Esteemed Readers;
Greetings to you, one and all! Take this notice as a warning, for I am here to steal your time and attention with a strange little story I'm afraid that I have to call my own. For you see, while browsing through fanfictions as I am apt to do, I noticed something rather peculiar; Although there are several cases of stories involving one Kudo Shinichi as a member of the opposing gender, fanfiction of a gender altered Kaitou Kid has yet to catch my eye. I'm sure there's probably at least one out there, which no doubt someone will take great pleasure in introducing me to, but clearly they are vastly outnumbered by Fem!Shin fics. Considering that, of the two, Kaitou Kid seems more prone to appearing before us in a dress, I could not help but find this terribly ironic. I was also, I am ashamed to admit, struck by a rather insistent muse, who is wholly responsible for the travesty you are about to read. Take heed, dear readers, that I do not own any of the characters presented to you in this story, and do try to have fun with this, will you?
Respectfully,
*,'~ KaitouHime1412 ~,'*
*,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ * ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'*
*,'~ Black as a Star ~,'*
"KAIYOOOOOOOO!"
Like theRed Seaparting for Moses, students in the hallways of Edoka High immediately dove out of the way as the familiar war cry tore through the morning air, signaling the arrival of the school's most energetic pair. Sure enough, not long after their classmates had flattened themselves against the walls, two girls rounded the corner at breakneck speeds, the second one making rather impressive (but unsuccessful) attempts at actually breaking her companion's neck. Grinning like the cat that swallowed the canary, the girl in the lead acrobatically dodged all of her friend's attempts to behead her with her trusty mop, using her friend's shoulders as a springboard after one attempt to flip gracefully over her head and make a perfect landing.
"Aw, come on Aoko, it was just a joke!" The girl giggled, her violet blue eyes twinkling with mischief as she watched her friend turn scarlet. "Besides, I was only trying to help."
"Help?" Aoko repeated, a rather frightening battle aura flaring to life around the girl. "HELP? You call-!" A swing of the mop, which was neatly dodged with a jump. "-telling some boy I've never met before-!" An overhead swing, avoided by a backhanded cartwheel. "-That I'm wearing lacey baby blue panties with a matching bra HELP?" Here the mop was thrown like a javelin, which the target simply sidestepped, her wide grin never fading as the mop's handle embedded itself into the concrete brick her head had been in front of not moments earlier.
"Exactly!" Kaiyo chirped in response to Aoko's question. "I broke the ice! It got you a date for this Friday, didn't it?"
"I DON'T NEED A DATE FOR THIS FRIDAY!" Aoko snarled back, lunging at her friend, who disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke. "Oooh, Kaiyo! No fair using your stupid tricks to avoid punishment!"
"But Ao~ko~chaaaan!" Kaiyo whined from where she materialized, standing upside down on the ceiling. "All I'm doing is looking out for you! I saw the way you kept looking at that guy on the bus, and no offence or nothin', but you REALLY need a man to help you get rid of some of that tension."
"I'll show YOU tension!" Aoko snarled in response, drawing her mop out of the wall and reaching with her whole body to try and strike at her wayward friend. "You can't stay up there forever, Kaiyo, and once you come down-!"
"Oh no, don't tell me you two have started this already…" Blinking, both girls turned to see their homeroom teacher had joined them at some point during their spat, and was currently cradling her head in the hand that wasn't holding the full mug of coffee she relied heavily on to keep her wits about her in class.
"Ah, sensei!" Kaiyo greeted the woman happily. "What's got you so down?"
"Gravity." The blonde responded dryly, giving the grinning brunette a pointed look. "Something that you've seemed to have overcome this morning, Kuroba-san. Now then, could you two please shelve whatever this fight is about for later? Preferably after school? And Nakamori-san, please put that mop back where you found it." Grinning, Kaiyo detached herself from the ceiling and flipped to land with an extra flourish, as Aoko blushed and hastily returned the mop to its closet.
"Don't think this is over, Kaiyo." She grumbled to her friend as the two of them entered their classroom.
"Wouldn't dream of it, Aoko-chan." Kaiyo grinned back flippantly, sitting down in her desk and conjuring the morning paper out of thin air. Aoko's lips thinned dangerously at the headline.
Kaitou Kid Targets Black Star!
"Please tell me you're not reading about that thief again." The irate girl said in disgust, which only made her friend grin wider before she gave the girl a look of exaggerated innocence.
"Alright." She said agreeably. "I'm not reading about that thief again. I'm admiring the picture. The photographers this paper hires really outdo themselves, don't you think? I mean, the way the cape is billowing dramatically in the wind! The shadows covering his face, but still revealing his mysterious smile! The floodlight behind him, making him look like some sort of descending angel coming to save us all from damnation!"
"Angel?" Aoko scoffed as she viciously jammed a pencil through the photographed figure's monocle. "More like some kind of Akuma sent here to create Hell on earth."
"Well that's not very nice." Kaiyo pouted as she folded the paper in half twice, tapped it against her desk, then opened it to reveal the picture yet again, whole once more.
"Why do you look up to an insufferable showoff like that, anyways?" Aoko said, wrinkling her nose. "You're twice the magician he is, and your dad was five times better than he could ever dream of being!"
"No arguing with that." Kaiyo smiled slightly as memories of her father sprang forth at her friend's words. "But hey, Kaitou Kid's fun and mysterious. What's wrong with that?"
"The fact that he uses slight of hand to steal and make the cops look like fools, that's what." Aoko sniffed haughtily. "Just you wait, Kaiyo, one of these days, my dad's gonna catch that jerk, and when he does, I'm sooo gonna rub it in your face!"
"That's about as likely as a cold day in Hell, Aoko." Kaiyo pointed out with a taunting smirk, earning a look that could peel paint from her best friend before Aoko turned away to ignore the magician. Kaiyo snickered softly at her friend's behavior for a moment, before turning her attention back to her paper.
She was pleased with herself over the attention this heist was getting, since attention seemed to be the only thing she could get from heists nowadays. With Hakuba out of the country, all the thrill of matching wits with a challenging opponent had been completely sapped from her recent heists, save for the ever memorable Clock Tower heist and the mystery man in the helicopter who came frighteningly close to catching her a few months back. Curiously enough, no detective stepped forward to claim credit for that particular close call, and as far as Kaiyo could tell, that opponent hadn't seen fit to make a second appearance. Bit of a bummer, really… Still, this Black Star heist was proving to be quite showy, given the wealth and prestige of the Suzuki group.
"Okay class, time to get started. Kuroba, please put away the newspaper and pay attention… or at least pretend to, to make me feel better."
"Gotcha, sensei!" Kaiyo chirped, vanishing the newspaper in a flurry of doves, which proceeded to flutter all around the room. Her classmates shrieked and ducked whenever the birds got too close to them, which immediately set the class into chaos the teacher had no hopes of controlling as Kaiyo sat sweetly in her seat, grinning like the madwoman everyone knew she was.
*,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ * ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'*
Well, this was unexpected…
Snickering to herself in the early morning hours as she shed her officer disguise for something less conspicuous, Kaiyo mused silently over the unexpected surprise she had found waiting for her on the rooftop of Haido Hotel. The night had started off normally enough. It hadn't taken Kaitou Kid long to find Nakamori and his men skulking around the crowd of the hotel (Really, the task force needed to learn a thing or twelve about subtlety, if they ever wanted to succeed in getting the drop on their thief) and Kid had his fun jerking them and the rest of the police around, making them dance to Kid's tune. Delivering the second notice to get the Suzukis to bring out the authentic Black Pearl went off without a hitch too. True, Kid could probably just steal it from wherever the wealthy family had hidden it, but really, where was the fun in that?
The part where things got interesting though, was right before Kid delivered the second note.
Just as promised in the notice, the thief arrived at the hotel roof right on scheduled, already aware that Nakamori and his merry band of lawmen were scouring the building with the rabid enthusiasm Kid had come to expect from the task force. It was quite cute, really. Not many criminals had officers so devoted to them, the way Kid did. It was enough to bring a tear to her eye. Granted, they were usually tears of laugher, but that was beside the point.
Officers aside though, there was already someone else waiting on the roof of the Haido Hotel when Kid arrived in an appropriately dramatic fashion (A good performer always knows how to make an entrance, after all). A teenager, probably in the same grade as Kaiyo, dressed in the school uniform for Teitan High School. Though the thief made no noise when he landed, the other teen immediately stiffened, alert to the other presence, and turned to study Kaitou Kid with the most intense blue eyes the thief had ever seen.
Behind Kid's smiling poker face, Kaiyo couldn't help but be impressed at the sight the boy made as he stared down her approaching figure. Just because Kaitou Kid was supposed to be male in order to fool the snipers into continuing their belief that she was her father didn't mean she couldn't appreciate a good looking guy when she found one after all…
"Ara, ara… you're not a face I've seen before." Kid's masculine voice said cheerfully when the thief finally stopped his approach on the other teen. "What are you doing at a place like this?"
"Honestly? I came to meet you." The boy answered with a predatory smile that brought up Kid's guard at the same time it made Kaiyo mentally melt at the knees. "You got me curious with that riddle you sent to Sonoko's father. I didn't realize retro thieves like you still existed… Kaitou Kid-san."
"What an honor, to be known by a gentlemen such as yourself." Kid responded mockingly. Sonoko? Wasn't that the youngest daughter of the Suzuki group? This guy was on familiar enough terms with the girl to call her by name? Come to think of it, Suzuki Sonoko was around the same age as them as well, and attended Teitan High, too. Perhaps the two were dating, then? Bummer… "Alas, though you appear to know my name, I'm afraid yours escapes me, good
sir."
"Kudou Shinichi." The boy introduced himself at her none-too-subtle prompting.
Kaiyo felt her blood run cold as the teen's name registered.
Kudou Shinichi? As in the same Kudou Shinichi who was widely proclaimed as the Savior of the Japanese Police Force? The guy who got Aoko was obsessed with high school detectives? The one no criminal had ever successfully evaded capture from?
"You've heard of me, then?" Kudou said lightly when the thief's poker face slipped enough to show her reaction to that name.
"You'd be hard pressed to find someone in Japan who hasn't, Meitantei-kun." Kid pointed out with a wide grin. "Though I must admit, I am surprised. From what I hear, you're usually snapping at the heels of murderers. Why bother with a humble Phantom Thief like myself?"
"Like I said earlier, curiosity." Kudou replied. Kid felt a mixture of annoyance and disappointment at that. Just was he needed, another Hakuba.
"If you're going to ask me why I steal things-!" Kid started off flatly before the other teen cut him off with a wave of the hand and dry look.
"I'm not so lazy or bored as to come all the way out here to ask you something like that." Kudou interjected, sounding mildly offended that the thief even suggested differently. "Especially when chances are pretty good that you'd either lie about it or refuse to tell me. I doubt it's something you're all that interested in sharing, after all. No, what I'm curious about is the personality of the sort of criminal who mocks the police with riddles and announces their crimes in advance. That's why I came here without telling the police the answer to your notice, Kaitou Kid."
…Okay, not another Hakuba, then. Kid decided. Hakuba was very clinical with his detective work. For him, it was all computers, test tubes and cold, hard facts. He was more comfortable with crime scenes and physical evidence then people, which was where he and the infamous Heisei Holmes clearly differed. A straight-laced guy like him would NEVER withhold information merely out of curiosity.
That wasn't to say that Kudou would do any better than Kaiyo's foreign classmate, though…
"Oh~?" Kid hummed in response to Kudou's answer. "Then tell me, Meitantei-kun, what do you plan to do, now that you've spoken to me as you wished? It's not too much to hope that letting me go on my own way is an option, is it?"
Kudou's reply to the thief's question came in the form of an innocent-looking remote he unearthed from his uniform's blazer, which became less innocent after he pushed a button and an array of fireworks shot into the sky, immediately prompting the some of the police helicopters patrolling over Beika Museum to check on the disturbance.
"…Yeah, I thought not." Kid said sullenly. Darn, and he was just starting to like this detective, too… well, more than the others he'd met, at any rate.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but sitting by and letting criminal acts happen isn't really my style." Kudou said brightly, not sounding sorry in the least. Freakin' sadist… "You'd better hurry if you want to make it through the hotel before the police get here, Kid-san."
And turn my back on you? Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Kid scoffed mentally as a hand raised to his chin and he made a big show of thinking through his options. On the one hand, that little firework show had pretty much shot the chances of a hang glider escape straight to hell, given that the choppers would mess up the air currents if he made the attempt. The hotel escape Kudou suggested was also not an option, since he was pretty sure the detective had more tricks up his sleeve. Besides, Nakamori's men were still down there and all, and he really didn't want to attract their attention just yet…
…Or… maybe he did…
Reaching into the suit, Kid pulled out a radio, inwardly snickering at the puzzled look on the detective's face at the sight of the device. Clearing his throat dramatically, Kid brought the radio up and began speaking into it.
In Superintendent Chaki's voice.
"This is Chaki. I've sighted Kaitou Kid on the rooftop of Haido City Hotel. Attention all vehicles patrolling the Haido district and all helicopters flying above Beika City: Go to the scene swiftly and stop Kaitou Kid." It only took a second's pause before the real Chaki broke in, outraged at the use of his voice. Still, that second was more than enough for Kid to take gleeful delight in the shock the normally composed and confident Kudou Shinichi now wore at the display of this particular talent.
"Wait! That's not me! It's one of his tricks!" The real Chaki bellowed. "All choppers and vehicles return to your positions!"
"This is Chopper #1 at the Haido City rooftop. Kid-like character in sight, over." A pilot's voice broke in before the officers could obey the command.
"WHAT?" Chaki shrieked back in evident disbelief.
"It looks like Kid gave the order himself." The pilot added, albeit uncertainly. Kid couldn't help but smirk at that before switching over to another, more familiar voice.
"No, it was I, Nakamori. To all the officers on patrol in Haido City Hotel: Kid is on the rooftop. All men converge to the roof. Take him down!"
Kid was almost gleeful at the wary expression Kudou was now showing as he tried to figure out what was going on in his head (psh, good luck with THAT, Mr. Heisei Holmes…) as he grinned wickedly, inwardly cackling at the perplexed teen. After all, if prolonged exposure to Hakuba had taught him anything, it was that all detectives could use a few holes in their egos, something Kid was only too happy to supply.
"Are you satisfied now, Meitantei-kun?" Kid asked mockingly. Kudou wasn't given a chance to respond though, since Nakamori burst through the door and onto the roof almost as soon as he had finished asking, waving around a gun that was pointed at Kid as soon as the thief was in sight.
"Freeze, Kid!" Nakamori barked as his men spilled onto the roof. Figuring that it was safe enough to take his attention off the detective for a moment, Kid turned to smile at his oldest nemesis, already anticipating how the inspector would play into his hands that night.
"My, my… if it isn't Nakamori-keibu." Kid said pleasantly. "You sure move fast."
"Hmph. What are you saying? You knew that I'd deciphered your message and have been waiting here for you all day. I predicted that you would fly from here using your hang glider, so I checked all the guests in the hotel and tightened security at the entrances. Who would have thought that you would fly here from Touto Tower…?"
Hakuba would've. Kid couldn't help but think, albeit grudgingly. Kaiyo's obnoxious British classmate was good at things like that, after all. And apparently, the illustrious Kudou Shinichi figured it out as well, given that he was waiting there to meet the thief.
"But in any case, give up on that pearl already! There's nowhere else to run!"
"Tonight was just a practice drill. I had no intention of stealing it." Kid informed the Inspector cheerfully. True, he had wanted to sneak past all the guards in the museum and place the notice on the display of the fake jewel, to show that Kid could take it whenever he wanted, but a certain cocky jerk-who-shall-not-be-named had blown that plan with his little fireworks show, so he had to wing it now.
"What?" Nakamori said, clearly surprised and suspicious. He knew better than anyone that Kid wasn't one to give up easily, after all.
"Oh? I'm sure I made it clear at the top of my note." Kid taunted before opening his hang glider. "It said 'April Fools.' As in, a joke."
"Don't let him fly away! Get him!" Nakamori barked to his men, who immediately jumped into action. None of them were quick enough to reach Kid before the flash bomb tucked away in his sleeve slipped out, exploding in a blinding light. Unable to resist one last parting hit, Kid grinned wickedly at the teen who had thrown an arm up over his eyes to protect himself from the worse of the flash.
"Meitantei-kun, did you know?" He called out tauntingly. "A thief is a creative artist who takes his prey in style, but a detective is nothing more than a critic who follows in our footsteps."
"What?" Kudou gritted out before the light became too strong. Taking advantage of the opponent's blindness, Kaiyo slipped into a police uniform and hid in the crowd of police officers. It took everything she had not to grin like a maniac when the light faded, and a burst of confetti and smoke kept everyone's attention on the spot the blast had originated from, which was sans one mysterious Phantom Thief.
"G-gone?" Several people, Nakamori among them, exclaimed when they saw the empty spot.
"Hey, helicopters! Use your radars to track him!" Nakamori barked into the radio, already scanning the skies for any signs of white.
"B-but he's also disappeared from our radars." The helicopter pilot admitted shakily, clearly shocked at the turn the night had taken. Nakamori looked far from happy at the news, almost breaking the radio he was gripping in his hands.
"So he slipped away again…" The inspector gritted out, clearly livid. From her place among the crowd, Kaiyo savored the expression, as well as the pure, unaltered shock on the face of the blue-eyed detective. Maybe that would teach the kid not to underestimate Phantom Thieves in the future, ne?
Pleased with the chaos she'd left in her wake, Kaiyo double checked to make sure no one was watching her, and flicked her next notice to land where she had previously stood. Chaos immediately erupted again as Nakamori ordered his men off the scene and back to their offices to analyze the note, Kaiyo easily slipping into their midst and pulling away to make her escape when no one was looking.
To Kaiyo's undying amusement, it took Nakamori a while to even register the teen detective who had been there from the start. When he finally did notice Kudou, though, he proceeded to give the teen a dressing down that was almost as amusing as it was pointless, considering that Kudou didn't even seem to be listening to the angry Inspector, who only grew more irate when one of his men made mention of the Clock tower Heist and Kudou's involvement there.
Oh, so that was him then, was it? Kaiyo mused in delight as she studied the detective. As if sensing her eyes on him, Kudou stiffened under her gaze and started looking around sharply, prompting Kaiyo to hastily turn her attention somewhere else. Paranoid little stuck up, wasn't he? Oh well, it hardly mattered. Bored as she'd been lately, Kaiyo would welcome a rematch with someone who actually had some skill. And now, she had the chance to see for herself just what kind of skills those were.
Thinking back to Kudou's offhand comment about knowing the youngest Suzuki heiress, Kaiyo recalled another girl who was close to Sonoko. The daughter of some hack detective, and a local karate champ by the name of Mouri Ran who bore an eerie resemblance to her own best friend and was rumored childhood friends with Kudou… and some rumors suggested that she was even more than that.
Which made her an absolutely perfect disguise for what she had in mind for the Black Star Heist.
Well then, let's see how you stack up, shall we Meitantei-kun? Kaiyo thought with a wicked grin as she left the rooftop of the Haido Hotel and prepared to escape at the first chance she got.
She had a party to get ready for, after all…
*,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ * ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'*
Chaos. Sweet, beautiful, exuberant chaos in its purist and most simple form.
Namely, the mass panic of Japan's upperclass as they tried to flee from exploding pearls and the police tried to stop them. Teehee.
The cherry-on-top of the fun, though, was the horror on Suzuki Tomoko's face when she realized that her precious pearl was gone, and the scream that had followed, which froze everyone in place.
"It's Kid! Kid stole the Black Star!" The half-hysterical woman shouted, triggering an even greater sense of panic among the guests, who finally manage to break past the police barricade and burst into the halls. Kaiyo only felt a little bit bad about the scare she had given the woman, since she planned to return the jewel later, anyways.
Besides, watching Tomoko pull a gun on a magician who had dressed up like her and shoot? Not cool. At all.
Then, just as Nakamori and his men started to chase down the escaping guests, a larger hand grabbed hers, drawing her attention to the detective who had caught her interest on the roof of the Haido Hotel.
"Ran, let's go catch him too!" Kudou said, in response to the startled look the girl gave him, pulling her towards the doors the other guests had escaped from.
"W-wait, Shinichi…" Kid!Ran started to protest, until the detective in question turned to her with a smile that was guaranteed to turn any hot-blooded woman into mush in a matter of seconds. Kaiyo feverently hoped that there was some truth to those rumors of romance to explain away the flush of color that suddenly rose to her face.
"I figured out which one is Kaitou Kid!" Shinichi confided in her. Once those words registered to Kaiyo's addled brain, the mushy feeling quickly took a hike in favor of a much more appropriate sensation of shock.
"EH?" She gasped, allowing the taller male to pull her out of the room. As her surprise faded though, curiosity set back in and she followed the boy without complaint. Did he honestly think that one of the escaped guests was her? If so, then which one? And why? Instead of taking her out to the deck or the hall where the other guests had escaped to though, the detective led her deeper into the ship. Looking at the cold, wet room around her, Kaiyo couldn't help but wonder what Kudou was up to.
"Hey Shinichi, this is the engine room." She pointed out flatly, giving the teen an unimpressed look. "Is Kaitou Kid really down here?" well, she was now, but there was no need for Mr. Savior-of-the-Japanese-Police-Force to know that…
"Hey, Ran? Do you know anything about gem language?" Shinchi ignored her question and asked lightly in return as he kicked a soccer ball (where had THAT come from?) against the wall before bouncing it on his knee with a sort of expert grace. Come to think of it, she had heard something about Kudou being a pro-level soccer player, hadn't she…?
Wait, what?
Ignoring the boy's actions, Kaiyo's mind rewound to his odd little question. She, of course, knew gems like nobody's business, but Mouri Ran's knowledge on the subject was probably a little more sparing.
"Gem Language?" Kid!Ran repeated, wondering where Kudou was getting with this line of questioning and how it was supposed to expose who she really was.
"In Gem Language, the words for 'Pearl' are 'Moon' and 'Lady.' The only lady on board with the character for moon in her name is Suzuki Tomoko. In other words, she was wearing the real pearl herself."
"Oh, I see!" Kid!Ran said in awe. Inwardly, though, Kaiyo was starting to get annoyed.
Get to the point detective, I got places to be here! She thought irritably. The other teen seemed to just be rambling to her, which was wasting precious time that could be spent escaping with her prize. Clearly, Kudou Shinichi was nothing more then one big disappointment. He was just an arrogant brat who was smarter than most boys his age, but still nowhere near the level where he could be considered a threat. Hell, even Hakuba or Nakamori could put up more of a challenge then this…
"But how does that help you figure out who Kid is?" Kid!Ran asked, a laugh in her voice. The sooner Kudou gave his deduction, the sooner she could shoot it down and get out of here. It would be easy now, all she had to do was claim to need to use the faculties on their way back to the party and separate from the teenaged detective. Then she'd go find her hang glider and make her get away.
"It's the card." Kudou explained as if it were obvious, bouncing the ball on his head. "Remember? Kid's message was glued to the card you picked. That trick works by diverting the audience's attention to the pigeon while he places a prepared card on top of the pile. It's a simple trick. That's why it's always the same card, no matter who shuffles the deck." Well, at least now it was a little more obvious where Kudou was going with his accusations, and it was hard to fault him on his deduction. Kaiyo was a little impressed he knew how that particular trick worked, even if it was simple. Hakuba and Nakamori had never made much more then token efforts to find out about the magic that was a staple to her heists, after all.
"Then, since the message was glued to the card, are you saying Kaitou Kid is that magician named Sanada?" Kid!Ran exclaimed, a troubled look on her face. Inwardly, Kaiyo cackled.
So close, and yet so far, Mr. Heisei Holmes… She thought wickedly.
"Nope. I've been watching him, and he never went near Oku-san." Kudou said flatly, shooting down her suggestion. Now, Kaiyo found it was getting harder and harder to hide her irritation.
"Then, who is it?" She asked, glowering. "Come on, Shinichi! Don't keep me in suspense, here!" She was starting to run out of time… the longer she spent with the detective, the more time the police would have to calm everyone down and check for disguises. After that, it would be more difficult to escape.
"There's another person who could have switched the card. That's right, when the cards were scattered on the floor, that person stole one and glued the message on it while pretending to help pick them up. Hiding it inside his palm, that person made it seem like he drew it from the deck." Shinichi explained at her prompting. As he finished his speech, the detective stopped bouncing the soccer ball, keeping a foot on it to stop the ball from rolling away as the stale air of the engine room suddenly became charged with a much more intense atmosphere. "It's that right, Ran? Or rather, Kaitou Kid-san?"
…Eep!
Kaiyo wasn't proud of the way her blood ran cold when the detective called her out. That, unfortunately, probably gave away much more then she wanted, since poker face failed to kick in due to the way Kudou blindsided her with having seen through her disguise. And just like that, everything else made sense. Leading her down to the engine room, where escaping would be much harder, getting her away from the rest of the party goers, so she couldn't change disguises or blend in with the crowd, whittling away time with his deduction so that the noose would tighten around her neck, all without her ever realizing…
She had walked right into the detective's trap.
Oh man, I am sooooo screwed…
"That's right, you became Ran when she left the party hall to look for me." Kudou revealed as Kaiyo tried to remind her lungs how to work before she passed out from lack of air. "I'm impressed, I didn't even notice. Completely disguised as Ran, you caused a disturbance among the guests with that card then further induced panic by scattering those black pearls. Taking advantage of the chaos, you stole the real Black Star while pretending to help Oku-san." Here, the detective turned to look at her again, eyes sharp and dangerous and positively terrifying and breathtaking all at once. "In order to have prepared such fireworks, you must have known that Oku-san was mass-producing fake pearls, didn't you?" Forcing her Ran face front and center, the teen smiled at Kudou's belligerent gaze.
"Stop joking around, Shinichi." She said with a weak laugh. "I didn't know which one was real. I wasn't given any hints or anything." It was a weak defense, even to her ears, but hopefully it would give her time to come up with a plan to get the hell away from the detective. Just as soon as she stopped panicking, that is.
"You would have known which one was real without any hints. The moment Oku-san used a gloved hand to take the Black Pearl out of the box, you knew. Pearls are coated with calcium carbonate, which is vulnerable to acid. The mere oil from your fingertips would make the surface corrode and lose its luster. Well, it seems like a few others knew about this as well, but she wouldn't have left such a delicate jewel in the hands of another." Okay, seriously; who the HELL was this guy? The stuff about the language of gems was already pushing it, and now he was spouting off chemical names like it was nothing. Clearly, Kudou was on a different level then the British detective she was used to.
"But that's still not enough to-!"
"True, that's not enough, but considering the fact that Oku-san had a clear pearl it was a solid guess. Yes, like all ancient pearls exhibited in famous museums, the lifespan of a pearl's sheen is only about ten years. There's no way that the Black Pearl that was bought sixty years ago would still retain its beautiful gloss. However, Oku-san handled that dull pearl delicately, so it was obvious which one was real." Here, Kudou let out a self-deprecating laugh. "It's pathetic. I was preoccupied with you, so I completely overlooked it."
"But… I thought that the Black Star in Beika museum looked really shiny…" Kid!Ran reminded the detective weakly, still unable to find a viable escape route. Kudou obviously liked to talk. If she kept him going, something should come to her, eventually. And maybe, by pointing things like this out, she'd trip him up, and make him lose suspicion.
"That's why you didn't take it, right?" Kudou said arrogantly. "You knew it was fake."
…Well, so much for tripping him up. Kaiyo thought, glaring at the other teen. He ignored her though, as he continued with his deduction (GOD did this guy love to talk… Was it a detective thing or something? Hakuba was the same way, now that she thought about it…)
"And in the second note, you challenged Oku-san to bring the real one with your wording."
Okay, time to go. Kaiyo decided, snatching the nearby phone off the receiver. She didn't like to do repeats, but desperate times and all that.
"Fine, if you doubt me so much, let's call the police and-"
The rest of her suggestion was rudely cut off when a blur of white and black smashed into the phone's cradle, leaving Kaiyo to gape at the wall in shock.
Holy crap… She thought faintly. He just killed a phone with a soccer ball! Belatedly, Kaiyo realized that she should probably keep a closer eye on the detective, lest the next ball he kick be aimed at her.
"Hmph. I'm not letting you pull the same trick twice." Kudou told her scornfully. "Back at the hotel, you gathered the police not to humor me, but to make us think you would fly away using your hang glider. Yet in reality, behind the flash bomb, you smoothly disguised yourself as an officer and slipped into the crowd." So, he saw through that too, huh? Bummer… "Forget acting like an amateur and calling someone down here, I have prepared this trap to honor the artistic criminal who outsmarted the police for so long. Oh right, the most talented artists become famous after they're dead. I'll make you great by taking you to the cemetery called prison."
…And just like that, Kaiyo Kuroba knew what it was she had been sensing from Kudou ever since that brief glimpse she caught of him during the Clock Tower Heist. Why every instinct, every fiber of her being screamed at her to keep her senses alert around the handsome, confident teen who was so beloved by the police. This guy… this detective, was her rival, someone who could keep pace with her in ways that Hakuba and Nakamori could not. She hadn't slipped up once, and yet this boy still caught her, and even managed to corner her so badly that she had no hope of escaping him.
…Unless…
"Heh. Fine, you've got me. I'll give this pearl up." Kaiyo said in her Kid voice while bringing up her poker face to smile widely at the other teen, as if she didn't have a care in the world. Holding up her hands to show Kudou the Black Star, Kaiyo tossed it to the teen, who snatched it easily out of the air without taking his eyes off of her or letting down his guard. "Tell Oku-san for me that I'm sorry I ruined her party."
"An apology after all you've done?" Kudou asked coolly, a smirk playing at his lips as his dangerously sharp blue eyes stayed trained on her. Heart hammering behind her display of carefree amusement, Kaiyo tugged at her dress, looking down the front with a troubled frown on her face. Sending a silent prayer to Tsukiyomi-sama that her ruse would work, Kaiyo hummed thoughtfully to herself.
"Oh, that's right… After borrowing these clothes, I left that girl sleeping in a lifeboat. If you don't get her soon, she might catch a cold." Reaching down the front of her dress, Kaiyo pulled out her bra with a saucy grin. "I'm a perfectionist when it comes to disguises." At suggestion of his precious childhood friend being left naked in a lifeboat in the chilly early spring night, Kudou's careful guard shattered and he was left staring at her in a mixture of shock and embarrassment, giving her the chance to make her move.
Bringing a pair of black-out sunglasses to her eyes, Kaiyo threw down another flash bomb, shed her clothes and ducked for cover in a nearby maintenance room. Grabbing a coverall out of some unknown locker that didn't look like it'd be too big for her, Kaiyo quickly threw it on with shaking hands, holding her breath as she watched the still swinging door nervously for signs of the detective. When she heard the teenager curse her name after only a moment's hesitation and race up the metal stairwell to the main deck (no doubt with her disguise in hand), Kaiyo sank to the floor with a sigh of relief, her legs going boneless at just how close she had come to being captured.
Thanking Tsukiyomi with another silent prayer, Kaiyo rose and quickly made her way to the deck, via another stairwell in case Kudou doubled back for anything or realized her ruse. She was just about ready to burst into song when the cold ocean air hit her after she got to the deck, but figured that escape came first, then celebration. A part of her lamented not getting to see the look on the jerk's face when he found the Mouri girl, fully clothed and fine, but the rest of her was just glad to be putting as much distance between her and the detective as possible.
Retreat. Regroup. Retry. Kaiyo decided as she leapt over the side of the boat after adjusting an air mask to her face, connected to an oxygen tank she'd hidden behind a fire extinguisher that was good for about twenty minutes of air. She'd only planned to swim from the boat as a last resort, if things went wrong and she couldn't make it to her hang glider. The ocean water was still too cold this time of year, after all, and she was likely to get sick from trying.
Not to mention the… things… that lurk in the ocean. Kaiyo thought with a barely suppressed shutter as she set off in the direction of land as quickly as she could.
Once the adrenaline ebbed from her blood, though, Kaiyo couldn't help but be amazed at the thrill that night had given her. She hadn't felt like this in a long, long time…
Kudou Shinichi… Kaiyo mused with a backwards glance over her shoulder at the boat- and detective- she had left behind. Something told her that this wouldn't be her last encounter with the blue eyed super sleuth…
And, despite her loss that night, Kaiyo couldn't help but grin at the thought of a rematch with the boy.
*,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ *,'~ * ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'* ~,'*
Thus, the first meeting! Many more are to follow, of course, as well as an explination as to why Shinichi is not Conan-sized. Please return for the next segment of this story, where Kaiyo does some stalking and Hakuba makes an appearance. And in return for the time that I've stolen, would you be so kind as to leave your thoughts in the form of a review before you go? I truly would appreciate feedback for this story before I go any further...
*',~ KaitouHime1412 ~,'*