Through the eyes of a dove (version 0.5) and other Drabbles. (DC/MK1412)

Chapter 5: Explain

Conan took a steadying breath as the thief and detective looked at him expectantly. He had a feeling this was going to take a while, and he really didn't want to go into too much detail. He closed his eyes for a moment, silently praying for courage. A memory flashed behind closed eyes suddenly.

A sharp pain in the back of his head as someone hit him, the sharp tug as that same person grabbed his hair to lift his head up, the feel of liquid being dribbled down his throat as he wavered on the very edge of consciousness. The sheer agony as whatever was given to him began to work.

He shook himself free from the memory, sighing softly as he resigned himself to a lengthy explanation of everything, though he was equally resigned to omitting the whole Child-With-Wings thing, because he highly doubted Hakuba could deal with 'body destroying poison turned me into a child' let alone 'a teenage witch tried to curse Kaitou Kid and accidentally got me instead.'

"Conan-kun?" Hakuba prompted, looking a little concerned as Conan remained silent, staring at nothing in particular. A sad, lonely sigh. Best get this over with. And it'd be nice if shinichi could talk to someone his own age properly. Hattori didn't really understand -he had met conan first after all-, and Ran was... well, Ran. His best *female* friend, and big sister figure.

"Don't call me that! Not here." Conan snapped, glaring at the older detective for a moment before letting his expression soften into something much more vulnerable. "It's not my name Hakuba-san. It never has been." Honey brown eyes widened at that, and Conan had to wonder if Hattori was right in thinking Hakuba was too rigid in his logic to accept what he was about to learn. An all too familiar snicker.

"Careful Meitantei. You might break him." Conan glared at the magician thief with a look that promised retribution of the black and white projectile kind if he didn't shut up that instant. Said magician grinned unrepentantly, but wisely shut up. Conan mentally sighed. Of course, Kuroba already knew, so that made things slightly easier. Only slightly though.

"He's already broken if he's dating you, kuroba niichan." The last two words dripped with a childish sweetness that was so unnatural for the seven year old homicide detective that it bordered just on the terrifying side of creepy. "As I was saying, my name isn't Edogowa Conan, though I guess I'm more used to hearing it than my real name now." That raised a concerned blonde eyebrow. Kuroba was no longer grinning, clearly opting for a more serious expression. He was probably worried about Hakuba's reaction too.

"In fact, you two are currently in my old bedroom. The one down the hall is mine now because it's more convenient because it's like Kuroba's bedroom." A sly grin from the child as Kuroba failed to hide a faint squawk of surprise. "Don't worry Kuroba. I've never been to your house. But considering it's identical to the Kudo villa in England... that I'm not supposed to know about for another month.... don't tell Kaa-san and Tou-san I know about that ok?

Anyway, back to my point. Hakuba-kun, ever heard of the Heisei-Holmes?" A frown followed by a wide eyed look as it finally, finally registered with the teen. Kuroba looked mildly amused.

"Kudo-Sama? What about him?" A snort of amusement from the magician. Conan raised an eyebrow.

"How about he's standing right there 'Ru." Kuroba pointed out, dissolving into fits of mirth as the blond looked at Conan blankly. Conan removed his glasses and sighed audibly as he put thumb and forefinger on the bridge of his nose in exasperation. It was starting to look Hakuba was only mildly above average, if he was so set in his logical little world that he couldn't see the truth. True geniuses had the ability to think outside the box.

"Hah?" Kuroba's mirth increased as he spluttered out something along the lines of 'drastically changing size isn't much more of a stretch than pandora idiot.' But as it was said in rather garbled English and interspersed with snorts of laughter, it was hard to tell. But that's what it sounded like.