Author's Notes: The timeline from Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne is in manga volume 5, chapter 1, or chapter 19 in total. Since the anime and manga are so different this might not make complete sense to those who have only seen the anime. But I guess this might be around season 2, after Noin shows up but before Fin's betrayal. In general, knowing the general idea of the series will help understand the story, because I'm too lazy to explain everything. There's probably a lot of pages on the net with information about the series and character bios.

Midnight Clashes

Chapter 1

Entering The Kaitou

"Come on, Kaito!" Aoko whined to her childhood friend. "You have to come watch the competition that's held this weekend with me!"

"Sorry Aoko, but I'm really not interested", Kaito said with a snort. "Why not take Keiko? Or is she too embarrassed as well?"

"You have to go with me!" Aoko yelled in a commanding voice. She was loud enough for the whole class to hear.

'Thanks a lot, Aoko...' Kaito thought bitterly. 'Now I have even more reason not to bend and go with whatever you've got planned."

"Is something wrong, Aoko-kun?"

Kaito flinched at the falsely sweet voice. He did not need Hakuba butting into this as well. Why did the detective have to be so nosy?

"I was trying to get Kaito to come to go watch a competition with me", Aoko explained to the blond. "It's the eastern high school championship tournament."

Suddenly a grin appeared on Kaito's face. Hakuba was always running after Aoko like some lost puppy, a confident lost puppy but a puppy none the less. It would be just like the detective to offer to go to the tournament with Aoko and then Kaito would be safe.

"That is very unfortunate", was Hakuba's reply to Aoko. "Normally I would offer to accompany you myself but I am very busy this weekend. But maybe we could go somewhere together the following weekend?"

Kaito felt his left eye twitch when Hakuba performed the usual 'a peck on the hand' manoeuvre on Aoko, causing the girl to blush.

"I guess that would be fine", Aoko said while shooting Kaito a glance. Kaito pointedly looked away. He could hear the girl huff before she said loudly: "I would love to go out with you, Hakuba-kun!"

Kaito froze and blinked. He blinked a few times more. Then he snapped.

"WHAT?"

"Don't shout Kaito", Aoko scolded the brunet. "It's perfectly understandable that you're jealous but it's your own fault for not going anywhere with me. It's only expected of me to get myself some more willing company."

"Fine!" Kaito shouted out, standing up. "I'll go to that stupid tournament with you!"

Aoko started instantly beaming at him.

"Really?" she cheered. "Oh, I'm so happy Kaito!"

Kaito turned to grin smugly at Hakuba, only to see that the blond had beaten him to it.

"What?" Kaito questioned angrily. Hakuba actually had the nerve to snicker before he replied: "Do you know what kind of a tournament it is, Kuroba-kun?"

To be completely honest, Kaito did not know. He had blocked Aoko out immediately after he had seen two tickets in the girl's hand. He turned a questioning look at Aoko.

"I already told you!" Aoko growled. "We're going to go watch rhythmic gymnastics."

Kaito froze for the second time within a small amount of time. This time it took Kaito only three blinks before he reacted.

"WHAT?"

"Shut up already Kaito!"

&&&&&&&

Kaito was muttering dark things under his breath when he and Aoko waited in line to get inside the sports dome. Kaito knew that Hakuba had been well aware of the contents of the tournament and that the detective did not have anything to do that weekend. He had set Kaito up and Kaito had not even noticed him do it.

'He's getting too good at setting traps...' Kaito decided in his mind when he and Aoko finally walked inside. The rhythmic gymnastics tournament was going to be kept between eight high schools and the three best performances would be qualified for the Japan high school championships.

Kaito shot a quick glance at Aoko, who was all psyched up about the tournament. Kaito had had no idea that Aoko was so into gymnastics. If he had known he would have been more on the look out and definitely more careful with his promises.

A group of girls walking past him caught his attention. The gymnastics outfits were really something to admire, Kaito noticed right before his ear was grabbed roughly.

"You're such a pervert, Kaito!" Aoko scowled at the boy. Kaito only shrugged a shoulder, saying: "I'm a hormonal teenager. What did you expect?"

"Gah!"

Kaito barely had time to dodge the ball thrown at him.

"Y-you...ECCHI!"

Kaito hopped happily down the hall, Aoko hot on his heels.

"Can't catch me! Can't catch me!" he chanted while Aoko screamed in rage and threw whatever she could get her hands on at him. She was not doing a very good job at actually hitting him, though.

&&&&&&&

Maron took a deep breath while she checked her equipment once more. This was going to be a really big contest and she did not have any room to be sloppy.

It was encouraging to know that Chiaki would be cheering for her in the audience. She had really been feeling a lit better ever since they had made up after what happened with Takazuchiya Zen. Not to mention Hijiri-sensei's real identity as Noin had been revealed. Maron still did not know how to feel about the revelation that she had been the man's lover in a previous lifetime but she did know that she loved Chiaki and no one else.

A giggle escaped Maron's mouth when she thought about Chiaki. Their date was due tomorrow, and she might finally be able to find out why the other insisted on being Sinbad.

Feeling unbelievably good Maron walked out of the dressing room to get in position to wait for her turn to perform. She still had a mission that night so this could do well for training for that.

&&&&&&&

Kaito watched with fascination how the girls moved on the beams or with various other gymnastics equipment. He wondered how well he could perform those moves. He was, after all, very flexible.

"I hope you're not thinking about anything perverted right now, Kaito", came Aoko's warning tone from his left side. Kaito turned to the girl to give her a sly grin.

"Depends on how you look at it", he said smartly. The glare he got from Aoko at that got a nervous laugh out of him.

"You know I'm just messing with you!" he hurried to assure his childhood friend. "Right, Aoko?"

"You'd better be", Aoko huffed before turning her attention back to the performance. Kaito also turned to see a brown-haired girl walk on the center of the stage. The announcer said she was Momokuri Academy's contestant Kusakabe Maron.

The girl was good. That was the first thing that captured Kaito's attention when the classic music started playing. Kusakabe moved like water, she seemed to know exactly what she was doing and she was doing it well. Kaito was especially interested in the way the girl used the ribbon, almost like it was partly a weapon. Kaito almost laughed at his own mental image. Like anyone would use such a thing as a weapon.

&&&&&&&

"So, how did you like the show?" Aoko asked when the two of them were headed out of the building. "I think it was awesome."

"I guess those girls were pretty good", Kaito said off-handedly. "But I bet Kid could have moved better." Kaito dodged a well-aimed punch before continuing: "The thing those girls win Kid at is looks."

Kaito let out a series of bright chuckles as he continued dodging Aoko's attacks. The girl really was not much of a challenge without something longer in her hands. Then she was actually dangerous.

"How did you like me, Miyako?" Kaito glanced to the side to see the Momokuri contestant, Kusakabe Maron, talking with a girl with dark purple hair.

"I think you were slightly sloppy", Miyako commented coldly. "You could have done better with that ball number."

"Oh, is that so?" Kusakabe said with a glare. "Are you sure you just aren't in a foul mood because of the heist tonight?"

The word heist caught Kaito's attention immediately. As far as he knew, there had been no notices sent under Kid's name, nor had he or Jii sent any out.

"You just watch!" Miyako said forcefully. "This time I will catch that Jeanne! She'll get the 'Blue Sunset' only over my dead body!"

Intrigued by this conversation Kaito turned to Aoko, asking: "Who's Jeanne?"

Aoko first blinked at him in confusion but then she seemed to realize what he was talking about.

"You must be talking about Kaitou Jeanne, right?" she asked. At Kaito's nod she continued: "Jeanne is a mysterious art thief that first appeared a few months ago. She's been stealing paintings and drawings, leaving an image of an angel behind her. No one has posted any charges, saying that the new pictures are far more beautiful than the previous ones."

Kaito nodded his head, immediately making speculations. This Jeanne sounded like someone who was searching for something. But why leave new pictures to the scenes? Maybe, if he worked quickly, he could have a heist note posted in time to hold a heist that night. He wanted to check this Jeanne out himself.

&&&&&&&

"Reincarnated to seal evil born from darkness..." Maron whispered to the night. "Kaitou Jeanne! Sent by Kami-sama, I have appeared!"

"That's quite the flamboyant entrance, if you allow me to say so."

Maron quickly whirled around to see a young man dressed in a white suite and a white top hat on his head. He also had a monocle and a cape.

"Who are you?" she asked, worried that she was going to be forced to face another so-called 'devil's advocate'.

"I am Kaitou Kid!" the white-clad man proclaimed. "And if you allow me to be blunt, that phrase of yours would be more effective if you used it after you went inside."

Maron huffed, turning her head away from the new thief.

"No, I don't allow you to be blunt", she said. "And it's my own business how I do things." With that she leaped in through the window. She heard Kid shout something after her but ignored it.

As soon as her feet hit the floor Maron found herself trapped under a net that fell from the ceiling. There were metallic clips on the floor that closed the net in place over her. Maron tried to struggle against the strings bu realized that they were extremely strong.

"Well, well, well", a sugary voice drawled, bringing Maron's attention away from the trap she was in. She was facing a boy around her age, wearing clothes that those that matched those of all the designs of Sherlock Holmes she had seen. The boy had blond hair and blue eyes and was currently smirking very smugly at her.

"This trap was originally planned for Kaitou Kid, even though I suspect it would have had little effect", the boy, Maron suspected him to be a detective of sorts, spoke. "But I guess you'll do as well." The boy gave Maron a bow, tilting his body forward from waist up. The gesture reminded Maron of a medieval prince.

The piercing blue eyes locked with Maron's once more as the detective spoke again.

"It is a pleasure to meet a beautiful lady such as yourself, Kaitou Jeanne-san", the blond said pleasantly. "I am Hakuba Saguru, high school detective and the world's lead expert on phantom thieves. This truly is a meeting to remember, don't you think?"

"Indeed", was all Maron could say to the impressive teen in front of her. This new opponent was calculative and confident, though not as blinded by it as Miyako. She was not sure how she could get out of this or if she could at all.

'This would be a great time for Sinbad to show up...' Maron found herself thinking, even though she immediately mentally scolded herself for trusting a rival for support. She was supposed to be the reincarnation of Jeanne D'Arc, a demon hunter extraordinaire.

And at the moment, she was a very captured demon huntress.

To be continued...

Ending Notes: For review, Takazuchiya Zen is the hospitalised boy who was alive only because of the demon possessing him. Because of that Maron did not want to seal the demon. He had become so inhumane that he could see angels, so Chiaki sealed the demon.