I got this written down a week or so ago, and didn't post it before because I was still waiting for a specific person to read it before I put it up, but they haven't shown up in a while and I'm thinking that real life must have interfered or something. GMGirl sort of beat me to it by posting "The Edge Of Understanding" a couple days ago, but that doesn't keep me from posting my own version of things, does it? =P

Read/Beta-ed by Tsu-chan, Chu-chan and Sama.

Please Review!

There are a lot of things I don't know. There are a lot of things I don't understand. Thinking you know everything just means you're delusional, but not even God can heal stupidity.

But there are things that I do know, and the true identity of Kaitou KID is one of them.

Which is probably why I'm standing here, giving orders to my men and telling them where their respective posts are, waiting for the stupid thief's next heist to begin. Because if I don't protect him, who will?

Aoko hates criminals so much she thinks he's a jerk for making me and my obsession for him run after him so much. That snob of a detective seems to know who it is, but has no conclusive evidence and can only think of being the first to catch the slippery thief. The little midget in glasses is always so insanely close to catching him it makes fear rush to my brain and the only thing I can think of is to get him off the damn scene as soon as I can. The rest of the police would laugh at me if I told them there were fucking snipers attending his heists and shooting at the damn kid! Why would they, when all you see is a genius idiot dancing in the moonlight on rooftops thirty stories high and grinning like a maniac?

Thinking back on everything, we sure did a lot of shit together, and he covered for me a lot more than I covered for him. He's the one that prevented that stupid French cat from cutting my finger off, he's the one that kept me on the Task Force, he's the one that helped me catch other scum, he's the one that saved my life when a bullet nearly pierced my head by casually making it look like a trick to escape from the police. And even with or without the tacky get-up, he's the brat that came and cheered me up when I needed it. For someone that considers the little bastard like a son, I'm not exactly a very good father, am I? I'm not even a good enough father to Aoko, for that matter.

But I've already decided that if the kid and I are both running around in the face of danger, he might as well be the one that be saved. Because I'm already starting to get older, and he has a full life ahead of him. Because I'm her father, and he's almost her everything. Because he became my son when his real father left.

I still hate him for that, even today. I don't regret feeling so close to the kid, but I hate that dipshit of a showman for having been one of my best friends, for being the brilliant bastard behind the monocle, for getting himself killed and leaving his wife and snot-nosed kid behind and never letting me know what the fuck was going on. I didn't want to believe in his death back then either, so when news spread that Kaitou KID was back and active after eight years of nothing, I desperately hoped that he'd been alive, that he'd dealt with whatever it was that prevented him from coming back after so long, and that he'd finally be able to answer all those damn questions that I had given up on ever asking. Except that, of course, he would keep on vanishing before I chance to say a word to him at all.

But time passed and I started to notice that it wasn't who I thought it was. It was close enough that someone who didn't know him in and out wouldn't notice, but I did. The only result was that I was pissed with both him and myself. Pissed at the bastard that was running around posing as someone else, and at myself for having to realise all over again that once you were dead, you couldn't come back.

It took me a while, but you didn't need to be a genius to put two and two together: a few key elements and you got the general picture. But it only left me with the same damn questions, if not more. Why was he doing this? Why wasn't he telling anyone? Why wasn't he asking for help when his damn life was so fucking obviously in danger? Because if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that no matter how much of an adrenaline-junkie that stupid stage-clown is, he's not just risking his life for the fun of it. He knows it's not just some game where you can revive and start over.

I understand that he can't tell Aoko. She'd hate him for the rest of eternity if he did, and Aoko means as much to him as he does to her. I don't need to hear him say it to know that his entire life would come crashing down on him if she suddenly vanished from his life. I understand he can't tell the arrogant half-Brit because that would be basically admitting defeat, and they're not even really friends anyway. I understand he can't tell his mother, thought I'm not even sure she's oblivious to his night job. I understand he can't tell me…but I wish he'd do it anyway, because that's the only thing I'm still waiting for.

I know that if I step forward and ask him directly, he'll just deny his identity as Kaitou KID. That's how he is, and that's how his idiot father was as well. Whatever their damn reasons were and still are, he wouldn't tell me anything.

So the best I can do is just help the brat without his knowing, protecting him by following him and responding to his heist notes, keeping an eye on those that would want to capture him and reveal his identity to the world. And all that without ever saying a word, because it wouldn't help a thing even if I did.

After all, I'm not a stupid as most people think, and- shit, the heist started already. Perched on top of the glass case that's shielding tonight's shiny translucent target was that asslick of a thief, with his white top hat shadowing half his face and that goddamn arrogant smirk pulling his lips closer to his ears.

Time to get in position and make sure those snipers don't get him tonight either.

…Because I'll do whatever it takes to protect him.