Author's note: I don't own anything. Wish I did.
Well, this is my second fic in English and my first oneshot ever… so please review… )
It had been so simple. Like always.
No matter what he said about Pandora and his father's revenge, Kaito Kid simply loved his night heists. He loved the feeling of risk shouting in his ears, the adrenaline beating his heart faster, the wind hitting him full force when he flew off, and, of course, the mockery bit. That was the best.
Okay, tonight, he had almost been caught – but chibi-Kudo had been there, and it was always much more difficult to escape whenever the shrunk tantei was after him. He hadn't been able to keep the jewel – but that didn't matter, he had checked it before Kudo snatched it from his hands.
It wasn't Pandora.
There, sitting on a roof, Kaito Kid was looking up at the moon, thinking about his father and the way he had died.
He would have done anything to save him. But back then he was only ten. He could perfectly recall the night when his mother had learned it. She had been talking in the phone, then suddenly bursting into tears, and he, on the other side of the sitting-room door, had understood that his father wouldn't come back after his last magic show.
He loved his father. Really admired him too, he had taught him everything from the easiest magic trick to Poker Face. He had missed him so much for the last eight years – without Aoko to cheer him up, he probably wouldn't be in a healthy state of mind.
He thought about tonight and the events of the heist. Had his predecessor ever had to cope with such troubles, too? Nakamori-kebu had been purchasing him as well – but did he have a rival, just like he had Kudo?
He'd have to ask his mo–
"Having a pleasant evening, Kaito Kid?" a voice said behind him.
He didn't move, he didn't turn around. He barely sweatdropped. It was Kudo. It was necessarily Kudo. He was the only one who could find him so easily, apart from Hakuba maybe – but Hakuba would already be calling Nakamori-kebu in his oh-so-expensive cell phone.
As for the voice – which definitely wasn't a child's–
"No need to use the bowtie, Kudo-kun," he said lightly. "You're the only one clever enough to find me here."
"Thank you," the voice said. "But you're not talking to the right Kudo."
Kid turned slowly on his heels. Okay, he'd been mistaken, that guy wasn't chibi-tantei-kun. He was much older – chat, thirty-five? Forty? – was wearing glasses… and his face Kid instantly recognised, remembering photos on a dozen back covers.
"Yusaku Kudo." The writer. And possibly tantei-kun's father. How come he'd never thought about this? He locked it in his mind for future blackmail.
Kudo raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you know me?"
"We've plenty of your books at home."
"I see." He looked like his son when he smiled so confidently. "You grew up since the last time you, Kuroba Kaito-kun."
"Oh, rea– WHAT?" Kid backed in a cat-like manner. He knew who he was. He knew who he was. No good. No good at all.
Poker Face came back into place almost immediately. "How do you know my name?"
"You look so much like your father.
"How do you know my father?"
Keep calm. Keep Poker Face.
But that went beyond anything he had ever been confronted with.
"Didn't you know? My wife, Yukiko Kudo (formerly Fujimine, maybe you heard of her), was one of hr students when she began her career. She's… was… an actress," he added, as a quick look of misunderstanding spread over Kid's face.
That's all, Kaito thought. He only met Dad a few times – maybe dined with him or whatever…
And this couldn't be. He had recognised him through Kid's monocle. Which meant that he knew Kuroba Touichi well enough. Which meant he knew he was Kid. Which meant…
"You were his rival," he murmured. "My father's rival."
Yusaku Kudo smiled in delight. "You really are like him. I watched you tonight, when you escaped the police and poor Nakamori-san – and you actually acted just like Touichi did. No wonder why they think you're the same."
"But you recognised me," Kaito said.
"Yes, but I knew Touichi was dead. Killed, I mean." He looked at him gravely. "If you go on like this you'll aimed at, too."
"I've already been shot at a few times." He shrugged. "But they never really caught me."
"So you're looking for Pandora, no matter what the dangers may be." Yusaku sighed sadly. He was – what, eighteen? He was the Kid, but he was also a kid. And yet he was risking his life for a legend, a myth he wasn't even sure existed. Speaking about death with a shrug.
"Yes."
"Why? Are you trying to revenge your father's death?"
For a brief moment, Kid closed his eyes tightly.
'I became Kid in order to find my Dad's murderers… but even if I killed every single one of them he wouldn't come back, and I would end up one of them, my hands covered with blood. But I know why he decided to find Pandora – because that Organization was, is going to kill more innocent people to get at it. I don't want him to be dead for nothing, that's all." He gave Kudo a questioning look. "How do you know about Pandora anyway?"
"He told me."
"What?"
"He told me once. I had almost cornered him – I asked him why – and he told me."
"So what? Did you let him go?"
"No, the fact is that I hesitated, loosened my watch, and – puff! he disappeared. He was a great magician, too," he added with an appreciative smile. "And you inherited from him, or so it seems."
"Your son inherited from you," Kaito said with a grin. "He almost caught me tonight. And he's in his chibi-form. When he'll be back to a grown-up, I'll probably have much more trouble to escape him."
"Shinichi," Yusaku smiled. "The two of you are rivals just like your fathers were. You know, I was the one who found your Kid nickname, so it's more or less like you were brothers – you look alike, too. Touichi used to say they were siblings."
"Huh?"
"Yeah, they met one day. Touichi gave him an enigma to solve, thinking he wouldn't make it and thus would give it to me. But Shinichi decided it was his first case and solved it all by himself – all but the last part. He told me he found it since then, though."
"Oh." Kaito tried to represent his father talking to a chibi-Kudo, the glasses missing. He chuckled. Definitely blackmail.
"Oh, and by the way. Could you give this from me?" He handed him a folded note.
Kid looked down at it then pocketed it. "No problem. Mind it if I wake him up at 3 n the morning?"
Yusaku grinned. "Not at all. This should be fun. Something Touichi would have done, too."
There were a few shouts behind him, as the police was still searching for Kid. Kudo turned, watched the orange lights in the streets below, then turned back–
There was nobody else on the roof anymore. Yusaku shook his head appreciatively.
"Definitely his father's son," he muttered for himself.
There was nothing Conan/Shinichi liked more than a good night's sleep.
They were so rare.
There was the nights when they were on a case and came back late, the nights when he was waking up after nightmares of men in black pointing guns at him and those he loved, the nights when he heard Ran crying in the other room.
The nights when he hated himself.
Kogoro was snorting in the background like always, but that wasn't what had woken him up.
Damn the nightmares. Damn the men in black suits.
He couldn't remember much – only the running, and the rain, and the fear, and the deafening sound of gunfire.
Damn. Damn. Damn.
He sat up in his futon, in a sweat, unable to breathe correctly.
"It was a dream," he whispered, finding comfort in the weak crackling of his voice. "All a dream."
"Conan-kun?"
He hurriedly put his glasses back on. "Ran-neechan? What is it?"
No answer. He kicked his covers off and stood on his still shaking legs. "Ran-neechan?" he repeated in his childish voice. "What's the matter?"
"Conan-kun."
He opened the sitting-room door. Everything was dark. Was she crying… again?
He stepped in. There seemed to be no one in. What time was it? The night was deep still, and the room was partly lighted with rectangles of milky moonbeams.
"Ran-neechan?"
Still no answer. He turned to her door. It was closed.
"R-Ran?"
"Conan-kun."
He could've turned, but he didn't. He had seen, in the moonlit squares in the floor below, the shadow of the figure. Of the cloak. Of the top hat.
He sighed. He was in no mood for this.
"I wish you'd stop taking Ran's voice, Kid," he said. "Use whoever else's you want, but not hers."
"Oh. Okay," Yusaku Kudo's voice said. "Is that one better?"
This time Shinichi whirled around. "Where did you get that one?" In a glimpse, he saw that Kid was sitting on the window frame, half inside and half out, one arm carelessly tossed over his knee.
"Your father and I have just had an interesting conversation up there," he grinned, waving at no roof in particular. "He asked me to give you this."
He pictured at a note he was holding. As Shinichi didn't come forward in order to take it, he put it down on the table.
"Did you come over here only to tell me this?"
Kid looked both offended and amused. "I also wanted to make sure you weren't committing suicide of not having been able to catch me tonight."
"A visit of courtesy, uh?"
"Yeah. Oh, and this too… your father seems to be a better tantei than you are, Kudo-kun."
Shinichi frowned. 'Don't say that name here. What do you mean?"
"Well, he had no problem discovering my real identity."
"You mean Otou-san knew you?"
"Seems that he and my father met a few times."
"Your fa–"
"And he also asked me to tell you that things are not always what they seem. That there's always a reason behind everything."
This wasn't true, of course, but Kudo-kun and himself were like brothers, ne? Like siblings, his father had said. And in a way, he hoped that if one day he couldn't escape from him – that one day Kudo could say, too, "I had almost cornered him – I asked him why – and h told me."
Shinichi picked up the note after Kid left. Inside he recognised his father's neat writing.
"Shinichi-kun, I know you must be mad at me. You probably wonder why I never told who Kid was, especially now that you're after him. But remember that a mystery once solved is no more a mystery… and even this young man seems to hide a reason behind his mask."
Shinichi pouted. He already knew that. It was the reason why he was a detective. Why he was chasing Kid.
Was that all? He turned the paper over.
"You really look like each other. After all, you're fighting the same enemy."
"What?"
"Conan-kun?"
This time it really was Ran.
"What are you doing, Conan-kun? It's three in the morning."
He crumpled the note in his pyjama's pocket. "I had a nightmare, Ran-neechan. I just came over to have some water."
"And do you feel better now?"
"Hai!"
"Good. Now go back to sleep. Want me to stay with you?"
"No need, Ran-neechan. It was only a dream after all – and you have an exam tomorrow, don't you?"
No need, he thought, watching her as she went back in her room. It was only a dream. Another dream blew it away with night's wind – and now I shall have something to think about for the rest of the night.