Disclaimer: Detective Conan & Magic Kaito belong to Aoyama Gosho.

Ship: Kuroba Kaito x Kudou Shinichi + Haibara Ai

Genre: romance, humour

Words: 1412

Summary: Kaito has been hiding something from Shinichi, and Shinichi swore that he'd seek and uncover the truth.

A/N: Story originally uploaded August 23, 2013 (Tanabata festival). Now revised.


Hide and Seek

Part: Hide

Something had been really bothering Shinichi.

Kudou Shinichi couldn't help but twitch at the way Kuroba Kaito giggled while staring at his new smartphone. Since when did Kaito become a smartphone addict?! Yet when he asked Kaito about it, this is what he got from him:

"It's not like you aren't addicted to those Sherlock Holmes novels of yours, so I don't see why I can't be addicted to my new phone."

That had left him speechless. While it's true he appreciated how Kaito had stopped bothering him when he buried himself under Holmes novels or detective case files lately, something just didn't feel right to him. Namely, the way Kaito smiled and laughed at whatever it was that managed to capture his attention. It's a well-known fact that the magician has extremely short attention span, and that's why he would constantly try to find something new (including bugging Shinichi in various manners) to amuse himself. So whatever it was that captured his attention, it must have been very interesting, and it made Shinichi extremely curious, and half-admittedly, jealous that he wasn't the magician's center of attention anymore.

He tried to peek from behind Kaito's back, but whenever he tried, Kaito would hide his phone and snap back at him for not respecting his privacy. Speaks the stupid thief who put tracers and listening devices on people on a regular basis… Shinichi grumbled bitterly.

What bothered him even more, was that Kaito was willing to show Haibara Ai the content on his phone, and they'd giggle at it together. He tried to ask Ai what it was, but she simply gave him the creepy look – suggesting that prying their secret would be an incredibly terrible idea. Feeling defeated, Shinichi had no choice but to continue to bury himself under the newest detective novels he bought…

…yet he couldn't focus on them at all.

Shinichi was so unfocused over the past week that Megure-keibu had to send him home so that he wouldn't get hurt during murder crime scene investigations. Without any murder cases to solve, Shinichi found it harder and harder to take his mind off Kaito and his phone. What exactly was Kaito hiding from him?! He tried to recall the magician's expressions while he was using his phone, and it was clear that Kaito had enjoyed every moment he had spent staring at it. He briefly wondered if Kaito had a new date, but the idea was quickly dismissed. He had faith in Kaito, and Kaito pretty much lives in the Kudou household (but spending less time interacting with Shinichi lately). Moreover, he was certain that Ai would let him know if that was the case.

…Wait a sec, what if Kaito's new date was precisely Haibara Ai?!

He thought it'd be bizarre for them to have a relationship due to their physical age difference. He was pretty certain that Haibara Ai had no desire to return to her Miyano Shiho form, as the scientist already asserted that and destroyed all data relevant to APTX4869 so that the drug couldn't be recreated. But then again, he and Kaito did started dating when he was still Conan, and back then Kaito had promised him that he'd wait for him to grow up if necessary. While the idea of Kaito and Ai dating sounded absolutely questionable, but as Sherlock Holmes said, when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. It'd then make sense that those two were sharing secrets together.

Shinichi figured that it'd be too challenging to pry more information from either of them, and since Kaito is taking a shower right now anyway… it'd be a perfect opportunity to sneak into Kaito's room and take a peek at his phone. It's eating his mind away and he had to figure out what Kaito had been hiding as soon as he could. Kaito can whine about his disrupted privacy later.

And that's precisely why Shinichi had picked up Kaito's phone from his bed, took a seat on Kaito's bed, and started having a staring contest against the phone. He switched Kaito's phone on and was greeted by the password prompt screen. Of course Kaito's phone would be locked by a password – who wouldn't lock their phones nowadays? He only has about five minutes until Kaito finishes showering to unravel Kaito's secret, so there is no time for him to randomly try any password. If he was Kaito, what kind of password would he use? 1412 seemed to be a reasonable guess, seeing how that's what Kaito's alter ego is…

Sorry, try again.

Che, it's not that simple after all eh? What else could he try next? Kaito's birthday? His parents' birthday? His birth year? His postal code? His phone number? He had tried various combinations of the numbers above and none of them worked. It's getting very frustrating for him. For all he knows Kaito could be using any random or meaningless set of numbers as his phone's password, and it might not even be a four-digit password (though he does recall watching Kaito make five taps to unlock the phone; so with the "OK" button factored in, Kaito's phone's password should be four-digit). There wasn't any hint or code whatsoever – and that's when Shinichi finally took notice of Kaito's phone's screensaver, which he neglected earlier in favour of concentrating on deducing the password.

The screensaver shows a photo of Shinichi napping on the sofa while holding onto a Sherlock Holmes novel. An annoyed looking Kaito was kneeling right next to Shinichi while sticking his tongue at the novel and pointing a pair of scissors towards it. What kind of screensaver is this?! Shinichi sweatdropped at its silliness while wondering when said photo was taken. Well, if Kaito was in the photo as well, then that means a third person must have been present to photograph them, and Shinichi had no doubt that it was Haibara Ai. Does this photo have anything to do with the password? Shinichi wondered. Could it be related to the Holmes novel that Kaito was pointing at? He supposed it doesn't hurt to try unlocking the phone with 4869–

Instead of another "Sorry, try again" message, the screen now displays a photo of Shinichi with a rather groggy expression. He looked quite pale and worn out in that photo, and his skin also appeared to be rather clammy. He had wrapped himself up with his bed sheet and it seems he wasn't wearing anything – when did he had a photo like that taken? The bedside table had a glass of half-full water, and the wall calendar indicated that it was June the 9th… could it be the day when he just took the APTX4869 permanent antidote and changed back to Shinichi? Putting that curious thought aside, Shinichi continued to browse through the photo app and found more and more photos that he didn't recall being taken (not to mention how embarrassing some of them looked…). Some of them were photos of Conan from months before he started dating Kaito. How the heck did the magician get hold of these?!

Before Shinichi could continue browsing the photo app, he was suddenly pinned down from behind and Kaito's phone was immediately snatched away from his hands.

"Shin~i~chi~! You shouldn't peek through other people's phone without permission~!" Kaito teased as he bent down and purred right next to Shinichi's ear, while slipping his wet hand under Shinichi to unbutton his shirt.

"K-Kaito! C-Cut it out!" Shinichi could feel his face immediately heated up from Kaito's fondling as he turned his head to face Kaito, who was wearing nothing but a bath towel covering his lower trunk. The magician's shampooed hair was still dripping water and his moist body was still flushed and warm from the hot shower minutes ago. Seeing Kaito's smug expression and how he was completely trapped under him, it doesn't take a genius to realize that he had fallen for Kaito's bait. "…this was all a trick, wasn't it?"

"Hmm, who knows?" Kaito hummed as he proceeded to nibble Shinichi's neck, leaving behind several tiny red marks.

"And Haibara helped, didn't she?!"

Instead of responding, Kaito brought their lips together and slid his hand towards Shinichi's hip. Before Shinichi's senses were completely devoured by Kaito's all consuming kiss, he swore that he'd definitely make Kaito regret baiting him like this. Getting hold of some fish sounded like a great idea.

End (?)


Afterword: Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me your thoughts! Big thanks to everyone who fav-ed/reviewed, and everyone who put me on their author fav/alert list! ^w^

Title adapted from GARNET CROW's Hide and Seek (Kakurenbo).

PS. 4869 is similar to the pronunciation of "Sherlock" in Japanese. Go review the chapters/episodes where Ran unlocked Conan's phone with 4869 because Conan likes Sherlock Holmes if you forgot. XD