Vongola Tantei & Kaitou (Crossover Detective Conan & Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Chapter 8 (Welcome Back Conan)

"LEFT!" Shouts Kaito, running fast to catch up with Shinichi. Since his brain's off line at the moment, Shinichi blindly trusts Kaito, and takes the next left he comes too.

"STRAIGHT" comes the next order from around the corner. Stumbling slightly, Shinichi runs past the cross roads. He looks back slightly to see the reassuring sight of KID following him. It still hasn't fully sunk in that Kaito is KID, so his muddled brain doesn't make the connection. Either way, he's glad to see a familiar sight in this foreign environment.BA-Bump
Why do there have to be so many hallways? Argh. I can't run for much longer- my muscles are tightening up.

"LEFT" following the orders automatically, Shinichi comes to the familiar corridor. Shinichi literally falls straight through the door, and immediately locks it behind him. I'm feeling so dizzy now. The room won't come into focus. But it's so hot in here too. I'm going to burn up at this rate. ... No wait. That's just a side effect of the transformation.

Hating the pain that's coursing through his body, Shinichi slams his fists against the nearest object- the side of a book case. It's just like earlier on today... Why is the pain so much greater than ever before?... And... the transformation time. I barely had 5 hours. I know ... that Haibara said... that it wouldn't last ... a whole day, but surely... more than 5 hours. When I find... those ... fucking Bastards... that did this to me... I'm gonna... I'm gonna. Shit, I can't even think straight anymore. The pain... it's building and building... and I just can't... anymore...

Shinichi's breathing is laboured, deep and gasping, as waves of pain roll through his body. He rests his back against the door for support, whilst he holds his head in his hands.

Finally giving up the fight against the storm of pain, Shinichi lets out a scream of torment before falling back into the blackness.

Kaito turns the last corner in time to see Shinichi literally crumple through the doorway. He arrives at the door, his hand on the handle, when he hears the lock clicking shut. Knowing that Shinichi doesn't want him to enter, he slumps against the doorway, hand still on the doorknob above him, and listens to what's going on inside. I'm sure that Shinichi will want his privacy for this. So I'm not going to force entrance this time. I'm not sure that he trusts me enough to want me to see. After all, to him, I'm still really KID. The trustworthy friendly rival of a phantom thief, nothing more.

"But he did trust you." Comes a voice inside his head. " It was Kaito and not KID that he allowed in his house, knowing full well that you would be there, and could walk in at any time during the transformation. To even have you in the house at the time shows a colossal amount of trust in you."

Inside the room, all Kaito can hear is a lot of thumping, like someone is pounding in the floor, and a few whimpers from Shinichi. Again these are sounds he has never heard from Shinichi, nor Conan, and it makes Kaito wonder how immense the pain is to dramatically change his friend like that.

Eventually the sounds stop coming through the door, and Kaito rests his full weight against it. Little does he know that this is exactly what Shinichi is doing on the other side of the door.

As he hears a rush of footsteps, Kaito looks up and sees Tsuna and his Guardians approach, confusion on their faces.

"Kaito, what's going on here? Is Shinichi alright?" questions Tsuna, looking down apprehensively at Kaito on the floor.

"No, of course he's not alright. Shouldn't your Hyper Intuition tell you what's going on?" Kaito replies sarcastically, not in the mood to play around. He's too worried about Shinichi, waiting for the...

"Che, show Juudaime some more..."

...Scream...

Since its Shinichi this time instead of Conan, the scream comes out more as a roar of defiance. But even in this deeper replay of before, the pain is still evident, and still cuts straight through to Kaito's soul. Quickly Kaito is on his knees, facing the door, looking ready to open it. But instead Kaito grips the door handle tighter, and with a look of despair and anguish in his eyes, dejectedly returns to his previous position, back against the door. Gasps of shock come from the others, as well as a general step forwards towards the door. Even Hibari has joined them, admittedly leaning against a wall further down the corridor. At the sound of the scream, he stands up off the wall, and looks towards the door.