Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan. Nor do I own Magic Kaito.

Just a one-shot from my Sweet Challenge on LJ (http : / yoshimikurosaki . livejournal . com /) where I has no friends. ; ; Please friend me.

An angst-fic finally

(ONCE AGAIN, TRIED TO ANGST. ONCE AGAIN, FAILED MISERABLY.)

DESTROYING THE INDESTRUCTIBLE

"Tantei-kun?" he asked softly, watching the boy sit in the rain, cradling something small in his arms. Shinichi didn't give any acknowledgment that he heard him. Kid hesitated and glanced around. The heist site was miles away and even if Nakamori was searching for him, he doubted that the inspector would look here in an alley. Which brought up the question as to why a respectable, high school detective was sitting here in the rain against the wall of said alleyway.

Hesitantly, he stepped forward, almost as if expecting task force officers to leap out of the shadows to capture him. Still, Kudou made no move, worrying him even further as his mind raced through reasons for his being here. He was slumped with his shoulder against the wall.

"Tantei-kun," he said more urgently, bending his knees to crouch down somewhat behind and beside him slowly, not wanting to startle him. He was immobile even now, letting the rain wash over him. Letting it rinse the red from his body.

His heart skipped a beat.

Their was a small pool of red mixing with the water around him.

"Kudou..?" he pleaded in panic, dropping all pretense and grabbing his shoulder carefully.

"It's depressing..."

He stopped. The words weren't his own and he took a look around once more, making sure that it was Shinichi who had spoken and not a newcomer.

"You're alive..." he confirmed, more to himself than the boy in front of him.

"Yeah...lucky me..." he muttered, hunching forward a bit more. Kid welled up with anger, doing his best to block it in behind his Poker Face.

"What do you mean? That's a good thing, you realize?" he grumbled, trying not to growl.

"Yeah...but that didn't help these guys too much, now did it?"

Kid's attention was drawn back to the bundle in Kudou's lap and he tentatively leaned forward to see what he was holding. His face darkened.

It was a pair of Yorkshire Terriers, limp in his arms, their fur matted with dark red. Puppies most likely, since he wagered he could easily fit one in the palm of his hand. Shinichi was hunched over to shelter them from the rain.

He leaned back to regroup, not expecting that. It was a gut-wrenching feeling to see a dead body, human or not. Kid had little experience with death and hoped to keep it that way.

He wasn't sure what to say and felt relief when Kudou spoke again.

"Do you know, Kaitou Kid-san?" Kid looked at him in puzzlement.

"What, Kudou? Do I know, what?"

"Why? Why is it that some people can be so cruel?" He glanced back at the dogs, noticing the obviously man made wounds. The words nearly left him.

"I don't know...I may be a thief...but a life...I don't believe I could ever take away something so precious as that..."

Kudou smiled sadly and Kid couldn't help but shiver at the feeling he got. The smile was misplaced. Strange. It didn't belong. He didn't like it at all.

"It's something I've never been able to figure out...I just can't wrap my head around such cruelty...their faces...so wrought with terror at the prospect of death...permanently branded on their face as they pass...brought on by the most idiotic of reasons..." His voice was cracking and Kid could tell that it was getting to be too much for him.

He had read about the detective, as both Kudou and Edogawa. Death happened so often around him that it was eerie; almost supernatural in it's persistence. He had seen hundreds of bodies in the short span of a few years and always solved the case, never faltering. Not even once. But here he was, holding two dead puppies and losing face in front of an internationally wanted thief. It hurt him just to think about what that meant.

"Kudou...I can't imagine what it must feel like to see things like this on an almost daily basis, but the best thing to do would be to forget about them as quickly as possible." Kudou chuckled lightly and it gave him the same creepy feeling the his smile had before. "What?"

"No, it's just... that's what I told Ran the day I was attacked. Right after I solved a case on the roller coaster at Tropical Land. She was crying and I was trying to get her to smile again...I said 'It's best to forget about it as quickly as possible. These things happen all the time'..." he said as calmly as possible.

"Quite admirable. Even if a little foolish."

"I was just saving face..." he choked out. Kid nodded in understanding, settling himself against the wall behind the boy. "You must know about the syndicate..."

"It got a few snipers off my back..."

"...there was this member...Gin...Haibara told me a long time ago...about how he was so detached from killing that he always forgot his victims' faces altogether...and that's why he didn't recognize me..."

"I see...did you ask him why he killed?"

"He wouldn't answer me...but I guess that was the same thing I was asking of her...to just forget it..."

"And therein lies your predicament, I assume. Your memory..." Kid continued for him.

"Eidetic. I'll never forget...I can't...their faces...I can remember every single one...for as far back as it goes..."

"...I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fa-" He was cut off as he was pulled back against Kid's chest, an arm wrapping around his torso. A gloved hand covered his eyes and a weight was lifted from his lap.

"Kid?" he asked softly in surprise.

"Go home and rest, Tantei-kun," he said as the gloved hand was removed and the firm body was removed from his back. He turned in surprise but the thief, and the puppies, were gone.

It took a couple of days for Shinichi to recuperate from the ordeal and as he sat in class, paying no mind to the teacher's lesson, he stared out the window, wondering about Kid's reaction. Even being the daredevil he was at heists, Kid shouldn't have let his guard down so easily in front of a detective. It was puzzling, to say the least.

As the day progressed and he finally returned home, he couldn't help but notice the obvious signs that someone else had let themselves into his house. He was sure his parents were still in Los Angeles and Agasa and Shiho were in Kyoto for a science convention. He had just dropped Ran and Sonoko off at the detective agency and even if he could imagine the Shounen Tantei-dan sneaking into his house to surprise him with simple investigative puzzles, their new-found skills of lock-picking would prevent such numerous signs around the porch.

Leading him to one possible conclusion: an amateur burglar.

Shinichi frowned at the display of mediocrity. And in his house no less.

He opened the door quietly, kicking off his sneakers and ignoring his house scuffs. Slippers: good for keeping things clean, bad for silence. He tiptoed into the hallway, grabbing his football as he moved towards the first open doorway, peeking around the corner.

"Wan! Wan!" Shinichi's eyes widened as he was knocked to the ground, the ball falling and bouncing away. He closed his eyes as saliva was slicked up his cheek and stared at the large animal that now towered over him. An Australian Shepherd stared back at him, panting and wagging its tail in joy.

"Wha-? How...?" He looked around in confusion, wondering how a dog managed to sneak its way into his house. He scratched its neck, receiving another kiss as he attempted to stand up. The hound followed him into the living room.

"I thought you might like him." Shinichi stared. The intruder stared back.

"Kid?" He smiled at Shinichi.

"At your service." He bent down to scratch the dog, grinning as it rubbed against his white clad arm.

"What are you doing here? And why did you bring your dog?" he asked in confusion.

"Not mine."

"Oh, I suppose you stole him then," he reprimanded. Kid pouted.

"Did not. I found him at the pound." Shinichi stared.

"You went to the pound?"

"Yep."

"As Kaitou Kid?"

"No, baka. As Kudou Shinichi."

"Oh, Kami-sama..." he whined. "What did you do?"

Kid smiled softly, straightening up. "I didn't do anything. Kudou Shinichi adopted a dog." He motioned to the dog.

Shinichi thought his emotions were going to snap as his face began to sting with a familiar burning. He fell to his knees, burying his eyes in the dogs neck as he hugged it, remembering what had happened a few days prior. He could hear Kid crouch down once more beside him and felt a hand on his back.

"I trust you'll take care of her." It was almost a whisper. Shinichi nodded slightly, not backing away from the dog. "Good! Cause I would hate for all that dog food to waste away in your kitchen!" Shinichi looked at him in awe.

"Why would you do this for me?" Kid only smiled wider.

"Because you get enough death. I figured a little life might be needed." He scratched the dog's head before standing up and walking away. "Oh, and I had to give her a name at the pound so they could file it."

Shinichi watched him exit the room and didn't move when he heard the front door open and shut. Why he was leaving through the front door was anyone's guess...

He glanced down at the collar he hadn't noticed before. Besides his own name, address, and phone number, there was only one word written on the tag.

Russell

He frowned slightly. "I thought he said you were a girl?"

"Wan!"

END


Russell comes from two sources: Laurie R. King's Mary Russell (Beekeeper's Apprentice) and Darrel & Sally Odgers Jack Russell (Jack Russell: Dog Detective). I've never read the Jack Russell series but apparently it's adorable. :)

EDIT: And on another note, cookies to anyone who can figure out what symbolism/hidden meanings I used. Hint: There are 2 and they both have to do with Kid and his way of dealing with things!

-DiGi