Ai Haibara, having managed to shake off the Detective boys (with quite some difficulty), crouched by a large bush in one of Tokyo's big parks and peered around it. In a small grove, a few feet away from her, stood a group of oddly dressed people; all seemed to be in varying states of agitation except for one. It was that one whom Ai was watching most closely, trying to quell the rising panic in her heart.

Ai was not the only one watching Crystal Grape as she murmured into her mobile phone. Shinichi's eyes were narrowed and he reached out to pinch Heiji's arm.

"Hattori... I didn't imagine it, did I?" he asked in low tones. "She really did say..."

Heiji nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure she did!"

"So that means..."

"We were right!"

"What are you two talking about?" Ran and Kazuha demanded simultaneously.

Shinichi and Heiji twitched. "Soccer!" Shinichi said promptly, just as Heiji said. "Baseball!"

However, luckily for Heiji and Shinichi's continued survival, Aoko suddenly let out a loud exclamation that drew Ran and Kazuha's attention. Blue Forest's pale blue princess gown was glowing.

"What's happening?" Aoko cried in confusion. "I didn't do... OH!"

The glow vanished and Aoko was back in her school uniform. Tan and Tei fluttered down to the puzzled girl.

"Don't worry, Aoko," Tei squeaked. "It just means that there isn't any need for the magical girls right now."

"All of you will be changing back soon," Tan informed the others. "Don't worry, we'll let you know when you're needed again."

"No you won't," Ran shook her head. "I'm with Chris on this one. NO MORE!" she frowned abruptly and glanced at Kid. "Kid-san, can I ask a favour?"

Shinichi's eyes widened. If the magical girls were changing back that would mean the knights would follow suit and HE would shrink back into Conan. All thoughts of the Black Organization and Crystal Grape's possible connection to them vanished as he started to back away, frantic to escape before he changed. Heiji noticed Shinichi's expression and moved in front of his friend, trying to hide him from view.

However, the effort was moot as Ran turned around, a length of red ribbon in her hands. "Lacking handcuffs, this will do," she said. "Shinichi Kudo, get back here!"

Meanwhile, Crystal Grape was having an entertaining time trying to calm down her 'knight'. "Will you stop growling?" Chris snapped quietly at Gin. "It's not MY fault... well, not _completely_. And with luck... ah!" her dress glowed brightly and she was changed back into Jodie-sensei. "Well, it's over now. The tux has gone? There, nothing to complain about!" she smiled in satisfaction and cut Gin off, pocketing her phone before walking back to the others. Just as Ran lunged for Shinichi.

There was a brief confused scuffle as Shinichi tried to escaped, Heiji moved to help him and Kazuha attempted to help Ran. At the end of it, Ran found that not only had she managed to snag Shinichi, but she had also wrapped the ribbon around Jodie's wrist as well. The blonde woman raised her eyebrows. "Fond as I am of the two of you, Mouri-san, I really don't think such a threesome would work," she slipped her hand out of the knot and winked at the mortified Ran. "Time for me to go. Bye-bye, boys and girls."

"WAIT!" Heiji lunged after her as she walked away, but halted as his tuxedo began to glow. "Damnit!"

Shinichi frantically tugged on the ribbon binding him to Ran, but it refused to give. Ran glared at him suspiciously. "Why are you trying to get away?" she cried. "We need to talk, Shinichi!"

Aoko tapped Kid on the shoulder. "Do you have any idea what this is about?"

"Shhh..." Kid was regarding Shinichi's predicament with amusement. "Don't interrupt, I want to enjoy this."

Aoko paused for a moment, then remember the 'event' in the cavern and tapped him on the shoulder again. "Hey... are you _really_ Kaitou Ku..."

Kid twitched violently. "I think it's time to leave!" he said quickly. "Solovelytomeetyouallbye!"

"Hey!" Aoko made a grab for him, but he released a cloud of white smoke which obliterated him from view and left her groping blindly.

The white smoke spread, covering everyone, and under its cover, Shinichi renewed his efforts to escape. The oh-so familiar pain was rippling through him and he knew it wouldn't be long before he was Conan again. Without warning, the ribbon was cut and he stumbled back. His hand was grabbed by one much smaller than his own and he was tugged away.

"Shinichi!" Ran groped for him as the ribbon went slack in her hands. Her dress began to glow, so brightly that she had to shut her eyes. She stumbled, falling to her knees. "Shinichi!"

She heard Kazuha and Heiji call her name and then their voices faded away into silence.

"SHINICHI!"

Ran's eyes flew open and she found herself lying down, staring into darkness. She blinked several times and strained her ears, but could only hear the faraway swish of traffic. "Kazuha-chan? Hattori-kun?"

There was no answer and Ran frowned. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and, once she realized where she was, she sat up and looked around.

"How did I get into my bedroom? Did I teleport or something? And I'm wearing my nightclothes... how odd..."

She put a hand to her head and her eyes widened when she touched a bandage on her forehead. *How did that get there? I don't remember hitting my head when we were fighting...*

"Ran?" the door to her bedroom opened, spilling light into the room, and her father peered around the door. "I heard you cry out. Are you alright?"

Ran blinked. "Dad? I..." her gaze fell on her desk and she noticed the absence of Tan's cage. Her hands flew to her mouth. "Could it be...? A dream?"

His expression a mixture of worry and puzzlement, Kogoro stepped inside. "Is it your head?" he asked. "The doctor said that you would be alright after you rested, but perhaps we should..."

"My head?" Ran interrupted. "What do you mean?"

"You were hit on the head when the microwave exploded," Kogoro's eyes widened. "Ran! You haven't lost your memory again*, have you? You know who I am?"

Laughter spilled out of Ran's mouth. "A dream! It was a dream!" she cried. "Don't worry, Dad, I haven't lost my memory, I just had a very, very strange dream that was _frighteningly_ realistic!"

Kogoro's shoulders sagged in relief. "Don't worry me like that!" he frowned slightly. "Strange though... you and the brat having odd dreams at the same time..."

"Eh? Conan-kun had a bad dream?" Ran got out of bed and pulled on her robe.

"Yeah, just woke up now, yelling so loud I'm surprised he didn't wake you. He looked very odd too," Kogoro shrugged. "Anyway, are you feeling okay? You have the strangest... uff!" he let out a startled exclamation as Ran hugged him tightly.

"I'm more than okay!" she giggled. "I'm WONDERFUL!" she spun away from him, twirling around and laughing. "No more pink frills! No more hamsters! No more silly spells! No more!"

Kogoro backed away. "I... see... right..." he hurriedly exited, shutting the door behind him.

Ran giggled a bit more. Poor Dad! He probably thought she was losing her mind! She paused and touched her forehead again. So, it was the bump on the head then? But why would she dream of being a magical girl? She looked around for some sort of clue and her questing eyes fell on her bookshelves. "Aha!"

Conan was sitting at the table, rubbing his eyes under his glasses and looking a little woeful when Ran exited her bedroom. He gaped in astonishment as she walked over the the rubbish bin carrying an armful of manga which she dumped into the bin with an air of satisfaction.

"Ran-neechan? What are you doing?"

"Getting rid of all my magical girl manga and making sure that I NEVER have a dream like that again!"

"You had that dream too?" Conan blurted before he could stop himself. Ran turned and looked at him. "What do you mean 'too'?" she asked suspiciously.

"Uh..." Conan groped for an explanation. "I mean... I once read a Masked Yaiba** book and I thought I was him, so I guess you read something that made you dream you were a magic girl?" he smiled ingenuously at her, trying to look as innocent as possible.

Ran regarded him, her expression unreadable, for a couple of minutes, then she smiled and nodded. "Un! That's exactly it, Conan-kun!" she laughed. "And you know what else? Shinichi was in my dream..." she paused, blushed and touched her fingers to her lips which curved into a happy little smile. "Hmmm..."

Caught up in her own reflections, Ran didn't notice that the little boy before her had turned bright red and was mumbling to himself.

"Pity _that_ part wasn't real..."

***

Heiji jerked upright and sat in the darkness of his bedroom, panting loudly. "Ha... ho... ha... a dream... just a dream..." he sighed in relief. Shaking himself he pulled open his curtains and looked out into the early morning sunlight. "Okay, that's the _last_ time I eat three okonomiyaki before bed!"

He noticed the light on his mobile phone was blinking and reached over to the bedside table to pick it up. Activating the message he saw it was from Kazuha and contained two words: 'Call me'.

Heiji dialed her number and wasn't too surprised that she picked it up on the second ring. "Tell me, Kazuha," he said casually. "Have you ever wanted to own a hamster?"

"If I did, I certainly don't want to now!" Kazuha shot out. "Heiji, I don't believe it... how come you had the same dream as me?"

"That's what I was going to ask _you_."

"Well I don't want to dream it again and if you ever do that thing that you did in the cavern then I'll... I'll be VERY angry!" Kazuha threatened.

"Aho!" Heiji yelled down the phone. "As if I'd _want_ to!" but he could feel a betraying flush heating his cheeks and knew his words to be a lie.

***

"And then we were in the cavern and we met the Black Queen and found out that she was really the fourth magical girl! But she said we couldn't turn her back unless we KISSED our knights! Can you believe it? It was SO embarrassing! But then the Night Baron attacked again and we all got separated... I nearly died! But the Kaito Kid saved me and then..."

Kaitou Kuroba, who had been walking along in a slightly stunned daze, turned to look at his companion as she stopped talking. He swallowed, knowing exactly what Aoko was about to tell him... provided she could get past her embarrassment.

Aoko's cheeks were rosy pink and she was looking at the ground. "That... that JERK... he grabbed me... _roughly_ and..."

"I _wasn't_ rough!" Kaitou objected. *Oh %&$#!* he mentally swore at his blunder as Aoko's head whipped up and she stared at him.

"Huh?"

"Oh wow! Look at the time! School starts soon! Let's run!" Kid shot off down the road leaving Aoko staring after him.

"How did he...?" Aoko's eyes widened. "OH MY GOD! I don't _believe_ it! He... Kaitou... he... He wants to be the Kaito Kid!"

***

Chris Vineyard AKA Vermouth AKA Jodie Saintmillion opened her eyes and stared at her ceiling for a long time.

"Hmmm... how... odd," she rolled over and checked the time on her bedside clock. Only seven am. Well, that gave her enough time before school started. Besides, her first class of the day wasn't until eleven anyway.

Within twenty minutes she was dressed and out of her apartment. She was dressed as Jodie for the benefit of anyone else who saw her, but once she was in her car, she tugged off the close-fitting wig and shook out her long hair. She preferred to see him as Vermouth, and it was always funny to watch the other get all agitated about the 'famous actress' visiting them. Really, they should know by now that she would never be followed!

Her destination was an old brick warehouse in one of the grubbier parts of Tokyo. Her nose wrinkled slightly as she parked the car and got out. At least this was only a temporary base, perhaps she could persuade them to lodge somewhere a little nicer next time.

Vermouth didn't make a sound as she climbed up the fire-escape on the side of the building and slipped in through the open window. Once inside she softly made her way over to the bed in the middle of the room and it's single occupant who lay on it, fully dressed sans hat. His eyes were closed, but as her shadow fell across him, they opened.

"What do you want, Vermouth?" Gin grated and the beautiful blonde smiled.

"Nice to see you too, Gin," she sat on the edge of the bed. "Tell me... did you have any strange dreams last night?"

He sat up. "I don't dream," he told her curtly and got off the bed, jamming his hat on his head. "If that's all you wanted, then you can leave now. I have a job to do."

Vermouth pouted. "Now? After I've come all this way?" she reclined on the bed and regarded him through her eyelashes. "How cruel..."

He ignored her and she laughed softly as he walked to the door. However, as he reached out to open it, Gin paused and turned back to her.

"Vermouth, if you ever suggest that I wear a purple tuxedo, I _will_ kill you."

***

Doctor Agasa set down his morning cup of tea and glanced over at the little girl who was sitting at the computer, typing steadily. Ai had been up much earlier than usual, Agasa guessed that she had some new theories about APTX 4869 which she wanted to work on. He didn't ask though, Ai was very private about her work. So he sat down and started to browse through the morning paper.

Ai's chair squeaked as she turned around on it. "Doctor Agasa?"

"Yes, Ai-kun?"

She smiled, one of her strange, mysterious smiles. "When is a dream not a dream?"

***

The End...

...For now ^_^.

Notes:

*Ran lost her memory in the 4th movie 'Captured in her Eyes.'
**From another manga by Aoyama-sama.

The reasons behind the names:

Kaito Kid = Kid the Phantom thief
Ran = Orchid
Aoko = Blue child
Nakamori = Middle of forest
Toyama = Distant mountain
Tantei = Detective
Saintemillion/Vineyard/Vermouth = all alcohol/wine related hence "Grape".