Love Like Woe

A Kaishin Fanfiction by Allietheepic7

Chapter 1

It was supposed to be a normal heist.

Nakamori was yelling, the task force was incompetent as usual, Kaito got the gem—not Pandora—and then he was to escape from the roof in a majestic fashion to wow his fans chanting below. The only difference was that Meitantei had watched, fresh from his time as Tantei-kun and capturing the Black Organization. He had stayed out of the heist itself, which Kaito chalked up to him still being weak from transforming into an adult. In retrospect, Kaito should have known that was wrong.

When Kaito climbed up to the roof, Shinichi was waiting for him. Kaito hid his surprise and greeted the detective. "Meitantei! And here I was thinking that you weren't going to join in the fun!"

"I'm not here to capture you, KID."

"Oh? That's new."

Meitantei sighed and his shoulders sagged. "I wanted to thank you. You stole the information about APTX 4869 so I could get my body back. You're the reason why I'm back. You have no idea how much that means to me."

Kaito looked out over the city with his back to the detective, hoping Shinichi didn't see his blush. He had stolen the information on impulse after seeing two suspicious men at one of his heists. When he had discovered what the flash drive had contained, how could he have kept the knowledge to himself? "You're welcome, Meitantei, but there is no need for thanks."

"I am still in your debt, however." Kaito gazed at Shinichi from over his shoulder. "I wish to help you."

He smirked. "Something tells me you wouldn't be comfortable working on the wrong side of the law, Meitantei. The sentiment is appreciated though."

"You're looking for a jewel." Kaito didn't answer. "You're always returning the ones you steal with a note saying "this is not the gem I'm looking for." Plus, whenever you steal a jewel, you hold it up to the moonlight. So, whatever you're looking for reacts in some way to the moon."

Kaito faked a laugh and clapped while his eyes scanned the nearby rooftops, searching desperately for any sign that they were alone and not being watched. Though Meitantei may have destroyed the Black Organization, he didn't capture Snake and his men, who were part of a different group. He had never thought that Tokyo was big enough for 2 evil organizations, but apparently it was. "Impressive deductions as usual, Meitantei. What else can you figure out?"

Kaito was expecting something obvious, like how he was really the second Kaitou KID or something (seriously, how has no one figured that out yet!? It was pretty obvious!). However, he wasn't expecting, "The jewel you're looking for glows."

Frozen in place, Kaito's mind raced. How in the world did Shinichi come to that conclusion!? It wasn't a rational one, nothing Kaito had said or done ever gave any indication that the gem he was looking for, Pandora, would glow in the moonlight. It would make more sense if he assumed that it just changed color. No one knew that it glowed, except…

A hand wrapped around his card gun. No, no Meitantei wasn't with Snake; he wouldn't care about the man's frantic search for immortality. Besides, Shinichi was good. He'd never be on the same side as murderers.

But was this really Meitantei? This could be an imposter, an actor replacing him to trick information out of Kaito. The real Meitantei could be dead and buried already, or worse, kidnapped and being tortured by Snake. His stomach turned at the thought of Shinichi, still so weak or maybe even still as Conan, screaming and crying as they did despicable things to him.

"How could you possibly know that?" Kaito whispered, his back still towards the potential enemy as he readied himself for a fight.

"Turn and see."

He did so and a red glow washed over his face. Held up to the moonlight was a blue jewel the size of a golf ball. At least, Kaito thought it was blue; it was hard to tell when the red glow coming from the center of it was staining the gem purple. Kaito couldn't take his eyes from it.

This was it. This was…Pandora. "How…?"

Shinichi smiled and the red light faded as he held it out to Kaito. "The old KID gave it to my father to protect many years ago. He said it would be disastrous if certain people got their hands on it. Dad didn't understand at the time, but when the old KID disappeared, and then you showed up, we finally understood… You're trying to find the people who killed him, aren't you? So you can't be one of the people we were warned about. You disserve to have it, KID."

A hysterical laugh bubbled up from Kaito's lips. All this time… After all this time, his father's final magic trick has finally come to light. It was even better than when Dad had revealed Kaitou KID to him 8 years after his death. He hid the ultimate secret with the people least likely to be considered, so unlikely that even his mom or Jii wouldn't have thought of it.

Hesitantly, Kaito took off his gloves and reached for Pandora. He wanted to touch it with his own hands, as irrational as it was. Then again, no one could claim that KID could be considered rational…

His hand closed over the gem, brushing Shinichi's. Meitantei tried to take his hand back, but couldn't. His hand stuck to the jewel and the jewel to Kaito. Shinichi looked at him, annoyed. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!"
Pandora began to glow, white light filtering through their fingers. The wind swirled ominously around them. Trying to unstick his hand, Kaito yanked hard enough to pull Shinichi off his feet and against Kaito's chest. Shinichi's blushing face looked up at him for a moment, unhindered from his hat's shadow at such close distance, before Pandora exploded.

The two were thrown back by the force of the explosion, neither thankfully falling off the roof. Kaito groaned. Rubbing his head, he stared at his unharmed hand. He looked across the roof to check on Shinichi, but something far more prominent now occupied the space they'd been ejected from.

"Is that…a baby?"