Indication

Chapter 3: Advance

Started: 12/24/2008 10:47:38 AM

Story Quote: There were a lot of things about Kaito the confused Conan, but this reaction of his own caused by Kaito that took the cake. Was he blushing? And why was his heart beating so fast? What did it mean?

A/N: Ok, so I'm adding in more to the 'romance' department on this chapter. (As you could tell from the story quote). I kept thinking throughout 'Captive of Midnight's Hold' that things between Kaito and Conan happened way too fast so I'm trying to slow it down in this story. Sorry to those who want it to happen quickly but it's my story and I'll do what I want. (:P) Don't worry; I'll get there! It will just take me a little longer…


Onto the Story!!!


The cool sensation of his cheek on the floor…

The soft patter of footsteps…

A blinding white light…

The sense of terror…

The pain…

And then…

Nothing…

Conan awoke with a start and looked around his room with frantic eyes. Where was he?! What happened?! What was going on?! His heart hammered in his chest as his surroundings slowly came into focus. The room was dark but he could still make out the undistinguished shapes of the furniture he had grown accustomed to. The TV set, the couch, the desk, and the other sleeping form on the floor beside him. He was at his temporary home with the Mouri's.

"It was j-just a dream…" he reassured himself shakily and pressed a hand over his thudding heart. "Just a dream."

"Are you sure about that?" a cool voice questioned out of the darkness.

Conan jumped up at the sound and again he searched over the room. Ran was still sleeping soundly, completely oblivious to any disturbance. No other presence appeared to be anywhere.

"Who are you? Where are you?" Conan asked quietly as he crawled out from between his two blankets. The thudding of his heart beginning to announce itself once again. He couldn't identify the voice other than the fact that it was obviously male.

There was a soft sound, like humming, that filled the silence. Conan identified it as a form of hushed laughter. "Which one would you rather have me answer?" asked the voice. This time it was coming from Conan's left hand side. The chibi detective spun around only to meet the same empty darkness as before.

"Why not both?" he asked as he walked forwards towards where the sound had once came.

The humming laughter returned. "Why not one?"

Conan was silent for a moment as he tried to pinpoint where the last sound had originated. When he couldn't he responded, "Who are you?"

"Ah," whispered the voice, this time from above. Conan lifted his head and stared at the ceiling. There was something there… something ashen and ghoulish in the shadows. "Then, I guess, I will tell you. I am the International Criminal 1412 or, if you prefer, the 'Kaitou Kid'."

Kaitou? Phantom thief? Was this person trying to scare him into thinking he was seeing ghosts? Like he'd ever believe such a thing. He glared at the obscure white shape on the ceiling but within a blink of his eyes the white figure had vanished. Frenetically, the boy began to survey the room. There was nothing. No hint there ever was.

"Now, it's my turn." Conan gave a soft yelp and turned around to look face to face with the phantom himself. "What were you dreaming about that has made you so upset?"

"I'm not so sure it's the dream or you that's making me more upset!! I don't have to answer to a thief, anyhow," he stated coldly.

The thief frowned and the glass covering his eye twinkled from the small sliver of moonlight that escaped from the drawn shades of the agency building. "Isn't that unfair?" he whined. "I've already answered your question. Now you should answer mine."

That gave Conan an idea. "How about we play a game? We'll take turns asking questions that we must answer truthfully."

An amused smirk spread over his face. "Deal."

"Why are you here?" asked Conan.

"Shouldn't it be my turn?" complained Kaitou.

"No, the game was my idea I'll start."

"That's a little conceited kid," stated the thief with a touch of mirth in his features. "Does one need reason to visit an ailing friend?"

"Since when am I your friend?"

"What makes you think you're not?" the thief contradicted.

"What makes you think I am?"

"Nuh-uh, Conan-kun. My turn."

"But-" the mini detective began to protest before Kaitou cut him off by placing a hand over his mouth. Where had this happened before? Wondered Conan briefly before turning his concentration back on the thief.

"Shh… You'll wake sleeping beauty over there." He motioned over to Ran who remained in an undisturbed slumber on the floor. Conan glared at the thief but otherwise remained silent.

"So what were you dreaming about, Conan-kun?"

"H-how do you know my name?"

"You have to answer my question first."

The boy thought for a moment. "I'm not sure what I was dreaming about… just little glimpses of something. I felt scared though I have no idea why. Now, how did you know my name?"

Kaitou smiled at him. "Silly, we've met before."

Conan scoffed. "I think I'd remember meeting someone like you before. I tend to remember people who parade around in bizarre costumes."

"Who ever said I was in uniform?" questioned the thief with an emphasis on the last word.

Conan thought long and hard. There was something familiar about him but nothing he could put his finger on. "… Who are you?"

Kaitou smirked at him and the light in his uncovered eye danced with mirth. "And that, Conan-kun, is a the question to answer. Maybe you can figure it out without my help."

As the thief finished his sentence a stream of sunlight broke through the blinds and lit up his face. That was when something finally clicked. A name to go with the face.

"Kuro-" he began before the world around him suddenly went white. Without warning the sensation of falling flooded through his entire being and his heart began to race.

"Conan?"

The boy lurched upright out of bed at the sound of his surrogate sister's voice.

"Wha?" he panted; only then noticing that he was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

"Are you alright, Conan-kun? Did you have a nightmare?" she asked with the utmost concern. It showed in her navy-blue eyes.

"Just a-a bit…" he huffed. "I think I'm just reading too any manga."

"Why do you say that? Did some Gomera monster come after you?"

He shook his head. "Just some ghost. He called himself, 'Kaitou Kid'."

Her face scrunched in confusion. "Kaitou Kid? You mean the International Criminal 1412 that Sonoko was talking about yesterday? I'm sorry, Conan-kun, if I didn't think he would scare you. His is pretty strange…"

"You mean he's real?" inquired Conan. But if that's true than that means there is a chance that Kuroba Kaito could be…

"Kaito-kun called for you!" announced ran in a joyous tone.

"Huh?"

"Kaito! He called for you. You should call him back. I think he's still worried about you. What a nice guy."

Conan groaned internally. Stupid playboy… "Fine, fine, I'll call him."

He begrudgingly climbed out from in between his blankets and trudged over to the phone atop Kogoro's desk. Kaito's card with his number was already beside it. With an irritable sigh he began to dial.

"Moshi-moshi. This is Kaito," proclaimed the voice on the other line. "Who's this?"

"It's, uh, me, Conan."

"Ah, Conan-kun!" exclaimed Kaito wit the greatest enthusiasm. "I was beginning to think you forgot me!"

"I wouldn't do that…" How could anyone forget him? 'I have a pretty good memory for the most part."

"Uh-huh… so how are you? Feeling, I mean?"

"Okay, I guess. Still a bit sore but I can move around a bit now."

"Great! Have you gotten out of the house much lately?"

"No…"

How about you and Ran come out for a treat? I'd love to celebrate your recovery!"

"That's okay, Kaito, you don't need to do that." Conan stopped himself there. This would be a good opportunity to get some answers. "You know what? That actually sounds like fun."

"You forgot it," he stated listlessly.

"What?"

"The honorific! Jeez! It's Kaito-niichan or at least use kun or something."

"Fine, fine. Kaito-kun."

He huffed on the other end of the line. "Alright, I'll take what I can get. So where should we all go?"

"I'll leave that for you to decide."

"Sounds good! I'll be at your place in a jiff."

"Wait, how long is a, 'jiff'?"

"Hmmm…" the sound of a paper (supposedly a map) being crumpled crackled across the line. "Give or take five minutes. I'm in the area."

"Okay, see you then."

"Bye!"

Conan hung up the receiver with a loud 'clunk' and turned around to see ran pulling on her overcoat.

"Conan-kun would you be alright here for a couple hours? I've got some errands to run. Dad will be here."

Perfect.

"You bet, Ran-neechan! I'll be fine," chirped the boy with as much enthusiasm as he could.

"Great, I'll be back soon!" she smiled at him and with a wave; left out the front door.

Now he could leave with Kaito alone! It would be much easier to interrogate the elder teen without Ran there. It wasn't like the drunk would notice him gone anyways. In fact, Conan might have even been able to leave before the moron woke. If anything went wrong he had plenty of gadgets to help him defend himself… why didn't he the night this had all started? Why couldn't he remember? Why had he ever been in the park with whoever did this, anyways?

"DING DONG!!!"

Conan shot up and turned around. There, in the doorway, stood Kaito with a grin wide across his face. His messy brown hair still as unruly as he remembered and his indigo eyes just as joyously bright.

"There is no way that was five minutes," claimed Conan.

"So I was closer than I thought, sue me." Kaito scratched the back of his head and grinned wider. It was definitely the same grin from the dream. It didn't seem quite as spooky as it did before though when Conan saw it on the hyper teen's face. It was that annoyingly pleasant mixture again.

Kaito looked around and then his eyebrows came together to form a puzzled look. "Where's Ran-chan?"

"She had to be somewhere. She said that we should go and that she'll catch up later."

"Really? Even after everything that happened?"

"Y-yeah. She must really like you." Conan felt a bit sick to say it aloud. "She trusts you."

"That's nice and all but she really should be more careful. Just because I'm nice doesn't mean I couldn't be some psycho. I'm not, I'm just saying." He added the last part as he saw Conan's dubious expression. "So where would you like to go? I know you said I should choose but I still think it should be your decision."

"How's ice cream? Best thing in the world for a sick kid!" suggested Conan. He had to act more kid-like with this guy around. He was too suspicious.

Kaito looked at him skeptically before shrugging it off and retaliating with renewed enthusiasm. "Good idea! Ice cream it is! I know just the place." He snagged Conan's hand and began to drag him to their destination but the mini detective dug his heels into the floor. Kaito looked at him with questioning eyes.

"Aren't you going to even let me get dressed?!"

Kaito laughed as he, for the first time, took in Conan's appearance. Conan could help but feel his cheeks light up with blush as the teen's eyes surveyed him. Kaito laughed again. "Its cute to see you blush. You look so innocent!"

There were a lot of things about Kaito the confused Conan, but this reaction of his own caused by Kaito that took the cake. Was he blushing? And why was his heart beating so fast?

What did it mean?


Irene's Ice Cream Parlor


"What flavor would you like Conan-kun?" Kaito asked Conan as they took their seats by the back of the building.

"Strawberry, please."

"Coming right up!" he chirped happily before dashing off towards the front counter. Conan couldn't help but wonder why he was so happy. There wasn't any real reason for it, was there? So why act like that? He nuzzled into the plush red lining of his seat and sighed. He was still upset about what had happened earlier. Why had he blushed? He was only looking at him, right? So there was no reason to be self-conscious. Still, Conan couldn't help but feel like there was more to it than that. It was probably just his own imagination running rampant. And that was what disturbed him. Did he want something to be meant by those fleeting looks over his body?

"Hey, you're blushing again!"

Conan snapped out of his daze to look at Kaito. "N-no I'm not!" he exclaimed with as much force as he could. That was when he noticed Kaito's empty hands. Conan gave him an inquisitive glance. The teenager just gave him a cheeky grin before holding his hand up and snapping his fingers. A flume of purple smoke exploded over the table. Conan, figuring it to be some sort of drug, covered his face with his arm and leapt from his seat.

It had seemed like a good idea at first but he was feeling pretty foolish when he saw the ice cream sitting promptly on the table and Kaito's worried expression. People from other booths were also staring at him. His face went red with embarrassment. The magician immediately tried to make it seem like this had been entirely planned and to lighten some of the awkwardness of the situation.

"Nice evasive action!" he announced and applauded. Taking the hint, the people around began to clap their hands as well. As fast as he could Conan went to reclaim his seat and as he sat the buzz of other people's conversations began to fill the air.

"S-sorry…" he mumbled at looked down at his lap.

"Nah, that's perfectly fine. I'm actually impressed! If that had been gas you would have gotten out untouched! Where'd you learn that from?"

"I'm a detective. You should be prepared for anything in all sorts of situations."

"A detective, huh? That explains it…" said Kaito thoughtfully.

"Explains what?"

"Your attitude! You're so mature! It's strange to see a kid act like that nowadays."

"Y-yeah." Damn it! Why did he stumble?!

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Act so strange every time someone calls you a kid? You are aren't you?"

"Of course! Isn't that fairly obvious?!"

"It is isn't it? Then why do I get the feeling it's not?"

"M-maybe you're just weird."

"You're right, I'm just over thinking things. Can't shake the feeling is all."

"Okay…" murmured Conan before taking a bite of his ice cream. An awkward silence overtook the table as both of them ate their desserts.

Kaito was first to speak after a while, "So what kind of people do you usually run into while on 'detective duty'?"

"Dead," retorted Conan without thought. As the word left his mouth his head shot up to look into Kaito's sad eyes. The deep purple irises looked like they were teeming with tears that could not be shed. Conan felt his heart give out pangs of guilt. "I-I didn't-I mean-I…" Conan sputtered and then trailed off when his mind drew up a blank for words.

Kaito's entire demeanor changed from the spunky teen to that of one who just witnessed the death of a dear friend. This expression didn't suit him at all and Conan mentally kicked himself for making that look present in the first place.

Without word Kaito stood up from his seat. Conan thought that he had decided he'd had enough of him and was leaving but instead kneeled down beside Conan and wrapped his arms around him. If Conan's heart hadn't been drumming so hard in his chest he would have heard -- more clearly -- Kaito say, "I'm sorry you had to go through all this. I'll do everything in my power to make sure nothing bad happens to you again."

Conan gave a deep sigh and let his head fall onto the magicians shoulder. Not caring anymore if his imagination began to run wild.

"Do you promise?"


A/N: I was originally going to have Conan and Kaito join forces to try and catch Conan's attacker at the end of this chapter but it just sort of warped into Conan going on his own to try and figure out the mystery that is Kaito. It seemed more like something he would do doesn't it? Of course he's still going to try and find the other guy but it's not top priority for him right now. I know it would have been better of me to have the scene where Ran and Sonoko take Conan home from the hospital so that you knew where Conan heard about the Kaito Kid but it was another reallylong and rather pointless scene where nothing much happens and I don't know about you guys but I had enough of that with the last chapter… This entire chapter is so confusing!!! I'm sorry!!!

Um… I'm not sure if anyone actually cares or not but I've been asked a couple times how I come up with ideas for my stories…So just disregard this if you don't care.

I sometimes think about previous stories that I've written, say 'Captive of Midnight's Hold', and plot out scenes for it. This story was actually the result of that. I was thinking about Chapter 10 of CoMH and making Gin take Conan away and torture him for information after he shot Kaito and then having Kaito somehow live and save the day. Obviously, I dropped this thought for the story but I still liked the idea.

So I kept thinking about it. I thought that, what if Kaito didn't know that it was Shinichi? Would that change the way he acted? I had gotten this ridiculous idea that I might make Kaito have amnesia or have Conan disguise himself to fool Kaito…Like I said, ridiculous. Any who, that was kind of where I got the idea of having them meet after Shinichi turned into Conan like they did in the manga. But then I thought, 'If the Syndicade were the ones that had done it then wouldn't Shinichi tell Kaito about himself so that they could work together and bring them down?' So then I started to fool around with the idea of having someone else do it… So I inserted a random serial killer to the works.

Then I began to work on personality settings for the serial killer and how the rest of the cast would respond to other occurrences that might happen. (I'm trying not to give anything away for the story). But before I knew it the little idea I had been working on for a chapter had become an entirely new story. Just about all of my stories start like this. Or, if I'm not working on a story, I get ideas from bizarre dreams I have. (Sometimes I have way too much sugar or I watch really strange movies.)

So, that's about it…

Ending Song Time!!! (I know this doesn't go along great with the chapter but I figured it would work seeing as it most likely will go wrong)

"Let's dance to joy division
and celebrate the irony
everything is going wrong
but we're so happy

let's dance to joy division
and raise our glass to the ceiling
'cos this could all go so wrong
but we're just so happy
yeah, we're so happy"

Song: Lets Dance to Joy Division Artist: The Wombats