"Shin~chan! Fancy seeing you here."
Dread slowly crawled through Shinichi as the voice registered. Oh no no nononono. Of all the times he could be interrupted by his pops-out-of-nowhere-enough-times-to-make-Shinichi-completely-immune cousin (yes that descriptor is necessary), it had to be when he was with Ran and Kogoro-Ojisan. Times like this I wish I could disappear like aforementioned cousin-with-the-long-descriptor.
"Hello, Kaito." Of course he knew what reaction that would get. Was he a masochist? Probably, since he still associated with his family. He turned around to watch the overdramatic (as usual) reaction.
Kaito gasped and a wounded expression settled onto his features. He looked at Ran and, in a wailing voice, said to her, "Years! Years since I've seen him, and not even a hint of joy in his voice! How ever will I recover from this?"
Ran turned and looked at Shinichi. "Do you know this person?" It was a not-really-subtle way for her to ask him if she should beat him up.
As amusing as it would be to see Kaito being chased by Ran (she was quick, but no match for Kaito), he was still family. And Toichi-Ojisan's son. (It had taken no less than three DNA tests for Shinichi to believe that level-headed Toichi Kuroba had a son like Kaito. Then he saw Kaito's magic skills, and all doubt had firmly been removed from his mind.)
"Unfortunately, yes." he ignored the increasing drama in front of him. "This is my cousin, Kuroba Kaito."
Kaito suddenly turned on the charm and turned on Ran.
"Oh fair maiden, whose beauty is unsurpassed, what name could possibly belong to a woman of such perfection as you?"
Unfortunately for Kaito, Ran was unimpressed. "Mouri Ran. You're related to Shinichi?"
It was just then that Shinichi realized no one else would be able to see through Kaito's disguise (growing up with his … relatives ... did have its perks). Sighing, he thought to himself that no number of perks would ever make up for more than a tenth of what he had to go through.
"Kaito, just take off your disguise. Kaa-chan is better than you anyway."
His cousin's grin relaxed into a smile, and in a poof of smoke he was back to usual carbon-copy-of-Shinichi self. "Of course she is, she's got years more practice than I do."
Kogoro-san was gaping. "You sure that's not a disguise as well?"
"We've been able to pass for each other since we could talk. It's a-"
"Blessing!" Kaito interjected over Shinichi. Shinichi just kept talking.
"Curse, because it usually means I get dragged into Kaito's idea of fun, which is insane. Clinically."
"That's only 'cause you're no fun. Obsessively." Kaito sniped back. Though he would never admit it, Shinichi did enjoy the banter.
"Well, nice as it has been, I have homework, so goodbye." A poof of blue smoke, a hair tug, and a blue rose (for Ran, of course) later, Kaito was gone.
Shinichi ran a hand through his hair, and sure enough, it was covered in blue powder. He sighed.
How to explain this to Ran…?