"Shin-chan, I'm going to pick Kaito-kun up now."

Small hands grasped the tails of Yukiko's coat; she glanced down to see her son, Shinichi, staring up at her. Not one to leave late, she continued to heave open the, rusty, old, navy-blue, front door of the Kudo house.

Shinichi let Yukiko know he wasn't happy. "You could have told me about this before today, you know."

Yukiko pinched his reddening cheek and gave an apologetic smile. The smile widened as she jested, "I thought you're Holmes' apprentice. If you really want to be as good as him you should have deduced that we were going to have an addition to the family."

Shinichi scowled.

Yukiko locked the door, leaving Shinichi inside with Yusaku, his father. Her husband, however, would be busy carting squeaking wheelbarrows of books downstairs. They needed space in Kaito's room so the adjacent room to Shinichi's was being converted from a library to a new bedroom.

The drive was short, as the orphanage was also in Tokyo, but Yukiko's legs were stiff with fatigue; possibly also from refraining from pushing down on the acceleration, (getting into trouble for speeding wouldn't be good on a day she was adopting a child.)

A strong floral scent hit Yukiko as she met the social worker: Anzai Hoshi. The woman stank of perfume, the type that Yukiko had never gone a minute without smelling while she was an actress.

Standing behind Anzai was Kuroba Kaito. He looked rather like Shinichi, with brown hair and sharp blue eyes. When Kaito clutched his suitcase in one hand and offered a Yukiko a handshake with the other, a mischievous grin creeping across his face, she cautiously accepted the gesture.

Yukiko hadn't quite expected a stream of water to shoot out of his sleeve soaking her from head to toe.

Before going through the adoption process, Yukiko had only met Kaito twice. The first time he had been an infant and the second was just over a year prior, where Kaito called her 'a pretty old lady' and she corrected him. He had changed somewhat since then; the Kaito of old had displayed his magic by giving her a flower, rather than showering her in water. Despite this, the kid seemed relatively, as fine as you could be after the deaths of your parents; his eyes still glimmered like safires.

Since she, and her husband both, knew the Kuroba's, to some extent, they ended up adopting him after the Kuroba couple's passing. According to the official report, Toichi, Kaito's father, died in an accident and Chikage, his mother, died from natural causes.

However, they'd both died under suspicious circumstances, according to Yusaku at least. The 'suspicious circumstances' probably had something to do with Toichi, Kaito's father, being Kaitou Kid. Although Yukio had never been told about Toichi's double life it was plain as day, at least to her, that he was Kid. Toichi had been her disguise teacher, and she felt indebted to him enough to take care of his son.

Baking in the summer heat Yukiko turned the air conditioning on full throttle, but it was after she had done the same for the engine. She had dried off but wanted to impress Kaito with her driving skills, culminating in the car zipping through the motorway at well over 100 Miles per hour. Kaito was humoured, but not completely impressed, at least until she told him to lean out the window and they went on two wheels.

They arrived home to find Shinichi sitting on a stool in a kitchen sipping orange juice while his legs swung underneath him.

"Shinichi, this is Kuroba Kaito," Yukiko told her son, she turned to Kaito and nudged his towards Shinichi, "This is my son, Kudo Shinichi."

It was uncanny. Seeing the two together for the first time, watching them exchange first glances, Yukiko realised the pair was identical in every aspect with the exception of Kaito's hair being messier. Despite having no blood relation and Kaito being a year older, it would be easy to assume that they were twins who dressed and did their hair different so they weren't mistaken for each other.

In a sudden moment of realisation Yukiko put a hand on each boy's head pushed them together. "You're so cute! Kai-chan, Shin-chan!"

As his cheeks turned a bright shade of red Shinichi pushed her away, managing to regain his composure by offering Kaito a handshake, "Nice to meet you Kuroba-kun."

Kaito didn't take the boy's hand; instead the young magician reached behind Shinichi's ear and revealed a 1 yen coin. Shinichi smirked a little, "That all you can do?"

Kaito smirked in response, placing the coin in Shinichi's palm. When Shinichi realised that, rather than the usual dates and currency infomation, imprinted on the coin it read, 'pleased to make your aquationce, Kudo Shinichi'.

Shinichi smiled, while it could have been made ahead of time, it was nonetheless impressive that Kaito had done such a trick. "I guess you are better than me."

This brief display of magic made Shinichi smile, "I know how that one works; you're very good at it, much better than me."

Kaito grinned at Shinichi. "I Guess I'm better than you! Right, Claude?" He jested, pulling a dove out of his shirt, a bird that shouldn't really have been able to fit, much less without being visible. The boy was like his father: a true magician.

Remembering that her son had been too formal, Yukiko scolded him, "Hey Shinichi, he's going to be living with us, even if you don't call him nii-san, at least call him by his first name!"

"Sorry… Kaito"

Squeaking past the room was a wheelbarrow full of neatly stacked books and parts of a dismantled bookcase Yusaku peered into the kitchen. "I've sorted out your room Kaito, can you come upstairs?"

By 'sorted out', Yusaku meant that he had removed enough books from the room to allow space for a bed and the boy's possessions.

The four of them walked upstairs and, despite his complaints, Yukiko quickly put Shinichi to bed. With his son taken care of, Yusaku opened the door next to his son's room, where a wooden sign with the name 'Kaito' carved on it.

Inside the room was plenty of space, despite their still being several large book cases and Yukiko had to admit her husband had done a good job. Kaito had: a large bed, a mirror, a desk and, draws filled with few clothes but many magic items. All the furniture was wooden and unpainted; Yukiko guessed it was the theme (Yusaku liked to do things like that).

"Thank you." Kaito stepped into his bedroom and quietly shut the door.

A moment of silence later and he padded back out in stripy red pyjamas.

"Goodnight, old-lady," he mumbled.

It was then that Yukiko had noticed that her husband had gone, probably to the study to keep writing his book (which was already well overdue.)

Yukiko thought for a second about scolding the young boy for calling her an 'old-lady', but when Kaito closed the door she saw the young orphans hands shake; she didn't have the heart to do it. The mask hiding his emotions had peeled off a little, exposing his inner turmoil and grief.

Even she, a famous actress, didn't see though his glimmering eyes and cocky grins instead thinking he was unaffected. The kid was an amazing actor, his face may not have been neutral but it was perfect at hiding his emotions.

A perfect poker face.