Author's Notes: A little short, but I couldn't think of a way to continue it past the last line. I'll just write more for chapter four instead.

Kaito's POV this time, it'll go back and forth. Might be every other chapter, might be when I feel like it lol. Thusly warned, proceed!


Chapter Three

Not In Kansas

A minutes later found them walking out of the park and down the nearest street, Kid the very image of nonchalance with his hands in his pockets and smile firmly in place.

Kaito's mind, however, was anything but. It was times like these where he was very grateful that a lot of his Poker Face was able to operate on automatic. The rest of him was busily thinking about how to get out of this.

He had to admit he'd had a very un-Kid-like panic attack when, in his mental cataloging when he woke up, he realized that a.) he was in his Kid outfit, b.) it was broad daylight and he wasn't wearing his top hat, and c.) he'd realized he wasn't alone. He'd been sure then and there that he'd be surrounded by police, all of him who would now know his identity.

But he'd opened his eyes to nothing but empty park, and one Kudou Shinichi who had been staring fixedly at his tie.

He couldn't hide the relief he'd felt at that. Tantei-kun, while his most brilliant opponent, was also the one with the strongest adherence to their unspoken "rules" of a Kid heist. Kaito suspected that the detective didn't even really want to catch him anymore – that he came just for the riddles and the chase.

Though if the detective himself was aware of it or not, Kaito had no idea.

So, thankfully, it was Kudou and not Hakuba or – god forbid – Inspector Nakamori who'd been holding onto the gem with him. Though he doubted either of them would have been able to get that close to him, anyways.

He kept the frown that thought drew off his face, but he kept considering it. Indeed, he'd let Kudou get far too close. While he did believe that the detective meant what he said when Kudou said he wasn't try to catch Kid last night – hopefully it was last night and not last week or something – there was the chance that Kudou wouldn't think twice about turning him in if he got his hands on any real facts. It was one thing to know that Kudou hadn't looked at his face – it was another to realize that Kaito himself felt entirely too relaxed in his presence. Playing by the "rules" or not, Kudou was still a detective.

He was enough of a master at body language to read his own, and the fact that he hadn't immediately hid the gem away or moved or something when Kudou had grabbed at it when it did its hocus-pocus thing said something. Hell, he'd even let the detective touch him willingly when the other had pushed away his arm in irritation earlier. It was one thing to haul Conan around – as long as he stayed out of the way of the kid's gadgets there was little a seven-year-old could do to unmask him – but Kudou was a whole different kettle of—urgh, wrong metaphor.

Kaito shook his head imperceptibly at that thought, looking at Kudou out of the corners of his eyes without the detective noticing – wraparound sunglasses were so useful. The other teen looked considerably more irritated with the situation as a whole, although he'd stopped his mutterings about "stupid thieves who couldn't keep their hands to themselves when they saw something shiny" a while back.

Kaito hadn't been entirely honest with the detective earlier – really, when was he? – when he'd listed his points to convince the detective to go along with him. There was another point on that list, and that was one Kaito was keeping to himself. It probably would have driven the detective to say no anyways.

He had to figure out where he stood with the detective. He'd grown used to trusting little Conan to help him when their goals matched – and that was kind of degrading right there – but he needed to see if Kudou would hold to the same standards. If not, he'd have to spend a while training himself to not trust the detective and to again treat him like the rest of the masses out to catch him.

If he could trust Kudou, well, they could just continue their little game, then. It was so boring at heists without him, after all.

So far, everything seemed to be pointing towards option two. The detective hadn't unmasked him, even though he'd woken up earlier than Kaito – had gone out of his way to prevent it, actually – and here they were, walking side by side down an unknown street with minimal convincing on Kaito's part. Kaito couldn't have had a better setup to study the detective if he'd tried.

With that sorted out in his head, Kaito decided to start on the other problem – mainly, where the hell they were.

None of this scenery looked familiar at all, and that was saying something for a thief that had toured most of the metropolitan Tokyo area in pursuit of one gem or another. If he could get higher, maybe, he could find landmarks, but all the buildings around them seemed to be offices, and it was obviously working hours. It wouldn't have been a problem if Kaito was planning, as it would be a simple matter to disguise as an office worker and make his merry way to the roof, but that was usually after at least a week of observation to find out who he should disguise as and getting the layout of the building. Wandering around an unknown building, even in a disguise, was just asking for trouble.

He also had Kudou to worry about, who probably would give him a very disgruntled look, although it would probably be more about Kaito telling him to wait outside than the whole illegal trespassing bit. He'd noticed Kudou's morals tended to suddenly become very flexible whenever there was a more pressing matter. He'd probably insist on going in with Kaito, and then Kaito would have to worry not only about himself but about Kudou who, while his acting skills had grown admirably over the two years he'd been Conan, probably wasn't up for a perfect impersonation just yet. If they had to stay together for more than a day perhaps he'd have to give the detective lessons, and wasn't that a thought.

So, rooftop perusal was out of the question, so that left finding a recognizable map or landmark by foot. If he could just see the skyline, he'd be able to orientate himself if they were anywhere in Tokyo, but the buildings were a hindrance in that area too.

Absorbed in his thoughts, Kaito almost didn't notice when Kudou stopped abruptly in his tracks. Thankfully he did, as otherwise he would have missed the flash of horror on Kudou's face before it faded into stunned disbelief as he stared at something. That didn't look good.

"...Tantei-kun?" He ventured, but Kudou remained silent, looking all for the world as if a unicorn had pranced in front of his eyes. Kaito had to reflexively swallow down his dread as he slowly turned, lining up his gaze with the object holding Kudou's undivided attention. And immediately he almost wished he hadn't.

It was a simple street sign, informing them that the busy intersection they were almost upon was the crossing of Haido 2nd Street and Fujimi Road. It would be completely ordinary, except for one little fact.

This intersection was only two blocks away from the scene of the ill-fated heist last night. Kaito had crossed it possibly over twenty times at least, in his preparations. And he knew damn well that there was no other intersection in Tokyo with those street names, but all the buildings were horribly unfamiliar.

Distantly, he began looking at the buildings, noting the street numbers as Poker Face was fighting a losing battle against showing his surprise and fear on his face. The numbers he recognized too, and he vaguely noted, with growing horror, that he could calculate the area of the park as it would be in his memories of this area...

...And put it right at where the building his heist was at was supposed to be standing.

Kaito just stood there, dumbfounded. Was this some sort of horrible prank? Had the city decided that it would repay him for his pranks against the police force and play one on Kaitou Kid by changing out road signs? But he knew that couldn't be possible, especially as he just knew that if he shifted like so and glanced through the gaps in the buildings he would see Tokyo Tower, the top visible through the gap and mockingly telling Kaito that this was no prank.

Somehow, someway, this entire city area – and possibly even more – had been uprooted and replaced by another, with everyone carrying on as normal. Or...

Or he and Kudou were the uprooted ones, placed somewhere else – like a different world. A twisted mirror, having all the trappings of their home but terribly, terribly different.

Kaito found himself swallowing, and he took a deep breath, schooling his features into, if not amusement, at least blank apathy. He couldn't lose it in the middle of the street, especially as Kudou hadn't seemed to move from his frozen state as Kaito had processed and fought through his own shock. He turned to look back at the detective, who was still staring at the sign, though the disbelief had turned into a lost look that made the detective look years younger and uncomfortably like his shrunken self.

Kaito shook himself slightly. Even if this was getting weirder and weirder by the second, they couldn't be standing here like a pair of particularly unimaginative mimes. And he was sure Kudou wouldn't appreciate just how vulnerable he was looking right now, so Kaito had better snap the detective out of it.

He reached out and placed his hand on Kudou's shoulder, shaking it as he attempted to get the detective's attention. It took several shakes and repetitions of his nickname to do so, and Kudou finally tore his gaze away from the street sign to blink owlishly at Kaito. Kaito smiled at him, hoping it didn't look as strained as it felt.

"Well...we know where we are now, right?"


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