The Truest Rose

[Amaranth 52]

This story is dedicated to Rose/True-Tears for being such a good friend.

Disclaimer: I do not own DC. The idea of being transported to Detective Conan’s world is Chelsea’s. Kaitou Kid the Legendary Thief, True-Tears, and a certain someone own themselves.

A/N: I promised True-Tears that I would write a story about her, so my dearest Sai-chan, here is your present from Nobody!

Special thanks to my twin IdentityUnknown for beta-reading the first part. I did the next part in a rush (read: the past few hours while chatting and posting left and right) so sorry if it’s not so good.

o0o

Chapter 1

One fine summer morning, the weather was absolutely perfect as a 15-year-old girl and her sister strolled through a garden hand-in-hand. Huge cotton puffs floated by in the azure sky above, and the sun had not yet directed her scorching rays on the earth in full blast. Songbirds filled the air with their joyful chirping and butterflies fluttered by. A path of rose granite octagons snaked from the gate to the door, coursing through the heart of the slightly damp grass. The air was laden with the fresh, enticing scent of the exquisite blossoms. There were showy blooms with huge, attractive petals; tiny, shy ones clustered together in splashes of color, robust climbing types rambling up the fence, and their delicate miniature counterparts.

“How lovely our garden is,” remarked the older sister, Miyu in amazement. As she did, a gentle breeze like a soft breath of heaven played with her curly black locks and caused the flowers to sway.

“I wish this moment could last forever,” said Rose, who was reveling in the sight of the roses dancing in the wind. Her long, dark brown hair was parted in two ponytails. She wore a sweet blue dress with attractive floral designs.

However, the day was not to last. The sky's color started changing, the blue melting away, replaced by an unnatural red, the color of fresh blood. From all directions, a murder of crows appeared like a whirlwind of black flecks, piercing the serenity of the scene with their shrill cries. Their bloodshot demonic eyes glared with murderous intent.

Harsh, discordant tones replaced the lovely harmonious melody of before. The two sisters stood paralyzed for a moment before realizing the circumstances of their predicament.

“What’s happening?” Miyu began to panic, almost deafened by the cawing.

“Ahh!” Rose screamed as the crows flew nearer and began to circle overhead. The poor girl clung to her sister with all her might. She was scared. By now, the birds had them surrounded on all sides.

Then something unbelievable happened. The crows’ bodies began to emit a reddish glow. Miyu opened her eyes and saw a blinding light threaten to engulf them. Presence of mind made her rise to her feet and run inside, instinctively dragging her sister along. Clawing her way through the blinding mob of furious birds, she reached the door at last.

Rose however, accidentally tripped, falling to the ground and bruising her knees. She winced in pain, withholding a cry.

“Hurry, Rose! They’re coming!” Miyu cried in terror. Her body was shaking, her fingers trembling, and her heart pounding with intense fear. She wanted to help her sister, but her legs couldn’t move from too much shock.

Quickly, Rose got to her feet, but she was too late. To her horror, the crows flocked around her, wings beating and claws flashing, like birds of prey zeroing in for the kill. Then—something else happened. Sudden gusts of wind from the four directions tore through their surroundings, violently beating down tree branches and severing flowers from their stalks. Above where her sister was, covering her ears and shrieking in fright, a tiny spiral black portal opened and quickly grew in size, sucking the crows inside and taking her sister with them.

“Nooo! Rose!” Miyu screamed at the top of her lungs, but what could she do now? Her sister was gone, and she had been unable to protect her.

Overcome with grief and remorse, she sank to her knees and let the tears cascade down her cheeks like an endless fountain.

Unknown to her, an unseen watcher was hiding in the shadows, observing the situation from afar. A crow alighted on his outstretched finger and his mouth contorted into a cold smirk. “This is only the beginning…of my bittersweet revenge. Enjoy.”

o0o

Rose awoke with a start. Her eyes fluttered several times before she realized where she was. Half-awake, she rose to her feet. She had to be dreaming; surely this couldn’t be real. Instead of waking up in her sister’s arms, she found herself in a dark alley beside a sack of garbage. Still dazed because of what happened, she staggered towards the street. People bustled by busy with their daily lives as though nothing had happened. She could tell that she was still in her country, Japan, but this place was unfamiliar to her.

Thinking quickly, she approached a man sweeping in front of a restaurant to ask for directions.

“Excuse me, Sir,” she said politely. “Can you tell me what city this is?”

“Are you new around here, Miss? This place is Beika City, just a few minutes’ ride away from Tokyo,” he answered with a friendly smile.

“Beika City? Why, isn’t that where Conan lives?!” she blurted out in surprise. It couldn’t be—that city was invented by Aoyama Gosho and it didn’t exist in real life! What in the world was going on? Perhaps it was all a dream? Before she could fully grasp her situation, she heard shouts from the distance. A man ran past, nearly bumping into her as he did. Acting on instinct, she winced for a second and when she opened her eyes, she saw five kids chase after him.

“There he goes!”

“We got him this time!”

“Stop pretending! We know you’re the culprit! There’s no point in running away!”

“It’s you who stole that lady’s necklace!”

The culprit stopped and whirled about-face. “Stop playing games, you naughty brats! Stay away from this if you know what’s good for you,” he threatened them, cursing as he did.

The children stopped several meters short and their leader stepped forward to confront him. “Game’s over. Hand over the necklace or else.”

The thief’s squinted at the boy wearing glasses. His face looked calm and certain of victory. Seriously, who did that kid think he was against? “Or else? Ha! What will you do? Knock me down with your awesome karate moves?” he scoffed.

“Ooh, why don’t you run home and play videogames with your Mommy?”

With a cool smirk, Conan looked his opponent in the face. “No, but I’ll do this!” Pressing the button on his belt, he instantly inflated the ball, simultaneously kicking it at the man. He stepped sideways to evade the blow, but then tripped on Rose’s foot. The soccer ball slammed into his belly and knocked him backwards. He dropped the necklace and it fell to Rose’s feet as the kids gave a whooping cry of delight.

“Take that, you coward!” Genta shouted and made faces at him.

Mitsuhiko approached the stranger and carefully picked up the silver necklace. “Excuse me, Miss, I’ll take this.” He then passed it to Ayumi, who returned it to the old lady with a cheerful smile.

She studied the boy for several moments. His features were vaguely familiar and she was sure that she had heard his voice some time before. Had they met somewhere yet? Rolling her eyes around the scene, she saw the boy who had kicked the soccer ball. He wore thick glasses and had on a jacket with the capital letter K stitched in front. “Conan?” she blinked in astonishment.

“How did you know my name?” he asked, not skipping a beat. “Have we met before?”

“Hey, no fair! How come she only recognized you Aren’t we famous, too?” Genta butted in.

Rose rose and scrutinized them from head to toe. Something wasn’t right. Blinking several times, she finally asked, “Am I dreaming? Aren’t you Conan-kun who is really the shrunken famous detective Kudou Shinichi, Haibara Ai the scientist who created the Apotoxin, and the Detective Boys? Wait, you’re not supposed to be real!”

Everyone stared at her as if she had lost her mind.

“Conan-kun can’t be Shinichi-niichan!” Ayumi giggled uncontrollably. And he didn’t shrink; he’s just a kid like us!”

“What’s an a–po-to-xin?” Genta asked curiously, pronouncing the words slowly. “Is it some kind of food?”

“How can we not be real when we’re standing right in front of you?” Mitsuhiko stated bluntly.

“Nechan, you should see the doctor,” Ayumi advised her.

“Sorry, I just—I shouldn’t be here! I want to go home to Japan!” she continued, staring at them confusedly. Right now, she’d swear that she was Alice and that the portal that opened in the sky was actually a rabbit hole.

“BUT YOU ARE IN JAPAN!!!” The kids chorused.

“I’m from Japan, but not this Japan,” she explained, then suddenly realized the absurdity of her statement.

“Is there any other Japan in the world?!” Mitsuhiko exclaimed in a have-you-gone-mad tone.

“If you ask me, she’s crazy,” Genta snickered.

Unlike the children, the two not-kids knew how dangerous this situation was. If the girl did know of his identity as Kudou Shinichi and Haibara’s real name, they would be in serious trouble. Even worse, she could have connections with

the Black Organization.

“What if she’s one of them?” Haibara whispered to Conan.

“You mean, what if they shrunk her and are using her to spy on us? What if they discovered the drug’s effects?” he guessed what was on her mind.

Haibara nodded and waited for him to speak.

“We’re dead if they know,” he continued. “But we’re still not completely sure that it was those men who sent her.

There’s still hope left. She looks sincerely confused and disoriented, as if something did happen to her.”

“That could be a ruse! She’ll win our friendship and then trap us!”

“If she were one of them, wouldn’t it be more logical for her to pretend that she didn’t know us, instead of blurting our names out loud? She wouldn’t blow her cover that easily.”

“Ne-chan, we’re on our way to Professor Agasa’s house. If you want, you can come along and play video games with us,”

Ayumi offered invitingly.

“I love playing video games!” Rose exclaimed. “Especially wrestling games!”

“I think Hakase has a few of those,” Mitsuhiko remembered. “What do you say, Conan-kun? She seems lonely and we should try to cheer her up!”

All eyes turned to Conan expectantly. The shrunken detective sighed and replied, ”That’s okay. After all, she did help us catch the thief.”

“Alright! We’re off to Hakase’s house!” they cheered.

“What’s your plan?” Haibara asked Conan as the kids marched away.

“This will be the perfect opportunity to monitor her actions. If she is innocent, we’ll find out pretty soon.”

“And if she turns out to be a spy?”

Conan looked away and waited a few moments before replying. “If that’s the case, then we’ll have another clue about those men—those evil black crows who ruined my life!”

o0o

Bang! Crash! With the single swing of a mop, a glass window shattered into pieces. Not very far away, a certain rival of the Great Detective of the East was having problems of his own—problems that occurred just about every single day of his life whenever he felt bored and played pranks on his classmates at Ekoda High.

“BAKAITO!!!” screamed a teenage girl, swinging her mop in all directions and hitting everything except her actual target.

“You’ll never catch me, AHOKO, you slowpoke!” jeered the boy she was chasing across the room. Jumping on a table, he skillfully dodged her every attack while their unfortunate classmates only barely missed a crushing blow to their skulls.

The other students sighed and stayed out of harm’s way. After all, this was part of their everyday routine. Even the blonde detective Hakuba was contented watching the pair amusedly. Nothing unusual, they all shrugged.

Something is definitely strange about this day. I had a weird feeling since this morning, thought Akako, who was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice what was going on. She was staring out the window, wondering where the source of the disturbance could be. Flipping back her long magenta hair, she turned her eyes back to her notes as the teacher entered the room. I’ll find out later, she decided. One thing’s for sure: someone a great amount of magic was released, and I have to find out who is responsible for this.

o0o

And that’s the end of Chapter One. Chapter Two will come later…maybe soon, maybe much, much later. I’m not making any promises. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.

[Wildheart888 170]

Wow, No-chan~!!! xDD That is great~!!!!!!! Love your writing style~!! x) I'd give you a rep, but I'm all out for today...

[Lovestruck 70]

1:- Love ya <3333333333

2: you're not nobody, you're my no-chan <3

3:THANKS <333 its amazing! The best! Awesome! Whatever I say will not explain how awesome it is!

*BIG HUGS*

[Cindy-Chen 82]

Nice! I love your writing!!

[nade-chan 0]

it's awesome