaker has to say – he’s staying with me where I can watch him. Hattori stopped cursing after a while, and for the remainder of the ride, the only sounds coming from any of the passengers were Conan’s sobs. Chapter End Notes Whoops, Hakuba wasn't supposed to appear again this early. But... he did, haha. He'll come back again very soon. You can probably guess what's happening next chapter. No, Conan will not be raped in every even-numbered chapter. :U In fact, the actual recovery attempt will begin in Chapter 5. Everything Kaito and Heiji talk about concerning Japan's laws and views on rape is what I've read during my research. ***** Conan: Back in Reverse ***** Chapter Summary Conan has a bad day. Explicit rape/noncon in this chapter. Please proceed with caution. Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes “What the hell is this?” Conan shook, ignoring the fact that his body ached and that he wanted nothing more now than to go to bed. He glared up at the teenager, clenching his fists tightly by his sides. “Who are you?” “It doesn’t matter; what matters is what I’m holding in my hands,” the teenager growled back. “What have you been doing, Tantei-kun?” “Who are you?” Conan repeated, his eyes dancing around for an exit, an escape – anything he could do to get away from this intruder. The teenager sighed. “Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire. You know me better as Kaitou KID.” The faux child stopped, his heart stammering in his chest. Kaitou KID? That’s right; there was a heist earlier that night… “Is that a false name or did you just reveal your identity to me?” “Wouldn’t you like to know,” Kuroba grinned, but it quickly fell. “But that isn’t the point. What’s important right now is that you’ve been out doing something you shouldn’t have been doing.” That struck a chord, and Conan narrowed his eyes in anger. “You think I wanted this?!” He raised his voice, and Kuroba actually took a step backward. Good. Maybe if he kept it up, the guy would leave.“I didn’t want this. Any of this. All I wanted was to go to your stupid heist, not for – not… not for that girl to die, not for those men to use mein place of her—“ “Girl?” Kuroba interrupted. “What girl?” Conan continued, ignoring the teen. “—and not for my night to end like this. Please, KID, go away. I don’t want to talk to you or anyone else right now. I just want to go to bed. I want to put this night behind me and forget everything that’s happened. I’ve already been violated enough tonight – I don’t need you prying into it.” Kuroba sucked in a breath, and took a step forward. Conan tried to keep the distance between them, moving back one step for every step Kuroba took. He didn’t even realize he had been fully cornered in the bathroom until the back of his burning legs hit the cool tub. “Tantei-kun,” Kuroba started. “I—I don’t know what to say.” “You don’t have to say anything. Leave. Or else I’ll make you,” Conan narrowed his eyes. “I’m not going to do anything to you, Tantei-kun. I just want – I just want to talk.” “I don’t want to talk.” “You don’t have to tell me anything you aren’t comfortable saying. We don’t even have to talk about what happened earlier. Just – please talk to me. Tell me what I can do.” “You can leave and never talk to me again,” Conan frowned, anger dissipating. He was too tired to keep this up. He wanted to yell at the thief, claim that it was all his fault, but – it wasn’t. KID did everything in his power to make sure nothing harmful or unpleasant ever happened to his detectives. There was no way he could have predicted this. It wasn’t his fault, but Conan wanted someone to blame. If he couldn’t blame the host of the party he was going to, then… who else could he blame but himself? Kuroba seemed to know what was going through his head. “It’s not your fault,” he blurted out. “Whatever happened. I know you wouldn’t do something like this; at least not…” he trailed off, and Conan was left wondering what he was about to say. “Never mind. But please, Tantei-kun. Let me stay. Or if you’re sure you don’t want that, then at least let me help. Let me take this bag home; I’ll handle it. You don’t have to do anything.” “This isn’t your problem.” Conan realized that he was cold. He was still almost completely naked; the only thing giving him any sort of decency being the small towel wrapped around his waist. “Please leave. I’ll deal with it myself.” Kuroba sighed. “I won’t let you. I’ll leave now, but I’m taking this with me, okay? Get some sleep. And don’t go to school. I’ll see you later.” He stepped forward with his arms outstretched as if to hug him, but quickly thought better of it just in time. He turned on his heel and left Conan’s line of sight. Conan slid down the tub, his legs shaking too much to support himself for much longer. He came looking for me, he realized. But… why? --- Ran wasn’t very happy with him in the morning, after the sun had risen. “You snuck out last night, didn’t you, Conan-kun.” It wasn’t a question. Conan sniffled, his face flushed red in what wasn’t an entirely feigned illness. “No,” he lied. “You can ask anyone who was there; I didn’t go to the KID heist.” That was true, at least. Ran caught on, though. “But you don’t deny that you didn’t sneak out to go somewhere else?” She asked before sighing. “I got a call from Takagi-keiji, Conan-kun. He said you found a dead girl in an alley ten minutes from here sometime around four in the morning. I’m thinking you snuck out hoping to go to the KID heist, but found the girl instead and got sidetracked.” Well, you aren’twrong, Conan thought. “I’m sorry, Ran-neechan.” Ran let out a breath and held her hands on her hips. “Alright, Conan-kun. You can stay home, but in exchange I’m extending your grounding for another week, alright? I know you did good in reporting the crime to the police, but you still shouldn’t have left the house. Is that fair?” Conan nodded. “I understand.” “Good,” his surrogate older sister smiled. “But I still have to go to school, and Otou-san’s already out for his newest case, so… I’ll be back in the afternoon, alright, Conan-kun? If you get hungry, we have some leftovers in the fridge that you can heat up.” “Okay. Have a good day at school, Ran-neechan.” “Bye-bye, Conan-kun!” When the door slammed shut, Conan sighed and snuggled further into his blankets. For the first time in hours, he finally felt warm. His head hurt and throbbed; he hadn’t been able to get any sleep at all after KID had left. … Kuroba Kaito. He couldn’t tell if it was a false name or not. Kaitou being Kaito was a bit silly in his mind, but Kaito was indeed a legitimate name for Japanese males. Kuroba was a bit more odd, but he supposed it was plausible. Then again, KID did have a small white imprint of a clover on his monocle. It could’ve been a play on that. In fact, Conan was almost entirely sure that that was the case. But what supported the opposing theory was that KID had seemed to be in great distress upon seeing his condition; surely he wouldn’t have blurted out such a false name so easily? He’s an excellent actor, he reminded himself. I’m sure it’s possible for him. In truth, he was just trying to keep his mind and thoughts away from the events of the early morning. He didn’t want to think about it. He was worried that if he managed to fall asleep, he would be plagued with nightmares about what had happened, and then he wouldn’t be able to get a good rest anyway. He turned and shoved his face into his pillow. I hate everything. His inner turmoil was temporarily interrupted when he heard a loud pounding at the door. “Kudou!” A familiar voice shouted, and Conan blinked – no way, what was he doing here? “Open the door, will ya?” Conan shakily stood on his legs and made his way over to the door. Slowly and carefully he turned the knob to see a certain bright and smiling Osakan beaming down at him. “Yo!” “… What are you doing here, Hattori? I’m grounded.” “I know that,” Hattori laughed and made his way inside, kicking off his shoes behind him. “But ‘Neechan’s at school, right? I didn’t see you leave the building, so I figured you must be sick or something.” He turned and eyed Conan with a scrutinizing glance. “Yep, I’m right. You look like shit.” “… Thanks.” Wait a minute. “Were you stalking my house?” “Not your house,” Hattori smirked cheekily. “’Neechan’s house. And yes, I was. Because a certain someone didn’t show up to the heist this morning!” He jabbed a finger in Conan’s chest, and the small child fell onto the floor in a heap. Hattori blinked. “Sorry, sorry. Did I hit you too hard? I always forget you can’t really keep up with me physically in that body of yours,” he laughed. Conan took in raspy breaths, trying to get his breathing under control – calm down, he told himself. It was just a brief moment of contact. Don’t let Hattori know anything’s wrong. “I’m fine,” he said shakily. “I’m just tired, is all.” “You sound like it,” Hattori frowned. “Need me to get anything for ya?” The faux child shook his head. “No, I’m fine. Thanks, though. So did you come over just to yell at me about missing this morning’s heist, or did you have some ulterior motive in mind as well?” “You caught me,” Hattori laughed, scratching the back of his head. “Truth is, I was gonna invite you to come back to Osaka with me for a few days to hang out. Your grounding ends today, right?” “It did. Not anymore – Ran found out I snuck out and extended the punishment another week. Besides, it’s a school week. She wouldn’t let me go anyway.” “That’s true, but you’re smart and I figured—wait a minute.” The gears turned in Hattori’s head, and he zeroed in on Conan’s slip. “You snuck out last night?” Shit. Conan racked his brain, trying to figure out a way to get out of the hole he had just dug himself. “Um…” “Where the hell were you if ya didn’t go to the heist?” Conan fiddled with his pajama top, looking down – anywhere but directly at Hattori. What should he say? He couldn’t tell him the truth – Kaitou KID knowing, of all people, was more than enough. If he told Hattori, he couldn’t guarantee the dark skinned Osakan wouldn’t run off in search of his attackers in a fit of anger to avenge his best friend. The only clues Conan had had already been washed away, and the rest… … was in KID’s hands. Quite literally. “I… was just taking a stroll nearby?” It was a lousy excuse, and he knew it. Even Hattori wouldn’t buy it. He wasn’t surprised when Hattori narrowed his eyes. “That’s a lie. You never were a good liar – I don’t know how you’ve been managing to trick ‘Neechan for so long.” My mother is an actress and I like to think that some skills are genetic, thank you very much, Conan thought bitterly, but he refused to say it out loud. “What were you really doing, Kudou? It’s not something you can’t talk to your best friend about, is it?” Conan felt guilty. He did not want to get Hattori tangled up in this. This was something he had to deal with on his own – he’d find the people who did this to him and make sure they got jail time. Hattori had nothing to do with this case, and Conan would make sure it stayed that way. “I… I’m sorry, Hattori. I can’t tell you.” As expected, Hattori’s face fell. “What the heck, Kudou? If it’s a case, you can tell me all about it. I’ve seen scenes just as grisly and gory as you have; you know this!” “This isn’t… it’s not a murder,” yes it is, his mind unhelpfully reminded him, they killed that girl. You don’t even know her name. “Not… completely.” “Not completely?” Hattori was confused. “What do you mean – was it an attempted murder?” “… No, they succeeded.” How much was Conan willing to reveal? “They? So it’s more than one person, then,” Hattori held a hand up to his chin. “How many?” “… Two. Both male.” “Two men. Wait, if there were two men, and they succeeded in a murder, but it’s notcompletely a murder, then… they did something else, right? That you’re trying to book ‘em for. … Well, not like you wouldn’t be tryin’ ta book ‘em if murder was the only thing they did, but obviously they did something else that’s really bothering you so much that you won’t tell me about it. Let me guess.” Please don’t, Conan squeezed his eyes. You’ve already figured half of it out – isn’t that enough? “Can’t be a simple robbery; you would have told me that,” Hattori hummed before something popped in his head. “Wait a minute. Did they…?” He looked around as if trying to see if any uninvited visitors were watching before leaning in close to Conan’s ear. “Did they rape her?” Conan’s breath came out in uneven gasps, and that was all the answer Hattori needed to straighten himself and curse. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Haven’t dealt with a rapist before, have you?” “… Have you?” Conan blinked in surprise; it didn’t seem like anything Hattori would have experience with. “Eh, kind of,” the other shrugged. “I was chasin’ him for murder. Caught him and he ended up confessing to his other crimes, including robbery and rape. So in a way, I guess I have. Though it wasn’t really what I was chasing ‘im for – it just came up.” Conan let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “But anyway, enough about that. You’ve got some evidence against them by now, don’t you? If you were gone long enough that ‘Neechan noticed, you probably spent hours checking the crime scene for any traces they could have left behind, right? So what did you find?” The faux child looked off to the side. “Um… I did have evidence. But… it’s not here anymore.” That gave Hattori some pause. “… What do you mean you did have evidence? What happened to it?” “… Look, Hattori,” Conan growled, finally having enough of the conversation. “This doesn’t concern you. I’ll handle this by myself, so don’t worry about it, okay? This is my case.” “What’s wrong with you, Kudou?” Hattori countered. “We’re best buds – we work together, especially if one of us is in a slump. And no offense, but you don’t exactly look picture perfect right now. You look like you’re about to collapse at any second: you have circles under your eyes and you’re having trouble focusing on me – don’t think I didn’t notice that. So whatever it is that’s bothering you, just speak up and let me help!” “No, Hattori!” Conan shouted, and the Osakan actually took a step back. “I don’t need your help! This is something I have to do alone!” Kaitou KID be damned. “Just… if you don’t have any other business here, then leave. I just want to sleep.” With that final outburst, he turned on his heel and made his way back to the futon in Kogoro’s room. Just barely could he hear the soft footsteps of Hattori trailing right behind him, but he paid them no mind as he flopped down into the cushions and pulled the blanket up and over his head. “… M’sorry, Kudou.” Conan could barely Hattori’s soft and muffled voice through the thick fabric. “This case is that important to you, huh? Well, I can’t promise that I won’t completely stay out of it, but I will give you the space you want. Is that fair?” Conan made an unintelligible noise from within the depths of the futon, and Hattori could do nothing but accept it as a form of agreement. Then there was silence. Eventually Conan emerged from the confines of his blanket, but Hattori had already left by then. He must have closed the door quietly so as to not disturb him, Conan figured before letting out a soft sigh. Hattori really was a good friend – he only wanted to look out for him. Maybe he was too harsh. He didn’t have much time to think over it some more, however, as his Conan cell phone suddenly started to vibrate. Eyebrow raised, he reached over to where it had haphazardly been thrown to the floor hours earlier to see the screen light up, alerting him of five text messages from a number he didn’t recognize. An unnerving wave of nausea washed over his body as he moved to open the first one. His heart nearly stopped in his chest. The first message was a picture – a picture of himself. He looked like a mess – his skin was shiny with sweat and dirtied by the unclean asphalt he was sitting on; his arms were bound behind his back and his ankles beneath him; he was on his knees with large hands holding the back of his head as he— That man— Swallowing thickly, he moved on to the next one. The next picture was of him in the same position, but from a different angle – closer to his face. He wasn’t sucking that anymore, but his cheeks were flushed red from what was probably embarrassment. Not pleasure; there was absolutely nothing pleasurable about that night. The third picture was the worst, taken from an aerial view. He was on his back and facing the camera, hands still bound behind him, his legs spread wide with… that man inside of him, clear as day in the shot. Conan remembered it being dark, but the light reflecting off the sheen of sweat on his body showed him that the picture was taken with flash. They wanted everything to be seen. In the picture, his face was colored an even darker red than the last, and his mouth wide open – it almost seemed as if they purposefully took it at a time and angle so that it seemed like he was enjoying it despite the tape binding him. “Gh…” Conan swallowed hard and moved onto the fourth picture. This one was odd. It wasn’t a picture at all from last night, but instead it was a picture of three smaller pictures all laid out neatly side by side with each other on a wooden desk – probably a nightstand, if the poor lighting from a nearby lamp said anything. The three pictures were of himself and the people he was living with – Ran on the left, himself in the middle, and Occhan on the right. His and Ran’s pictures were from picture day at school in bright color while Occhan’s was taken from a newspaper, black and white and grainy. His own picture was circled with a bright red marker, and in that same color, off to the sides, an arrow pointed straight at Ran’s, and a giant X crossed over Occhan’s. He didn’t like the look of it one bit. Willing himself not to drop the cell phone and just curl up into a ball, he moved onto the last message – which actually was a message. Hey there, it read in a small font that seemed so horribly large and imposing to Conan. We took these yesterday as a sort of memento – you know, to remember the occasion of our meeting. What a time that was. Listen, we like you. We had a good time back there, and we thought that you might be interested in coming over to our apartment later tonight (any time is fine; doesn’t matter to us as long as it’s today, before midnight) to play again. There’s someone we’d like you to meet as well. He’s very interested in you. Of course, you could send our address to the police to permanently get us out of your hair; that’s definitely an option you can choose to take. But know that if you do, these pictures will conveniently find their way to the phones of everyone on your contacts list. That’s a lot of people; you were so kind last night to sleep when we were done and not object while we recorded their numbers. If you don’t snitch on us, but you don’t come, then… well, it looks like you’re living with a beautiful young lady who would be more than happy to be acquainted with us. We’d be just as happy to meet her. We don’t care about the man – whatever happens to him, happens. The same applies if you come and try to fight back. Your choice, little detective. Conan’s body shook, and the phone almost slipped from his fingers. No. No. He knew he should have worried more when he found his phone outside of the pocket of his pants, but – he was so focused on other things at the time that it quickly slipped his mind. He didn’t want to go. He really, reallydidn’t want to go. But if he didn’t go, then Ran would be taken instead, and Occhan… he couldn’t have that. It was either her or him, and he would never let her go through something like that in a million years. “I have to go,” he softly said out loud. His voice sounded weak and uneven – so much that even he could hear the cracks. But he had to put up a brave front, because he hadn’t cried yet. They hadn’t won yet. The tape from last night collected all the tears he had to shed, and he hadn’t had a chance to break down ever since. “I won’t break,” he gripped his blanket, feeling the soft fabric move between his small fingers and savoring it. “I won’t break.” He could take whatever they did to him – he was Kudou Shinichi! Not small, weak, innocent little Edogawa Conan. Kudou Shinichi wouldn’t let something like this get him down. That wasn’t like him. Ignoring the part of his mind screaming irony at him, he looked up over Occhan’s bed and out the window with resolve. He’d have to sneak out of the house again, but it was to protect Ran. Everything he did was to protect her – it’s all he was made to do. This would be no different. --- His first and foremost issue was the matter of, ‘how am I even going to get past Ran?’ He had already decided that he would trick Hattori into taking him there. It wouldn’t be too hard – it was mean, but Hattori was overly trusting of him. If he said that he may have gotten a lead on the case (which technically wasn’t even a lie), then he was sure that the Osakan wouldn’t think twice about taking him. The hardest part about the plan would be to convince Hattori not to follow him after they got there. Of course, he could just simply tell Hattori the truth, and that he’d found the rapists… but then the pictures would go around, and the reason he didn’t want that wasn’t exactly that he was embarrassed of them. Hattori would be furious, Ran even moreso, and he wasn’t sure if they could keep themselves under enough control to not land themselves behind bars for assault. They would begin to look at him with something akin to pity, which was the last thing he wanted. He didn’t need their pity – he was Kudou Shinichi, the savior of the police. Kudou Shinichi never would have found himself in such a situation. He would have saved that girl and gotten away from the rapists unscathed – he was that kind of person. ... Conan shook his head, wondering when he had started referring to himself as two separate people. Conan and Shinichi are the same, he thought. They aren’t different people. He started focusing back on the matter at hand, shaking the disturbing implications off. Conan closed his eyes, trying to think. Hattori would take him there and bring him back. Before he could second guess any of his choices, he raised his cellphone and quickly typed out a text to the Osakan. I got a lead on the case. Take me to this address later tonight, at around eight. He typed out the address and pressed send before he could delete it. His heart beat loudly in his chest – he was sentencing himself and he knew it. But he had to go through with it, if not for his own pride and dignity, then for Ran. Briefly he thought of just how many people those pictures would go to if they were to be sent. Hattori, Ran, Occhan, the FBI (oh no), the Shounen Tanteidan… The children definitely didn’t need to see this, he thought. They wouldn’t necessarily understand what exactly they were seeing (though they were smart kids; Mitsuhiko once even got Haibara to delete a picture of Ran in a swimsuit from his phone because it was ‘illegal for little boys to see’. Or it could just be Mitsuhiko himself), but surely even they would realize that concept of those images were very, very wrong. I’m supposed to be their leader, Conan bit his lip, his head swimming. Why did it suddenly hurt so much? I can’t let them see those pictures. His phone buzzed, and he nearly dropped it out of surprise. A quick glance at the screen told him that it was Hattori. You did? He could sense the incredulity the Osakan must have felt, even from the small boring text. How? Wait, wait, it doesn’t matter – yes, I’ll take you! Want me to lie to ‘Neechan? Or if it’s inevitable, then I’ll just take you right from under her nose. Sure, she won’t be happy at all with me, but it’ll get the blame off of you. Conan smiled. Perfect. Just what he needed. That’s fine, he texted out his response even as the room started to spin. It was too hot. Thanks, Hattori. Hattori’s reply was almost instant. No problem! Conan fell back into his futon, counting down the hours until his demise. Thirteen hours and twelve minutes, thirteen hours and eleven minutes, thirteen hours and ten minutes… He kicked off his blankets, his body starting to sweat. Why was it suddenly so hot? His head hurt. His body burned. He felt nauseous and the room was starting to blur into a mess of light and colors until he couldn’t think of anything but the time: thirteen hours and seven minutes, thirteen hours and six minutes… He didn’t realize that he had dozed off until he woke up to the sunlight’s rays beating down on his face. Just barely could he feel the faint throb of a lasting headache pound in his skull. Then he realized something – the fabric beneath him was unfamiliar, his vantage point was different, and it took him a moment to register that he had been moved from his regular futon to Kogoro’s bed – likely Ran’s doing. Was school over? A glance at the clock – three hours and two minutes – told him that yes, school was indeed over. And he suddenly had much less time. He’d been out for that long? “Oi, you awake yet?” Of course, since the universe seemed to love turning everything Conan knew about it upside down lately, Kogoro poked his head into the room. “Ran said she’d be late today since that rich friend of hers wanted to take her somewhere. She won’t be back until nine. You were running a fever, so I gave you some medicine. You were practically dead when you took it though, so I don’t know if you remember it or not. Either way – stay in bed. I already told Ran about you being sick, and she’s going to pick up some things on the way home for you.” Conan could hear the television from the room, blaring Okino Yoko’s most recent concert. “Um… thanks, Oji-san,” the boy smiled lightly, but Occhan was already out of the room and screaming excitedly at the top of his lungs. … Well, that was alright. He’d already done his surprisingly good deed of the day. He looked at his phone. Three texts from Hattori. Yo, Kudou,the first one read. I met up with a friend of yours and we’re talking down at Poirot right now. If you want to come – ‘Neechan shouldn’t have a problem; it’s literally connected to your house! – then just get on over here. You can provide some info about the case we don’t have, if you want. Friend? Conan briefly wondered before moving to the next message. That Amuro guy’s creeping me out. He’s been standing close to us this whole time, and we’ve been trying not to talk too loudly since I’m ninety percent positive that he’s eavesdropping, but it might not be working. You said he’s part ofThem, right? What do you think he wants? Conan shrugged, even though there was no possible way for Hattori to see it. Bourbon’s the least of my problems right now, he thought reluctantly. Though the Black Organization would always be in the back of his mind, at the present he couldn’t bring himself to think too much about them. He’d go insane from the stress. Finally, the last message, sent just ten minutes ago. I’m gonna come and get you soon. Mouri-han came in Poirot just a little bit ago grumbling about buying dinner for sick brats. You haven’t caught anything, have you? Though I guess ithasbeen a bit chilly lately… still, you need to take better care of yourself, Kudou! What am I gonna do with you? Either way, be ready in about half an hour! It’ll take a while to get to that address; it’s not exactly close by. Conan took a deep breath. Half an hour, huh? And here he was, still in his pajamas. Quickly he slid off the bed and rummaged through his clothing, throwing on the first things he saw. It probably didn’t matter what he wore anyway. He shuddered; not like he would be wearing it for much longer. He topped it off with a jacket. Hattori was right; it had been a bit chilly recently. Just as promised, Hattori did indeed arrive in half an hour, practically breaking the door down as he entered. “I’m gonna take this kid with me!” He called to Kogoro, grabbing Conan from his room. Kogoro only muttered a half-grunted response as he continued watching his precious concert with a focus Conan wished he could start adopting for actual cases. “So,” Hattori started, making his way down to the taxi he had called. “You got a lead, huh? How’d you do that? You were in bed all day.” “I have my ways,” Conan muttered. “And you can’t come with me.” “Come on, Kudou, you can te—wait, what?” As predicted, Hattori stopped. He was just short of the taxi, his hand already outstretched to open the car door. “What do you mean?” “Just drop me off and leave. I’ll tell you when I’m done.” “I can’t do that, Kudou, you—“ Hattori stopped himself before letting out a sigh. “I’m not going to leave you alone, Kudou.” He regained control of his body and opened the car door, carefully setting Conan inside. Conan would have made a comment about Hattori being unusually gentle (as Hattori tended to forget about his smaller stature and end up manhandling him anyway), but he had other things to press him about. “Why not? I can work by myself.” Stay calm. Don’t give anything away. Hattori had made his way to the passenger seat in the front before he responded. “Because this is my case now too, so I’m not gonna leave you alone to collect evidence all by yourself. What kind of friend would I be, leaving you to do all the work?” Conan frowned; there was something in the way his best friend was speaking that struck him as odd. It seemed as if… the Osakan was carefully choosing his words so as to not agitate him. Why? “… What did you find out about this case, Hattori? You said you were talking with a friend of mine.” “Ah, right. He didn’t have much that I didn’t already know – the only new bit of info I got was that the girl was found naked this morning. I don’t know if she was shot before or after she was raped, though.” Voices rang in Conan’s head as he remembered them from last night. His eyes were covered; he couldn’t see… so his sense of sound was heightened. There was that smacking noise, like flesh on flesh… and the skinnier man said something about the girl going cold and not doing anything for him. If he was correct, then it meant that after she had been shot and killed, they tried having sex with her corpse. Then that was a bust, and they turned their attention to him… He shivered. “Kudou? You okay back there?” Hattori’s voice rang from the front before he turned to look at the faux child with a concerned look on his face. Conan nodded shakily. “Y-yeah. I’m fine. Um… the house I’m going to is the house of the girl,” he lied. “I’m going to ask her parents a few questions about what she was doing out so late.” “Ah, alright. I’ll come with ya then.” “No!” Conan screamed, and the taxi driver jumped, swerving the car to the left. The taxi quickly got back on track, but not before bringing out the rage in other drivers just behind them, resulting in angry honks blaring through the setting day. “Don’t… don’t come.” “Kudou…” Hattori breathed. “Is there something you don’t want me to see?” No use in hiding it now. He didn’t care what he had to do short of telling Hattori the truth; he just wanted him to leave once they got there. The boy nodded and wrapped his arms around his knees. It almost hurt, the seatbelt digging into his chest from the new position, but he liked curling in on himself like this. It made him feel safe, almost. The Osakan in front let out a sigh after seeing his new position. “Kudou, if I promise not to stick around… you promise not to do anything you’ll regret, right?” Like I have a choice. Conan nodded and lied. “I promise. You can stick around me all you want after this.” Hattori seemed to be having an inner conflict with himself before he finally spoke up again. When he did, his voice was strained, as if he wanted nothing more than to be talking about something else. “Okay… okay. I’ll leave you there. But if anything – anything – goes wrong, call my cell, okay? I’ll pick you up as soon as possible. This case is messing with you, Kudou, and I don’t think it’s just about the rapists. I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Please come to me if you need anything.” Conan didn’t know what to say to that, so instead he chose to stay quiet. They spent the rest of the ride in silence. --- “Ah, there he is. Look, we have someone we want you to meet.” Conan suppressed a grimace as the tall, gangly man opened the door and moved to the side. He hoped against all hope that Heiji had already taken the taxi somewhere far, far away from here instead of barging in on his business as he was prone to do – he didn’t want him seeing what was bound to come next. There was some reassurance, however, in the fact that he knew his best friend wouldn’t tell Ran were he had gone, no matter how much she pressured him. With that last fleeting thought, he walked inside. The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can go home. The bearded man (part of him wanted to get their names just to have something to call them by, another part wanted nothing to do with these people ever again) was sitting on an old looking couch that had tears and holes in numerous places, nursing a frothy cup of beer. The television set was on; predictably, it was the coverage of Kaitou KID’s heist from the night before. Conan glanced at it just in time for the reporter to give his theory on why KID had left in such a hurry (“A family emergency, perhaps? From what we could see of his face, he looked so serious—“) before the screen flickered off. “Ah, he’s a lot smaller than I thought he’d be,” a voice Conan didn’t recognize cooed off to the side, and the detective whipped his head towards the origin. A clean shaven man who looked like he could have been an everyday office worker or (god forbid) an elementary school teacher stood just behind a camera set (this didn’t bode well at all in Conan’s mind), scrutinizing his body along with every detail. “Is that a problem?” Skinny man (who Conan mentally named ‘Lanky’) asked, closing the door shut behind him after making sure Conan hadn’t brought anyone else along. Business man (who was mentally named ‘Mundane’) smiled. “No, this is even better.” He stepped out from behind the camera set and knelt down to Conan’s level. The child narrowed his eyes and took a cautious step backwards, but Lanky moved to push him back in place. Mundane grabbed Conan’s shoulders and almost immediately started trailing his hands down the sides of his small body. Conan had to bite back curses – don’t touch me, I’ll bite you, I’ll make sure you spend the next few years behind bars – and simply closed his eyes, pretending he was anywhere but there. “Mm. Conan-kun,” don’t say my name; not you, not any of you, “do you mind changing into this for me?” Conan didn’t want to know what it was the man wanted him to wear, but he didn’t even have to open his eyes to find out as the fabric had already been pushed lightly into his arms. It was a thin white shirt, big enough to reach below his knees. But that was all he was given. He turned back to Lanky, who shrugged. “Get on it, boy. We’ve already seen you naked.” Don’t remind me. Conan took a deep breath before carefully peeling off his jacket and shirt. He noted with rising disgust that Mundane seemed to be leaning closer with every bit of skin he had to show, to the point where the detective had to push his face away. Mundane didn’t even seem the least bit ashamed. (“Ah,” the man had said when Conan lowered his pants enough to reveal his bare waist. “He has bruises on his hips. How roughly did you hold him?”) When his boxers slipped off along with his socks, the ordinary man seemed ready to pounce on him right then and there, but managed to hold at least some self- restraint. The shirt was easy enough to pull on, and it had been re-stitched so that it wouldn’t immediately slide off. Instead, it fit snugly around his neck and shoulders, but Conan had a feeling that it wouldn’t stay there for very long. After he had finished changing, he felt the cool metal of a gun’s muzzle press into the back of his neck (ah, there it is; I’ve been wondering when that was coming). “Takana-sensei here is going to ask you to do a few things. Do what he says, and we won’t have to do anything unpleasant, yeah?” Conan’s breath hitched; he didn’t even bother responding – he had a name. Takana. Takana. Takana. A very common surname, he didn’t even want to think about how many people they would have to sort through with that last name – but it was something. The gun prodded at him uncomfortably. “When I ask you a question, I expect an answer,” Lanky growled. “Yes, sir,” Conan muttered. Takana kept smiling, and Conan found himself loathing it more and more with each passing second. “Now, Conan-kun,” he purred. “I’ve had an interest in you ever since I first saw your picture in the newspaper. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a very long time now.” “He has a fetish for little boys,” Lanky explained. “With how often you’ve been the center of the news, you’ve became his newest obsession.” Lucky me.Conan kept his glare focused on Takana. “What I want you to do,” Takana continued, completely ignoring the interruption, “is to touch yourself. That’s it. All while I roll the camera.” “I’m not doing anything like that,” Conan growled. “Yes, you are,” Lanky pressed the gun forward, and the pressure caused Conan to fall onto his knees. “Remember who holds the cards here. Listen to us, and you’ll find yourself alive in the morning without a bullet in your head. Also, none of the pictures we took last night will make its way around your contacts list. It is up to you, of course, so… what’ll it be?” Conan bit his lip and kept his head lowered, glaring daggers at the ground. Without another sound, he lifted his shirt and hesitantly lowered a shaky hand between his legs. “Ah, that’s good!” Takana quickly moved back to the camera stands, messing about to get them rolling. “But spread your legs a little wider, please. Don’t worry, these videos aren’t going anywhere. They’re just for me.” You sick bastard. But Conan complied, spreading his legs for the camera’s view and feeling even more exposed than he did the previous night. At least then, he couldn’t see what was going on. Now he had to do it all over again, except this time to himself. He bit his lip and raised his small fingers to the tip of his underdeveloped penis, rubbing circles on the sensitive skin and making goose bumps rise. His breath hitched; it had been flaccid before, but the continuous administrations began to take effect and soon it stood stiff and rigid. Conan could hear Takana suck in an excited breath even from the other side of the room. “You can make some noise,” the creep explained, and Conan wanted nothing more than to sock him in the face. The gun trained at the back of his head was a constant reminder, however, that that was a bad idea. “In fact, I encourage it. I want you to enjoy this.” “But I don’t enjoy this,” Conan growled, trying to keep some sense of dignity. “It sure looks like you do,” beard man called from the couch, and Conan forgot he was even there. Takana shook his head. “Just let go. Keep doing what you were doing and pretend we aren’t even here.” Conan closed his eyes in frustration. The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can go home, he thought. The longer I stay, the higher the chance of Hattori coming back to get me. And that’s the last thing I want. He grabbed himself near his balls and let out a hiss. Let’s get this over with. Let’s get this over with. Slowly he started moving up and down, squeezing at odd intervals to derive and force more of those jolts of pleasure into his body. His small fingers occasionally rubbed the tip, smearing the thin, clear liquid that was beginning to leak out without his permission. The liquid began to drip down his member and made it easier for Conan to pump without chafing himself. His thighs trembled and his chest heaved, but he kept his mouth shut because god damnif he was going to let that Takana guy get what he wanted— “Don’t hold back, now; make some noise,” Takana breathed. “Help him out, would you?” At first, Conan had no idea what he meant. But very quickly he soon understood as Lanky behind him lowered the gun to the ground and reached for his thighs from behind, knocking Conan down on his bottom. The man hooked his hands behind his knees and held them painfully apart, fully exposing all of Conan to the camera. “Stop!” Thin yet long legs pinned his thighs down and pointy knees bent beneath him to keep the lower half of his body pinned. Lanky’s arms moved from the back of the child’s knees now that they were secured and roughly splayed all five fingers on the inside of Conan’s thighs, close to his penis. One hand tugged lightly at his balls while the other rubbed circles into the soft flesh. “Stop, stop, stop,” Conan shook his head and grabbed at the man’s arms, trying to push them away. His breathing quickened and he felt the familiar sensation of pleasure pool in his belly. “No, no—“ “Relax and let go,” Lanky whispered into his ear, and Conan dropped all resistance. “Ah, ah, ah--!” The thin fingers pulled lightly at his dick, and some bent even lower to rub the hole between his cheeks, causing Conan to squeak and jump up. The hand that had previously been playing with his small balls moved up to smear some of the clear liquid leaking down on its fingers and moved even higher to rub wet circles around a perk nipple. “Feels good, right?” Lanky lowered his head and smiled into Conan’s neck. “You’re enjoying this.” “N-no, I’m –ah!—n-not…!” Conan shook his head, determined to will away his approaching orgasm. Even as his body shuddered, he continued to pull up all of his defenses. Think of anywhere but here,he thought desperately. Anywhere but here. But a finger slipped in that hole between his cheeks, and Conan was brought back crashing down into reality with a choked sob. He refused to let a tear fall, however, and was forced to take the blunt of Lanky’s administrations. “Ah, ah…!” “Keep going,” Takana insisted. “Just a little more, Conan-kun…” Conan threw his head back and bit his lips shut so tightly he was afraid they’d bleed. His body gave a final shudder before he rode out his orgasm – the thin, nearly clear liquid shooting out of his oversensitive penis and splattering onto the carpet. None of the men seemed to mind, however, as Takana wrapped up the film and clapped his hands together gleefully. “That was great! Tonight’s going to be so much fun with you here, Conan-kun. There are so many things we need to do, and so little time.” Conan remained where he was slumped on the floor – Lanky had already abandoned him to discuss the plans for later that evening with Takana. We’re not… done…? He didn’t have to ask what they were doing next, however, as Lanky returned to fit and tie a black cloth around his eyes – a blindfold. Conan’s arms shot up to push him away, but Lanky easily forced him to the ground and pinned his arms down with his legs. Once the blindfold was securely tied around his head, another cloth was tied around his wrists behind his back. “To make sure you don’t pull it off,” Lanky said with a sneer. The faux child was lifted up by his hips and when he was sat down again, it was on something – something long and hard, pressing in between his cheeks. “What the hell,” he squeaked, trying to jump up and away from that thing – too cold to be a real penis – but the hands on his hips kept forcing him down, down, down, until it was completely buried inside of him and Conan felt violated and disgusted. “For this next part, just ride that, okay?” Takana’s voice called out from the other side of the room. “Just ride it until you come. Please do try to get into it.” “I’m not--!” “I’ll make you comply,” Lanky’s voice growled from behind, and Conan suppressed a groan. The hands at his hips moved him up, up until the tip of the – what was it? A dildo? – plastic penis was out of him before shoving him back down to the base, resulting in a high pitched scream – or it would have if one of the hands hadn’t moved up to cover his mouth shut. “Don’t want the other residents of this apartment hearing you. You can moan, but you can’t shout or scream, got it?” Conan gave a shaky nod and the hands moved away, leaving him to move on his own. With trembling thighs, he pushed himself up before falling back down. It’s no use, he thought, still exhausted from his last orgasm. I’m too tired. They aren’t getting anything out of me. But then suddenly, the thing started vibrating. Conan squeaked, nearly jumping completely off the cock – but large hands were fast to force him back down. “What the hell, what the hell,” he muttered like a mantra; the vibrations were seemingly shooting directly to the area between his legs, and in a matter of seconds he found himself painfully hard again. “Gh… ah,” he groaned out, moving himself up and down. He hated this. Hated, hated, hated this, no matter how pleasurable his body seemed to find it. Part of him was worried that, in his tiny child body, he would be broken by morning with no hope of repair after all the things they had planned for him. That scared him more than anything. Lanky’s hands came back, except this time to reach underneath his too-large shirt and tape something small and plastic to his nipples and – there, they started to vibrate. “Nnh,” Conan ground out. His chest heaved; he couldn’t have another orgasm, not so soon – but it seemed like his body had other plans, as he felt the thin, clear liquid from before leak down his member again, and the tendrils of release just barely pooling in his groin. Lanky’s hands came back to pull his shirt up to his neck, revealing all of him to the camera. “You need to get more into it, Conan-kun,” Takana called. “You’re putting on a show, after all.” Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, Conan thought desperately in a chant as he began to move again, plunging the vibrating dildo even deeper into himself. “Ah, ah…” All he had to do was get this over with. Hurry up, and it’ll be done. He only hoped he could finish before he broke down completely. He squeezed hard on the vibrating plastic, forcing it to press completely into his walls, increasing – “Ah!” – the pressure. Almost immediately he had to let go, however, as it was too much for his small body to bear. He settled for going back to the sickeningly familiar up and down motions, and he could feel that he was nearing his limit. Just a bit more… “Ah, ah--!” As his climax approached, he moved faster and faster, almost desperately. Finally he felt release, and he slumped down, thighs exhausted and unwilling to move, as he forced out his second orgasm that night. He could feel the disgusting liquid drip out of himself, but he could tell without even looking that it was considerably less than before. Suddenly Takana’s voice was right next to his ear, and the man himself was lifting him up and rubbing soothing circles into his back. “Good boy, good boy,” he cooed. “There’s just one more thing I want from you, okay? Then you can go home.” “No,” Conan’s voice croaked, and he tried pushing himself away – but the man’s grip was tight. “I don’t – I don’t want to…” “It’s okay, just one more thing,” Takana repeated, and the blindfold slipped away from Conan’s eyes. Conan blinked, nearly blinded by the light, and when his vision cleared he could see that he was sitting in Takana’s lap – his very naked lap. “You can do this for me, right?” He leaned in close. Conan struggled, trying to push the man’s face away. It seemed that Lanky had found his gun, however, when he pressed it into the child’s back, growling, “Do what he says, boy.” Conan squeezed his eyes shut, and lowered his arms. Takana was gentle, and Conan found that he much preferred the rough way the two men handled him the previous night. This way seemed too familiar, too sensual and attached for what it really was – and Conan hated every bit of it. Long and thin fingers hooked themselves underneath his chin and forced him to look up, and not a moment later the man’s lips were covering his own. “Mmph,” he tried pushing him away, but the gun pressed deeper into the fabric of his thin shirt. Conan could only hope that Takana didn’t try drugging him like last night. He did no such thing, but his tongue thoroughly invaded his mouth in a way that made Conan feel completely exposed. Nothing was left untouched, and Conan wanted to bite the offending thing off more than anything – but he was constantly being reminded that that wouldn’t be a good idea. All he had to do was bear it, even as Takana moved his one of his hands so that it was gripping his jaw painfully to gain deeper access. His other hand moved around to rub circles into the soft skin of his thigh. When he finally pulled away, Conan gasped for air. Takana had an infuriating smile on his own face, and asked, “Was that as nice for you as it was for me, Conan-kun?” Conan responded with a glare. “Are we done yet?” He bit out. “Oh, that wasn’t the last thing I wanted you to do,” Takana laughed, seemingly oblivious to Conan’s anger. “I actually just thought of that on the spot and took the opportunity. Your lips are very soft, Conan-kun… it’s wonderful.” “Fuck you,” Conan finally said out loud, resisting the urge to spit in the man’s face. Takana’s smile finally faltered and was replaced by a small frown that almost seemed unfitting for the man’s face. “That’s not very nice, Conan-kun – children shouldn’t say things like that. I was going to make this easy on you since I know you’re tired, but I guess that little outburst deserves a bit of a punishment, no? No child should go unpunished; he’ll never learn that way.” Lanky threw the gun to the side and grabbed at Conan’s legs, pulling him closer. “Wait, wait, what--?” Conan’s question went unanswered as the man reached over his head for something he couldn’t see. Even the bearded man, who had probably been watching the entire time, sick bastard, finally got off the couch and made his way closer. Conan was pushed down on his stomach. His head was tilted up, but the only thing he could see was Takana’s dick, pulsing and already leaking with pre- come. “No, no,” Conan muttered and shook his head, but Takana had already grabbed him by the back of his hair and pressed his face closer to his groin. “Start with the balls, Conan-kun,” Takana called gleefully and moved Conan’s head to where he wanted it. Conan gulped and was about to say some choice words before the hand forced his head forward even more, and the hot flesh was forcing its way to his mouth where the only thing he could do was lick. Behind him, Lanky had pushed his shirt up and was already sliding a lubed finger inside of him. Conan would have shaken his head in protest, but Takana’s grip remained firm. Conan moved both hands to Takana’s waist, trying to push himself away, but instead found himself gripping it for dear life as Lanky violently forced his fingers in and out. “S-stop,” he managed to say around Takana’s crotch, “that hurts!” “It’s a punishment; it’s supposed to hurt,” Lanky groaned (though he was obviously enjoying it, bastard) while adding a third finger. Conan creased his eyebrows and leaned forward. Not again, not again, not aga—Takana pulled on his hair again, and, apparently having decided that Conan wasn’t going to do much more by himself, took matters in his own hands. He thrust himself forward into Conan’s mouth, almost down to the base. Conan’s eyes widened and he nearly choked, but managed to keep himself under control. It’s not as bad as last night.Behind him, Lanky finally pulled his fingers out and replaced it with his own dick, thrusting in much harder and more violently than the bearded man had yesterday – Conan would have screamed in pain if it weren’t for the organic gag trying to force its way down his throat. Think of Ran, he thought to himself. Th-this is nothing… It’s all to protect her. They were both bigger than the vibrating toy, and Conan felt tears (no, no, hold them back; don’t show weakness) well up in his eyes as they both started to move simultaneously. As Takana pushed himself in, Lanky pulled himself out; as Takana pulled out, Lanky painfully forced his way back in. They moved back and forth, and Conan couldn’t even get a single moment’s rest as Beard man finally made his appearance and sat off to the side, pinning his arms behind his back. They remained in that position before suddenly Takana pulled himself out with a pop, and Conan gasped desperately for air. He moved away, and Conan only had time to let out a confused noise when Lanky pulled him up while moving to lie on his back, hands moving to his bruised hips to force his tiny body down and down while Lanky himself continued to thrust up and up and up. “Agh, ah--!” Conan felt Takana grab his head again and turn it to the side to force himself back in his mouth. Takana was standing now, with his hands tangled in Conan’s hair. With the new position, it was easier for the man to force Conan to move as he pleased, pulling his head back and forth as he continued to reluctantly suck. The man with the beard had moved, too – he grabbed one of Conan’s free hands and moved it to his own throbbing member, making him pump it up and down in a half-assed hand job. Takana had reached down to his other hand, moving it to grip and pump the span of his dick Conan couldn’t quite cover with his mouth. Despite the overwhelming pain, Conan could feel his own member twitch slowly to life again – it was horribly agonizing; his exhausted body couldn’t bear to have yet another orgasm so soon. But the men weren’t stopping, and Conan felt the sensations finally catch up to him as tears flowed down his face in a torrent of emotion he couldn’t prevent escaping. R-Ran… Takana came first, his dick throbbing painfully before a burst of thick and white liquid exploded from the tip. “Swallow all of it, Conan-kun, can you do that?” But Conan couldn’t, only managing to get a little of it down before the rest poured down his chin and dripped onto his chest. Takana sighed and completely tore the thin shirt off. He wiped some of the come from Conan’s chin and smeared it over the boy’s chest, paying extra attention to his hardened nipples. Beard man, now that Conan’s mouth was unoccupied, took the chance to tangle his own hands in the boy’s hair and force him onto his own dick. Conan continued to sob, dropping his hands as he let the men do what they pleased to his body. It’s all for Ran… “Haha, look at that,” Lanky sneered, his hips thrusting upward to hit a particular spot that would have made Conan go crazy if it weren’t for the hold Beard man had on his hair. “Kid’s stopped fighting – he’s enjoying it now.” N- no, I’m not…Conan thought desperately.R-ra… n… Takana had moved his mouth close to Conan’s neck, biting down on the soft flesh and whispering meaningless words into his skin. (“Feels good, right? It’s okay, Conan-kun, you can let go – the only ones who will see you like this are us.”) Somewhere in the back of Conan’s mind, he wondered if he would leave any marks. Part of him just plain didn’t care. It seemed like hours had passed before the other two finally reached their peaks. Beard man pulled out with a satisfied grunt and came over Conan’s face before the child even had a chance to react. Lanky’s hands dug into the already bruised flesh of Conan’s hips before coming inside, some just barely managing to leak out. The three men finally pulled away, and Conan collapsed to the floor, soaked in various liquids he didn’t even want to think about. Almost immediately he curled up into his protective little ball. But Takana pulled on his leg and forced him out of his little bubble. “Ah, but you aren’t done yet, are you, Conan-kun?” He cooed and grabbed the boy who was too tired to protest into his lap. “Let me finish for you.” He lightly pushed Conan onto his back and lifted his legs so that Takana could completely cover his small crotch with his mouth. Conan gasped, his fingers digging into the wet carpet. Takana sucked lightly but earnestly, and it was only a matter of time before the faux child came yet again with a strangled sob. Takana continued to suck him dry, however, licking every last drop, however little of it there was. The three men left him there for a while to wallow in his own tears and depression. Eventually Takana and Lanky came back, the latter with a blanket. He tossed it unceremoniously onto Conan’s unmoving body. “Clean yourself up and get out of here,” he groaned before turning to leave again. Takana leaned down to whisper into his ear, “You did great today, Conan-kun. When I need more material, I’ll be sure to call you, okay?” He wiped Conan’s tears away with one hand before he finally left. Conan stayed there on the floor for a long while before he finally moved to clean himself up with the blanket. His jaw ached, his arms were tired, his legs were so wobbly that he was positive they wouldn’t support him, he was hungry, his groin ached, and his rear felt as if it had been torn apart, which it may as well have. He felt sticky, violated, and disgusted. His small arms weakly rubbed the blanket over various parts of his body before vigorously rubbing over his face. Hattori, he typed into his phone the moment he felt he was presentable enough. There were no mirrors that he could see, and he didn’t dare wander the other rooms of the apartment lest they mistake his search for wanting more. Come pick me up. I’m done here. His hair in particular felt sticky and wet, and no matter how hard he tried to wipe it, it just wouldn’t dry. Oh well, he thought. Not like Hattori will see it in the dark. Conan found his clothes strewn somewhere on the other side of the room. He had to crawl to reach them, and when he did he felt ready to just collapse and black the world out. Not yet, he struggled. I have to get back home first. He couldn’t fall unconscious yet. Especially not here. I’m here, Hattori’s text said, thirty minutes later. Conan considered himself lucky that none of the three men had come back in that time. I’m waiting for you right outside. Conan had to use the walls and various furniture to support himself, even as his arms screamed in pain. He tried to even his breathing, lest Hattori ask what was wrong, and the chilly air on the outside was a blessing for his feverish body. He slowly made his way down the staircase and saw a taxi waiting for him just across the street. He forced his tired legs to move faster and he didn’t stop until the door was open and he was safe inside. “You smell awful,” Hattori tried to joke, but there was an underlying concern in his voice. “What were you doing?” “I have an idea,” another familiar voice, one that Conan hadn’t been expecting, spoke up from the passenger seat next to the driver. He didn’t even realize that Hattori was sitting in the back when he opened the door. “You went back to them, didn’t you?” The owner of the voice turned, and leveled violet eyes at the very small child in the back. Hattori’s eyes widened and his head whipped back around to look at Conan. “Why are you here? KI—Kuroba-niichan,” Conan asked, wincing at the way his voice sounded. Hattori narrowed his eyes. “You sound awful, too. Worse than earlier today, actually. Just what were you doing over there? There’s no way that could have been just a couple of questions. Who were those people?” You promised you wouldn’t do anything you’d regret, Kudou. “Yes, Conan-kun,” Kuroba Kaito frowned, ignoring the faux child’s question. “What exactly wereyou doing over there?” Conan looked between them, too tired to make an excuse or a witty comeback. He was exhausted, he was in pain, and all he wanted to do was sleep and these two bastards wouldn’t even let him have that— “Whoa, calm down!” Hattori shook him. Conan didn’t know what he did, but apparently it was noticeable to even the taxi driver, who was looking at him through the rearview mirror with something akin to shock that turned into pity. “Ku—er, Conan-kun. You’re shaking and you’re gripping the seatbelt like you’re gonna tear it into pieces. Here, just calm down and let me—“ “Don’t touch me!” Conan screamed and slapped Hattori’s hand away. The Osakan blinked, shrinking back and holding his hand like it had been burned. From his peripheral vision, Conan could see Kuroba’s eyes narrow in understanding, and… another emotion he couldn’t quite place. Not sympathy, not pity. Maybe there was a touch of anger in it, or maybe an accusation. Something close to you deserve it. I do deserve it, don’t I? Conan thought, feeling tears well up in his eyes again. I ended up going back. I brought this on myself.His head hurt. His body ached. He wanted nothing more than to just drop and let the world crash around him. Ignoring Hattori; ignoring Kuroba; ignoring the taxi driver; Conan raised his knees, brought his hands up to his face, and let the tears fall. Even as Hattori cursed and shouted things that would make even a sailor blush, as Kuroba sighed and turned to face back forward, Conan continued to sob. He couldn’t stop. Chapter End Notes Finally, next chapter will begin the attempt at helping Conan. C: Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!