Authors note: Welcome my dear readers! This will be a series of short one-shot stories that take place in the side-lines of 'The fox and hounds' story. They won't be put in any chronological order, I'll simply post what my muse will give me. I intend to give any important information at the start of each story, so even if you don't follow F&H feel free to enjoy this.
My beta for this is as always madelita :D Big thanks for her ^^
Ladies and gentlemen! I humbly welcome you to the first story of this series!
Time in F&H – during chapter 27;
Characters in the story - KID, Kaitou KID Task Force, Nakamori Ginzo;
Genere - General, Action;
Warnings - none;
Background information - A few heists before there was an explosion, nobody got seriously hurt, but the kaitou's condition was unknown, until he reappeared three weeks later. And although KID send a letter of apology, about the incident which indicated that it was not his fault and there were a few major arrests made it was for some time a matter of discussion whether the thief wasn't involved with the explosion. (Thank you Kensy Echo for pointing it out to me :D)
So without further delay…
Please enjoy and review! :)
Story 1: Meet you on the wettest time
A night of a Kaitou KID heist is never a tranquil one. With all the laughter and excited murmurs, it has more of a feeling of a festival of sorts. And actually about a year ago some small sellers started offering their goods during those events. It first started with a few people selling drinks and snacks which lead to opening small stalls with Kaitou KID themed souvenirs. Their activity was lessened after the explosion, but judging by their anew increasing numbers, the thief managed to slowly start reclaiming his image of harmless joy and wonder bringer.
Nakamori felt his annoyance grow as his gaze moved over the cheerful crowd. He wanted to close the temple grounds to the public for the time of the heists, but the sole idea of it seemed to be unimaginable to the monks. At least the head priest was a rare type of an owner who didn't actually want for the kaitou to be successful with his heist and they managed to reach a small agreement about the security measures. Nowadays most of the owners were rather thrilled than worried with the thief's interest in their belongings and either quietly cheered for him themselves (most didn't want to get on Nakamori's bad site by cheering openly) or felt indifferent about the outcome, knowing that their jewel would be returned anyway. The inspector's mood was not improved by a certain big headed, idiot detective's appearance. Ginzo may have started getting used to the teenage and kid sleuths, but only because they proved themselves useful and usually either didn't bother his Task Force, or actually helped driving KID into a corner. Mouri however was nothing more than an attention seeking plague, who did not obey orders and only increased the chaos that was so specific to the heists.
Kogoro and Ginzo were engaged in another bicker, while the other officers tried to keep the more resolute fans from entering the temple sheltering the bejeweled statue. Fortunately, after long barters made between Nakamori and the head priest, the latter agreed to form a safety cordon around the building and close it for the public just for the night. Unfortunately he did not manage to gain acceptance to close the area for a few days before the faithful night, so the police was restricted to sending undercover officers to keep an eye on the jewel (and Ginzo was not happy to hear that Hakuba slipped the information about the heist to the public before it was officially released by the police). The fans however weren't pleased the agreement. There were various attempts, proving how inventive people could be. Besides the obvious bribe, sneaking and forced attempts to get inside there were various others. There was this one fan who nearly managed to get inside by introducing himself as another detective and a specialist in catching criminals. Unfortunately for him the confused officers called for Nakamori to give his decision and by the time it happened, he was already in a very foul mood. The unlucky fan got himself arrested on charges of possibly being Kaitou KID in disguise or his assistant and escorted to be imprisoned at the station. A few arrests like that usually helped to cool down the enthusiasm of the more eager fans. Another plague the police had to deal with were Kaitou KID cosplayers. What was worse – those didn't get easily discouraged, so eventually a sector was created during each heist, where multiple white-clad fans could cheer for their idol under careful watch of a few unlucky officers.
It was expected that the thief would make his appearance outside of the temple and thus the excitement was higher. As time drew near, the countdown started. When it reached zero, a soft, warm light came into view at the top of Hozōmon, illuminating the grinning kaitou. A shriek of joy from the fans and curses from the police greeted him, the first quieting when the white clad man raised his arms.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to tonight's heist~!" KID had to make a brief pause for the spike of joy to subdue. "But for this event I have a special request to you, my lovely audience. As much as your cheers please me, I would like to ask of you to exceptionally remain quiet, in respect for the goddess Kannon, hosting today's occasion and to not startle my new tiny assistants." The place got filled with surprised murmurs and the kaitou's grin spread. "Now then without further delay! Let the heist begin~!"
On cue the soft light vanished and the thief wrapped himself with his cape. All the artificial lights surrounding the place vanished. Taking the hint, the sellers reduced their personal lightings as well. Loud cracks were heard, as the reflectors prepared by the police were damaged with tiny firecrackers. Invisibly to the spectators, Kaito allowed himself to reduce his maniacal grin, into a softer one, hoping that his father would be watching this particular event. But he didn't let the tranquil of the night to last long. With a cheerful laughter he spread his arms, releasing the gently glowing fireflies. Soft shamisen music started flowing from the hidden speakers around the area and two flocks of his doves circled the temple, one flock dropping glitter, the other some more of the shining bugs. When they were nearing the building again, six more birds flew from the kaitou himself, splitting and joining the two flocks by the temple. KID smiled and took a step in midair, as casually as he did during the first time he did the trick, but this time there was no helicopter above him. After a few more he started running towards the temple, filling the air with glitter which was dropping from his cape, swirling behind him. With a puff of glittering smoke, that left another bunch of fireflies, he disappeared right before touching the temple roof. While the thief was gone from view, doing his magic inside the building, some more of the glowing bugs got released from their hidden containers around the sacred grounds, causing waves of awes from spectators.
The inside was on high alert. The officers, of course, did not heed the kaitou's plead for keeping quiet, nor did they bend to the silent order for cutting the lights. Although all of the larger light sources were damaged, some of the smaller torches got spared. Regrettably those who held those could not count themselves as fortunate, as KID seemed determined to put all of the obstructions to his show out. So thus the sleeping gas was unleashed at those who defied to the order, followed by the shots of the card-gun cutting off the gas masks, resulting in knocking out the torch wielders. In the chaos that was unleashed, the head priest, accompanied by two of other monks stood their ground in front of the sacred statue, trying not to show their awe at the gently glowing lights hovering inside of the temple, or the show of skill and agility of the thief. Somewhere in between dodging his pursuers, KID found the opportunity to stop briefly and tip his hat before the virtuous men, before disappearing in another puff of glittering smoke. The head priest gasped, angered, as he turned around and noticed the thief standing on their sacred goddess' head. The outrageous kaitou grinned manically and coached wrapping himself with the cloak, covering the head of the statue for a moment. He stayed there for a moment until the taunted officers attempted to jump him. He disappeared again in a puff of smoke and didn't appear anymore. The head priest along with the two monks and officers gazed with surprise at the statue before them. As expected, the jewel was gone, but in return there was a necklace around its neck. Instead of a pendant, there was a small lit candle, hanged on a thick chain. Closer inspection revealed that there was an inscription on the chain - a prayer to the goddess to show mercy for all of those who denied themselves to open their hearts to the wonder and joy, for the world surrounding them.
Faintly hearing the quiet claps that must have been accompanying KID leaving the area, the strict head priest smiled softly to the sacred statue and let himself get drowned in a silent prayer. Later, when the police was gathering the evidence, he did not allow them to take away the necklace, treating it as the kaitou's rightful tribute and prayer to Kannon. And everybody has the right to be heard by the gods. Somehow the priest was no longer angered at the thief, who taught him a valuable lesson that he was sure to pass on.
Despite of what the public might think, the end of a heist is hardly an end of police work. The brave officers have to collect and catalogue all of possible evidence, fill in the reports and let the calmer of the prisoners loose (because there really is no point to press any serious charges to the eager fans, the only point in imprisoning them is only to stop them from interfering during the heist itself – usually the inability to watch KID perform is punishment large enough anyway). The biggest problem in collecting the evidence is again the presence of fans, who would love to get their hands on anything their idol used. It is rare, but sometimes even small riots break out because of this. Whenever KID uses any audio, controlling or jamming devices, the officers nearly expect to find out that those are the same that should be already locked away in their evidence deposit, that, when they return to check, got replaced by decoys, with hidden cards of thanks. The thought that they are actually helping the thief with securing his equipment is mostly enraging, but secretly also kind of nice.
In all, the work in the Kaitou KID Task Force is a hard, ungrateful and humiliating one. But the merits of having front row seats for the thief's show and the possibility to match their wits with him makes the effort worth it, at least for most. And even those who can't take the pressure are left with wonderful memories and sometimes even a tiny gift of gratitude from the magical kaitou.
And that's it :D I hope you enjoyed it~
A tiny dictionary (inspired by Kensy Echo review):
The Hozōmon - it is a two story gate. The inner of two large entrance gates that ultimately leads to the Sensō-ji in Asakusa, Tokyo (The temple is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon).
Shamisen - is a plucked stringed instrument. Its construction follows a model similar to that of a guitar or a banjo, with a neck and strings stretched across a resonating body. The neck of the shamisen is fretless and slimmer than that of a guitar or banjo.
Kannon - a spiritual figure of mercy, in English called a goddess, although it is not fully accurate to European understanding of a 'god'. Fun fact: According to legend, a statue of the Kannon was found in the Sumida River in 628 by two fishermen, the brothers Hinokuma Hamanari and Hinokuma Takenari.
Initially I planned to start posting this after I've finished my big projects, because as those who follow my stories know – lately I have little time to write. So regrettably don't expect any updates of this soon (sorry ^^"). It was Cerlinfia's review that inspired me to write it~ Anyhow – I'll gladly listen to any requests for this you might have~ At the moment I do have a few stories in mind for this series planned, but unlike writing heists, those would take me a bit of my time, that I prefer to spend on writing big projects – I hope you understand.
*bows* See you next time~