Today's the anniversary of Kaito and Shinichi's first meeting face to face. This is a story of what could have happened at this first meeting. Hope you like it!
Leaving an Impression on April Fools Day
Shinichi was close to cutting capers when Ran told him about Kaitou Kid and the Suzukis wanting Kogoro to try and catch the thief. He knew that Kogoro was nowhere close to being good enough to catch Kid if his own father hadn't come close, even if the Kid they were after now was the son of the original. On the other hand, his father himself had never really wanted to catch Kid since the man had known from their first personal meeting just who the other was. It was, after all difficult to hide that you are someone's best friend when that someone is able to see the string of fate that connects the two of you.
Shinichi had known for a long time that his uncle Toichi had been the first Kaitou Kid and he knew that he had been murdered. He and his own father had been working for years to bring down the crime syndicate that was responsible for killing Kuroba Toichi and they had been rather close already when Shinichi had gotten himself shrunk, but they had not yet been ready since that particular crime syndicate had ties all over the world and they had to make sure that they knew where each and every member was to take them down simultaneously since otherwise those that were not taken down would vanish and be nearly impossible to find. They just couldn't risk that so up until now they had just made sure to find them and work with the FBI, the CIA and Interpol to get those sons of bitches. The time to strike was getting closer and closer, but they could not yet tell anyone outside of their little circle about it which was why up until now Shinichi had had to watch how Kuroba Kaito went out at least one night a month and endangered himself. Well, at least they had been able to arrest all the snipers sent out to kill Kid until now, or at least foil their plans. Sadly until now Shinichi had not been able to attend any but two heists, but that would change now. Before, when he had still been his teenage self, he had not dared to go to the heists since he did not want any attention on Kid or himself. The less they were connected, the better, so there had only been two heists that he had attended, one when Toichi's old assistant had still been Kid and the other after Kaito had taken over the mantle. Kid however knew nothing or as good as nothing of his involvement. As far as Shinichi knew, the other only knew his name and that he had been able to look through each and every one of his tricks. Well, Shinichi did like to leave an impression and especially with Kaito since he wanted to woo the other and for that the other teen had to see him as his equal and he had to be intrigued. He knew enough about Kuroba Kaito to know that the other couldn't stand dull people.
And now it was time to introduce himself and make sure that the thief would want to know more about him. This heist was the perfect opportunity to do that.
Shinichi read the notice Kid had sent and thought about it for a moment. The police was right in thinking that Kid would appear on the first of April. However, he wouldn't steal the Black Star then, since he obviously told everyone that had eyes that this notice was an April fool. Kid had even written it in English to make it stand out more. Shinichi shrugged. If he knew the police and the inspectors after Kid as well as he thought, then they would all fall for it. Shinichi however was not about to tell them about this. Watching Nakamori-keibu flounder was too much fun after all. No, Shinichi would use this chance and make sure that Kid knew of him. Maybe he could manipulate things so that he would be able to spend some time with his thief.
After he had read the notice, he 'went to bed'. He knew that Ran would stay down here for a while longer so that it would be safe to study maps of Tokyo to figure out what he was missing so far.
Shinichi got to the room he was sharing with Kogoro and got out his maps. The keywords in this notice were 'moon splits in half', 'origin of the name' and 'waves'. Well. First start with waves... waves could mean the river that was close to the museum, but Shinichi doubted that. It could also mean other waves like sound-waves or transmission waves. Somehow Shinichi doubted that it were sound waves as well. So transmission waves it was. Which brought him to the next part of the code. 'Moon splits in half'. So it had to be a satellite. A short search later and Shinichi knew which satellite was meant and when its transmissions would be interrupted. It could only be the B.S., the satellite that had the same initials as the Black Star, the pearl Kid wanted to steal. B.S.'s transmission waves were coming from 45° southwest and 42.3° above the horizon, so Kid would be coming from the southwest and, taking into consideration that Kaito loved his hang-glider above all else, he would need a high building to land or start from, which left only the Haido City Hotel and, further out, the Tokyo Tower since all the other high buildings in that direction were too far away from the Beika Museum and the Haido Hotel.
So Kid would come from the Tokyo Tower and visit the Haido City Hotel between 12:30 and 4:00 am.
Satisfied with his findings, Shinichi went to bed. He was prepared for the heist and it was still a day left.
. *o* .
The next day, Shinichi let himself be entertained by the police and how they had everything but the day when Kid would appear wrong. He also no knew why Kid wouldn't steal the Black Star tomorrow, because what would the thief want with an imitation. Shinichi waited for night to come and made his way to the Haido City Hotel. Getting past the police was easier than taking candy from a baby and he very nearly pitied Kaito. This was what the other was always up against? No wonder he went stir crazy and had to prank his classmates all the time. This was in no way stimulation for the other's amazing mind. Well, Shinichi would give him something stimulating tonight.
The shrunken teen made his way to the roof and waited there for the thief to arrive. Kid arrived only a short wait later.
Without breaking the silence he appeared before Shinichi.
The only indication the detective had of the other's appearance was the slight tug he felt on his left ring finger. Shinichi always knew if someone that was linked to him through the strings of fate was close. It was one of the advantages of being able to see them.
Kid, Kaito, looked at him as if he could see right through him, as if his soul had been laid bare before the thief and he smiled a fearless smile as if he had come to the conclusion that Shinichi was no threat to him. Well, just for that the detective would make him sweat before the night was over, that much was for sure.
He started the firework he had brought with him so that the helicopters would notice them and the Haido City Hotel and only a moment later one of them came closer. As he remarked about it to the thief the other only smiled indulgently.
"Boy," the other said, "it looks as if you're not just a normal brat."
"Edogawa Conan," Shinichi introduced himself. "Detective."
After he had told the thief who he was, the shrunken teen played as if he wanted Kid to flee with his hang-glider. He was to 99% sure that the other wouldn't do that but get as many people on the roof with them as possible so that he could disguise as a police officer and get away this way since the air was monitored by the helicopters and their radar.
Kid did exactly what Shinichi had thought he would do and called all the police in the hotel up to the roof. The detective had known that Kaito was able to do amazing things with his voice, but to see it first hand was even better than reading about it in a report.
Shinichi smirked the moment Kid lowered the radio.
"Satisfied, tantei-kun?" Kid asked and Conan smiled.
'Very,' he thought. 'Because now I can bully you into getting me home.'
Just in that moment Nakamori-keibu and his team burst through the door and onto the roof.
Kid stood there calmly waiting, not the least bit ruffled by any of this.
"Freeze, Kid," the inspector called and Kaito only smirked.
"Why, if it isn't Nakamori-keibu... you certainly got here quickly..." he mocked.
"Hmph!" the inspector replied. "What're you saying? You knew perfectly well that I solved your notice and was watching this place. I just thought that you'd leave from here by hang-glider and continue on so I had increased the security around entrances and exits but I never thought you'd detour around the Tokyo Tower and land here...
"You should give up on the pearl," the man went on. "You have nowhere to run!"
Kid snorted inelegantly.
"Tonight was only to see how you'd react. I have no intention of taking it," he said.
"W-What?" Nakamori-keibu stuttered.
"What?" Kid asked, playing bewildered and Shinichi had to snort as well at the dumbfounded faces of the police. Kid calmly opened his hang-glider and prepared for take-off. "I'm sure I put it in the notice... APRIL FOOL!"
"D-Don't let him fly! Get him!" Nakamori-keibu screamed just as Kid let a flash bomb fall to the ground.
While they were all being blinded, Kaito continued the conversation he had had with Conan.
"Hey boy, did you know?" he asked. "Phantom thieves are artists who creatively steal their targets but detectives amount to nothing more than critics who look at the remains and try to find faults."
Pink smoke rose from the place where Kid was and only a moment later, when the smoke dispersed, he was gone. Shinichi could hear Nakamori-keibu rant and demand to know where Kid had gone, but there was nothing to find for the inspector. The detective on the other hand was looking around the roof and following the strings of fate he could see. Only the bright red one that left his ring finger was important and Shinichi followed it until he stood next to the disguised Kaitou Kid. A moment later, he made a show of yawning, making the thief notice him right next to the other.
Shinichi could see the other starting to sweat. If the detective knew who he was and told everyone right now, escape would be extremely difficult.
Kaito shook himself.
'Nah,' he thought there was no way the boy knew he was Kid. He had made sure to move away from his spot, not too far and not too close, right in the middle of the other police officers.
"Mister police officer?" Shinichi asked in his sweetest I'm-just-a-cute-little-kid voice. "It's already pretty late. Could you please bring me home?"
He even batted his eyelashes for effect.
By now Kid was really sweating. There was no way he wanted to be alone with the brat, he just wanted to get off this roof and home, but they were gathering the attention of all the officers on the roof by now and there seemed to be no way out.
"Wouldn't you rather go with Kumiyo-san here?" he asked, pointing to a rather pretty female police officer.
"No, I like you. You look nice," the chibi detective said, giving Kid a wide smile that had all the other police officers awing and gave the thief the creeps since a child this young should not be able to make a grin cute and predatory at the same time. "Do you not want to take me home, mister police officer-san?"
Kid wanted to scream 'NO!' but that was the worst course of action he could take and the other had so far not told everyone on the roof who he was if he even knew. Surely Kaito was just getting paranoid in thinking that a kid would be able to see through disguises that no one else was able to see through.
"Of course I'll take you home," he relented after a short moment and went to do just that. He filched the keys to one of the police cars off of one of the other officers as they left the roof after telling Nakamori-keibu that he was going to take the child home.
There was silence on the way to the car that quickly became uncomfortable to the thief so he decided to find out more about his new opponent.
"So, did you know that Kid wouldn't steal the Black Star tonight?" he asked after he had started the car.
"Of course," the child answered matter-of-factly. "He made it perfectly clear at the beginning of the notice after all. In fact that was the first thing next to the date of his appearance that was clear to me."
Kid was impressed. No one else seemed to have picked up on it. Well, his other opponents were the police and it had become painfully obvious a while ago that they were woefully unprepared to rival his intellect.
Silence fell over them again and the next time it wasn't broken by the thief but by the boy when they were nearing his residence.
"It was very clever of Kid to make the police think that he was going to flee with his hang-glider while he did a quick change into a police officer and stayed on the roof with his 'colleagues'," Shinichi said, watching said thief from the corner of his eye. He was more than pleased to see the thief sweat drop again.
"So you knew that Kid was one of the officers?" said thief asked, after swallowing around the lump in his throat.
Shinichi put his arms behind his head and continued to appear unbothered by anything.
"Of course," he said, smiling at the thief.
"And you still went into a car with one of these police officers that could be Kid?" he asked dumbfoundedly.
"Why not?" Conan shrugged, turning back to the front. "Kid has a no one gets hurt policy after all. It's not like he would hurt me. Or let me get hurt."
"You certainly are a strange kid," Kaito said, his mind reeling. With all the other had said, there was no way that he didn't know who he was sitting in a car with, but why had he not yet called Kaito's bluff? Why did he let the charade go on?
By now they had reached the detective agency where Shinichi was staying and Kid parked the car at the curb. Shinichi opened the door and got out.
"Happy April Fools' Day, Kaito-kun!" he said as he turned around, his anaesthesia watch poised and ready to shoot.
Kaito had no idea what that watch did, but the way the boy held it, it seemed as if it was some kind of weapon and the thief had no intention to find out what it did, so he did the only thing he could. He pressed his foot down on the gas pedal and sped away, never seeing Shinichi's Cheshire cat grin.
"April fools," the boy muttered under his breath, still smiling. Well, the night had gone better than he had expected. This was so much fun. He couldn't wait for the 19th. The detective went to bed that night with a happy smile on his face.
It was only much later that Kaito noticed that what Shinichi had called him even at this first meeting had been his name and not the Kaitou-kun he had told himself he had heard.
Hope you liked it! I would be happy to hear your thoughts on the story. Any criticism is welcome!