AN: I am reminded with this fic why I enjoy writing Saguru so much. ^_^ I will probably keep cycling back to DCMK no matter how little I'm involved in the community now. A prompt from commentfic community on LJ: author's choice, author's choice, wondering about something turns to wanting turns to obsession

Saguru knew his own faults. The same things that made him a wonderful detective could be his greatest flaws. There was only so much detail orientation a person could have before it became something closer to a tic, and only so much going over situations to understand them before it moved past that into obsession. His tics made him notice things others didn't. His need to understand drove him to dig deeper and see cases through. His compulsive note-taking meant that he had some of the clearest and informative reports in the precinct. But because these tics were his life, were what drove him and formed him, he knew how dangerous they could be.

Chasing Kaitou Kid had been a change of pace, a side note to chasing down killers and mobsters and criminal organizations. It started out as a means to an end and when catching Kid failed to happen and Kid proved less straightforward than Saguru initially thought, he started noticing the slope he was on.

Kaitou Kid was 174 centimeters tall. He weighed 58 kilograms. He had an IQ of 400. He had B blood type. He could not ice skate. Kid was ambidextrous. The current Kid was not the original Kid and was only 15 to 17 years old. Kid was a skilled disguise artist. Kid was a showman and employed skills commonly seen in stage magic. Kid had a reputation as an all-around thief, but was better known as a gem thief. Kaitou Kid could not resist a challenge. Kaitou Kid did not like others profiting from him. Kaitou Kid left warnings, turned every heist into a production, and returned every stone he stole.

One Kuroba Kaito fit Kid's height, weight, and age statistics. He might well match the intelligence and blood type. Kuroba was the son of a prestigious stage magician who died in a mysterious accident. The accident coincided with the disappearance of the original Kaitou 1412.

Because Saguru knew his faults, he knew when interest in a case was productive and when it was not. Wondering what Kid's motivations were was one thing. Wanting to know more about Kid to understand his methods and thus extrapolate said motives was another. Obsessing about his classmate over suspicions of his being Kid, spending free moments in school stalking him, and handcuffing him to Saguru during a heist to try and prove a point was completely different and…Saguru admitted he needed to take a step back before his obsession went too far.

Which was why he was in London again.

Not thinking about Kuroba.

Or Kid.

Saguru ran a hand through his hair. Kid was supposed to have been secondary, but he'd taken over Saguru's brain so much that he'd been distracted from his original target. Saguru couldn't say where Snake was now. While he had shown up at Kid heists, Saguru had been more interested in Kid than Snake.

"Which one is the true threat to society?" Saguru admonished himself. Kid wasn't the one shooting people. Spider, however… Saguru knew where he was going to be very shortly, and that had given him enough of a reason to pull away from Kid's mystery and get back on task. The organization. Spider led to Snake who had to lead somewhere further up the ladder. It was more than a little infuriating to know who the assassin pretended to be (another magician, why was his life full of magicians?) and not have the ability to do anything about it. Not without proof. Actually, it was ridiculously similar to Kid's case only Kid was a thief rather than an assassin even if Spider was taking inordinate amounts of interest in Kid and his targets and…no, Saguru was supposed to not think about Kid.

He had his case. It involved staking out Goldberg's show in three days, for which he needs to call in for tickets. Something that should have been done days ago. Something that ordinarily Saguru would not have overlooked.

Saguru pulled out his phone, idly using it to check Japanese news sites that he had bookmarked to keep track of Kid. He caught himself scrolling toward the mention of the Marie Antoinette jewelry collection on exhibit and gripped the phone tight. He jabbed letters into the search bar to get the number for tickets to Goldberg's show.

The show passed with nothing to accuse Goldberg of. It was actually the least questionable of all the productions Saguru had attended. The hypnotisms were short and humorous without the usual dark undertone, the illusions were flashy but without depth, and in all, the performance was lacking the attention Goldberg usually put into them. This could be because he was distracted by an upcoming job as Spider, or perhaps he was having trouble putting on his performer's mask. Maybe it was none of that and Saguru was becoming used to the tricks until they had no effect on him at all.

He shouldn't feel disappointed that nothing had happened and he hadn't found any leads. No one in the audience had been scarred by illusions or hypnotism. That was good. Saguru had a whole tour schedule to follow Goldberg and wait for him to slip up. That was plenty of time.

So why did he find himself scrolling through his phone to find the article he'd seen that morning declaring a challenge between Kaitou Kid and Chat Noir? Kid was in Japan, and while Chat Noir was a French thief and Saguru was in France, it hardly was his priority at the moment to dig deeper.

He wanted to though.

There was a niggling fear for Kid's safety (which was ridiculous), a territorial feeling about a foreign thief encroaching on Japanese soil (again, ridiculous; Saguru wasn't even fully Japanese), and the same twisted curiosity and longing to understand that went along with any criminal action he observed. Why did Chat Noir follow Marie Antoinette's jewels around the world? Why a showdown between thieves? Why was Kid targeting the Golden Eye? Was it because of the challenge or had he wanted to steal it before hand? Had Kid been surprised to meet another phantom thief? How had Kuroba reacted in class—boasting that Kid would be the victor or more serious, hinting that Kid too would take the confrontation seriously? What were Chat Noir's usual methods? Did the French thief have a history of harming others? …Would the organization attend this heist with Goldberg in France?

Saguru scowled, his brain coming back full circle to Goldberg and the Spider problem. Audience members streamed past Saguru as they exited. Goldberg didn't appear to greet his fans like he so often did, and that pinged warning bells in the back of Saguru's mind.

He'd let himself be distracted again. Damn Kid and Kuroba and Spider and Chat Noir and anyone else that had a part in this muddle. (Damn himself for his obsessive nature bleeding over unhealthily into all aspects of his life.)

Saguru straightened his clothing, tucked his phone away, and went to circle back around the building. He had work to do.

Goldberg was gone.

Saguru vowed to pay closer attention even as he phoned up some French police friends for information on Chat Noir.

The morning news was full of speculation. All of Paris seemed to be waiting to hear how the heist in Japan would turn out. Most believed that their thief would win over Kaitou Kid. It was amusing and troubling how the public claimed a criminal and took sides. Even more troubling as Saguru found himself doing the same thing, confident that Kid would outsmart Chat Noir. Saguru sipped his tea and mulled over the time difference between Paris and Tokyo. Seven hours. Eight o'clock in Paris, three in the afternoon in Tokyo, and everyone was likely scrambling with preparations.

Saguru set his phone down. Drank more tea.

The digital clock blinked at him. Eight twelve. Not nearly as precise as his pocket watch though he could make it more so. He turned back to his paper. Goldberg had another show in Paris, then he was off to Marseille, then to Lyon. Tickets currently on sale. To go to the show or to poke around and see what Goldberg was up to in his off hours?

Eight fifteen.

Eight seventeen.

Eight twenty.

Saguru set down his paper with a snort of self derision. Picking up his phone, he scrolled down through his contacts. Saguru wondered what Kuroba would think if he knew he was labeled as "Kaitou" in Saguru's phone. He'd done it as a joke initially, a pun on Kaito and a reference to his suspicion that Kuroba was Kid. Then again, Kuroba likely didn't know Saguru had his cell phone number.

As the international call rang through, Saguru reflected that he was in too deep and unlikely to get out at any time in the near future. It was probably better that he kept his distance for the time being. An ocean and continent between them didn't dim the obsession, but it would keep Saguru from doing something as retrospectively embarrassing as handcuffing Kuroba to his person again.

He summoned up his usual persona for dealing with Kuroba or Kid: arrogant, mocking, and amused. It got on Kuroba's nerves which was payback for how he got on Saguru's. He stood up and wandered to the glass double doors that showed a view of his balcony and the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Hey, still alive?" he said in greeting. The conversation would undoubtedly go downhill from there, but that was okay. He would warn Kid and maybe, just maybe, Saguru could focus on the case he was supposed to be working on for a while. For now he slipped into the role he fell into when he and Kuroba were face to face and smiled like he meant it. Maybe he did mean it. It was hard to tell anymore. Information out, hurry off the phone, and go about his day. In the afternoon, he'd check news sites and see what happened with Kid and Chat Noir. For now he hoped the ocean of distance would dull some of the obsession. Or he'd learn to function around it.