"Coincidences mean you're on the right path."
- from Love Begins in Winter: Five Stories
, by Simon Van Booy


. : COINCIDENTALLY FORTUNATE EVENTS : .
... "gūzen ni mo kōun no ibento" ...

a big hero 6 x detective conan x magic kaito fanfiction
feat. Conan and Kaito in post-BH6 and the Pandora Effect

Three: Unnoticed

Disclaimer: I do not own Big Hero 6 nor Detective Conan nor Magic Kaito.


Grinning, Kaito tucked away his sleeping gas as he shifted Conan's limp body in his arm. "Nighty night, tantei-kun," he sang, repressing the urge to giggle at the unconscious boy.

Really, though. Detectives were so bothersome. You never knew if they're about to latch onto whatever absurd clue they found and jump into some random case, so this was the safer way. Sure, he understood why they did that - he'd love it if all criminals were automatically teleported to a jail or something right before they committed the crime, but all of his critics were pretty good at administering heavy doses of justice afterwards - however, this was not to place to risk stumbling into a case.

Kaito adjusted his hold on Conan into something more comfortable for both of them, and went over to the door. Pushing it open a crack, he peered into the hallway, checking to see if anyone was coming.

No such person, fortunately. Fortunately for the nonexistent person, anyway; they wouldn't have to worry about spontaneously falling asleep for seemingly no reason and then waking up to a different hair color and a marker mustache.

Countless heists made the sneaking come easily, and Kaito managed to slip out of the computer room and reach a bathroom undetected. Looking around, he pulled out Kid's cape and wrapped it around Conan like a cocoon before laying the sleeping boy on a convenient bench-like ledge, head pillowed by Kid's neatly folded suit.

With a quiet pop, and two doves slipped out from his clothes, fluttering loudly for several moments before settling on his outstretched arm.

"Yuki-chan, Shiro-chan, keep an eye on tantei-kun for me, alright?" Kaito asked, extending his arm towards Conan. They obediently hopped over to the boy and tucked themselves into the cape-blanket. Conan shifted in his sleep, but didn't wake.

Then, turning to the long mirror above a line of sinks, Kaito pulled out his disguising kit and a new set of clothes, and got to work on making himself seem old enough to be Conan's father.

Kaito counted himself lucky that he'd brought most of his gear with him to the heist, in preparation for Snake and his goons, and still had those items on him now. He'd have a lot more trouble otherwise.

A couple quick minutes later, a casually-dressed man in his young thirties reflected Kaito in the mirror. He didn't feel like making up a full identity, especially since nobody was expecting a phantom thief. In fact, in the best case scenario, nobody would even see his disguise, so he decided that the face mask and change of clothes was disguise enough and went back over to the bench, clicking his tongue.

Yuki-chan and Shiro-chan emerged from the bundle of white at his call and settled on his shoulders before going back to hiding in his clothes. Kaito carefully picked up the sleeping detective, switching Kid's cape to a somewhat less conspicuous dark grey cloak as he did so.

On a second thought, he took Conan's glasses and put them on himself. Hey, if the brat got away with almost a full year of tricking his childhood friend and by changing his age and adding glasses, then Kaito could do the same and easily slide past some strangers. Besides, he'd need the glasses' tracking feature to locate their destination.

First things first, though, Kaito reminded himself as he poked his head out of the bathroom and looked around for any unlucky passerby - getting out of the hospital itself.

Then again, that task wasn't very challenging. He crept through the halls undetected, and the one person he did come across, he easily put to sleep. Although he might have unwittingly scared the living daylights out of the poor unsuspecting custodian when he rounded the corner...

Oh well. The worker would recover. Eventually.

Near the end of his escapade, Kaito's progress was temporarily stalled by the locked emergency door that was to be his way of leave. Picking it with one hand was an interesting experience, but only took a couple minutes. Even its alarm system wasn't all that challenging to deactivate, although he did have to use both hands and set down Conan for that.

Once he got the alarm and locks disabled, he stowed away his handy little lock-picks and wire cutters and carefully pushed the door open.

A cool night breeze rushed in, chilling his face and causing his little critic to shiver. Kaito took a brief moment to move Conan around so that his face would be tucked securely against his left shoulder. Mumbled words against his shirt and slight shifting indicated that the effects of the sleeping gas were waning, which convinced Kaito to move all the faster.

Turning on the tracking glasses, Kaito descended the stairs that stretched from the third floor, where he'd emerged from, to the second floor's emergency escape, then to the ground. When he left the stairs, feet planted firmly on the cemented ground, he looked around. The glasses beeped and indicated that the stickers had been detected, the spot marked by a flashing dot on the lense.

"Found you," Kaito murmured happily, turning and walking out of the wide alley he'd been standing in. Taking in his surroundings cautiously, he fast-walked along the sidewalk, headed ever closer to the blinking dot on the glasses.

However, as doing that didn't take much brain power, Kaito's mind soon began to wander. The first thing on his mind, of course, was his decision to trust tantei-kun with his identity as Kuroba Kaito. Earlier, in the boring alone time and health checks he suffered through in the hospital room, he'd spent most of his time pondering the pros and cons of that idea. Even now, he wondered and worried over what consequences his actions might have. At least the little detective was now more willing to work with him, and they'd have a better chance of getting out of this world.

Well, he was sure that he'd have managed to find a way out by himself at some point, given time and materials. It was just a bit more reassuring to have someone like Kudou Shinichi working towards the same goal...

Internally, Kaito snorted. Just when he had finally managed to find and crush Pandora, he had lost it and had to search for it yet again - frankly, he wouldn't have cared where Pandora teleported itself if it wasn't vital to his going home. And even then, he might've contented himself with the idea that Pandora was out of Snake's grasp possibly forever. His mom and Jii would understand, everyone else would be relieved that he stopped pranking them, Hakuba would fuss but have to focus on other cases, and even Aoko would eventually move on. Probably. Maybe.

The thought twisted at his heart, but...

No, one of his main motivations was the aforementioned detective. Conan-kun, Kudou, the story of the teen-turned-child... Kaitou Kid's chapter might have may have finally drawn to a complete close, but Edogawa Conan's hadn't. The determined meitantei was after the whole Organization in and of itself, not just Snake's entourage and the Pandora. Heck, the detective hadn't even known that those two particular parts of the equation existed! Besides, Kaito couldn't just sit by as Pandora tore Kudou away from the people who needed him - especially a certain lady who continued to wait for her childhood friend's return. How could Kaito just watch that happen, watch another set of lives devastated by Pandora taking someone away (like his dad, he tried not to think). It wasn't fair.

Life wasn't fair.

But that didn't make it right.

Besides, the more he pondered, the more Kaito rather wanted to go back. Taking down the organization as a whole would be so satisfying. And with the Kaitou Kid retired, Hakuba was likely to blow a gasket at him during school, which would be fun to experience and laugh at. Aoko's dad was likely to do the same, and it would be nice to maybe have a bit of closure by seeing Snake in cuffs and imprisoned. And then there was Aoko herself. He'd miss her loud, rambunctious presence...

Kaito broke out of his thoughts just in time to stop himself from walking across a street mindlessly. Giving himself a mental shake, he looked both ways before cautiously speed-walking across the road.

From what little he'd seen of the hospital's equipment and the suits Hiro and his friends had been wearing, it seemed that this universe was a bit ahead of his own in regards to technology. He had no way of knowing how fast the cars were, or what laws against crossing had been implemented, so it was best to be sneaky. Carefully sneaky. But not conspicuously carefully sneaky, either. Inconspicuously carefully sneaky. Yup. While moving as quickly as possible.

When Kaito arrived at the other side of the road, he took care to withhold a sigh of relief. Even in alternate dimensions, it seemed that most people preferred sleep over anything else once the moon rose, so the streets were devoid of vehicles and other onlookers around this time.

He turned his attention back to the insistently blinking dot on the glasses and continued to dutifully follow it.

Several quiet minutes passed in peace before Kaito finally reached the familiar area where he and Conan had first appeared. Turning off the tracking glasses, he quickly located the few stickers he'd stuck on nearby surfaces and reclaimed them. He'd give them back to the little detective when he woke up. Speaking of whom, the sleeping gas should be wearing off any second now…

"I owe you at least twelve soccer balls to the face," came an annoyed mutter into his ear. Kaito cocked his head to the side slightly and grinned.

"Morning, sunshine." The magician crouched, setting the mostly-awake Conan back onto the ground. "How was your nap?"

"I'm sure you found my 'nap' delightful," Conan groused, but his hair was tousled and he really just looked like a kid fresh out of bed. Bleary eyes and all. Kaito quashed the urge to mess up his hair even more. "And give me back my glasses, you jerk."

"But you don't need it, do you?" Kaito inquired with a brow raised. He stood up straight and, more importantly, out of the little detective's reach. He wasn't stupid. Now that he was fully awake, Conan was eying him the way a cat did an obstacle before pouncing on it with claws unsheathed and fur bristling. Oops. Not a fun image, nope, tantei-kun could be vicious when he wanted to… "Nobody knows us here besides for those five people, anyway!" he added, trying to move on smoothly.

Conan opened his mouth to protest, and then closed it without a word. For a short series of moments, he looked like he was at odds with himself. Vaguely amused but mostly bemused, Kaito was moments away from offering a laxative before Conan's gaze sharpened and honed onto him again, having resolved whatever it was that he'd been thinking over.

"Just don't break them," the detective eventually said.

Kaito blinked at Conan for a moment, realization trickling through. After so long of concealing himself behind those glasses, it was little wonder that the detective felt overexposed without them. "Of course," he responded, a little softer.

Blue eyes drilled into him, vaguely suspicious, but thankfully shifted away with a heavy exhale. "So... What now?"

"Let's take a poke around," Kaito suggested lightly, pushing the borrowed glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Nobody's going to see us this late - or this early, I guess - so we don't have to worry about peeking and prying eyes."

Raising a skeptical brow, Conan inquired drily, "What do you think you'll find, Kid? It's too dark to see details, anyway."

"First of all," Kaito held up a finger, "my name is Kaito. Kuroba Kaito."

"Fine, Kuroba." Rolled eyes. "My question still stands."

"You've got your fancy little flashlight watch, and of course I have a flashlight for reasons you need not to pry into," Kaito said matter-of-factly, making his said flashlight appear in his hand with a pop. It was small, light, reasonably powerful, and endlessly useful when it came to blackouts in a heist (which he was usually the cause of). "I think we're good, Conan-kun. Unless you're that afraid of the dark, of course."

"Idiot." Conan glanced at his watch. "This thing has limited battery life, and I'd rather save it for a more dire situation." His disgruntled tone made Kaito wonder if he'd had bad experiences with the watch giving out on him at an inconvenient time.

"This is a dire situation," Kaito whined in response. "We need to find clues and evidence and all that other detective-ing stuff that you critics love to pick at for no reason."

"It's for the cases that always end up cropping up," came the annoyed response. "Murders and mysteries don't give me much of a choice when it comes down to it. Either I solve them, or the truth never comes to light - in time, anyway."

Kaito coughed once. "Right. 'There is only one truth' and all that," Kaito intoned boredly, in a perfect imitation of Kudou Shinichi's voice.

A moment later found the magician flinching and hopping away with a yelp, a decently-sized chunk of electrified stone debris crashing through the air where he'd just been standing.

"Behave," Conan snapped. Sparks crackled around his hellish shoes warningly, causing Kaito to put his hands up in pacification.

"Sorry, sorry," he laughed nervously. Scary tantei-kun is scary.

"I'm going to take a look around the city," Conan continued, half-glaring. "Since you put me to sleep, I have no idea how this place is laid out at all, and I'd rather be at least somewhat familiar with the area. You can poke around here all you want to in the meantime."

"But wouldn't a child wandering alone at the dead of night be suspicious?" Kaito pointed out. He paused a moment to make sure he wasn't about to get kicked or knocked over by a kicking projectile for saying that before he continued. "And what if you get lost?"

"People underestimate kids, and you'll find me at whatever police station this world has, interrogating that Callaghan guy," Conan replied, rubbing his temples. "Aside from that, I don't doubt that you'll find me somehow."

"Such faith!" Kaito clapped his hands together in the perfect image of a delighted toddler, a devious grin splitting his face. "Why, tantei-kun-"

"I'm leaving now, bye," Conan cut him off in annoyance, spinning on his heel and stalking off. Agitation practically oozed out of every motion the little detective made, and Kaito felt rather sorry for the guy. This whole dimension and magic thing must've had him at the end of the line, what with him previously centering his whole life around what he believed was truth and logic.

Well, Kaito was fine with letting Conan blow off some steam in a walk; it reduced the chances of him blowing up at the magician instead. Which would definitely be a lot more painful.

Just to make sure Conan didn't wrap himself on anything too dangerous while he was alone, though... Kaito popped a dove into open air with a plume of stage smoke. White wings beat the air for a moment before the bird found its balance on his finger. "Sweet little Shiro-chan, could you do the great Kaitou Kid a favor?" he crooned, touching the underside of her beak with a sly grin. "Tantei-kun's kinda mad, and he needs some alone time, but he shouldn't be too alone. Keep track of him for me, but stay out of sight, okay?"

Shiro-chan cooed at him, which he took as an affirmative. With an upward motion of his arm, he released her into the sky. She circled above him twice before winging her way after Conan's direction.

"And now that that's taken care of... Time to poke around a bit," Kaito mused to himself, glancing around.

With a click, his flashlight gleamed as its beam raked through the darkness, allowing Kaito to survey the ruins of the building. He walked over to the center of the rubble and slowly walked from there in a spiraling pattern heading outwards, stopping every so often to examine the debris on the ground.

Other than a couple of odd little machines bunched together in groups, each no bigger than a finger, plus some dried-up goo and disturbed earth, though, he didn't find anything that could be of use to them.

Tantei-kun was right, but hey, at least he'd given it a shot.

Kaito plopped onto the ground with a sigh, stowing away his now-dead flashlight. The battery had, fortunately, only given out shortly after he'd completed his search. Peering at the slowly brightening sky, he wondered where Conan had gone, and if he needed to fetch him...

Nah. Shiro-chan hadn't come back yet, which meant that nothing too awful had happened. Or something happened to the dove. Or the dove had gotten trapped with the kid.

Hm. That wasn't a good thought.

Kaito strained to get back onto his feet - but his exhausted body refused to move, and he slumped back against the piece of wall he was leaning against. He usually lasted longer than just a couple of days before getting tired and sleepy, but heists always sapped his energy, and he'd spent the night before last planning for the heist and studying for a test.

Instead of fighting his tired dizziness, Kaito decided to go search for his critic and dove after a nap, maybe... Once the sun rose and morning came, he'd... be able to blend in... with the rest... of the... people...

His eyes slid shut, and his vision tunneled.


In a place Kaito hadn't expected to lay eyes on for a long while, the night trudged on.

The part of the roof where Kaitou Kid had fallen off with Conan in tow had already been taped off - and so had the places on the ground where the thief's razor-edged cards had held off the attacking assassin, who'd hopefully been successfully arrested by this point, along with his cohort on the other roof.

Nakamori-keibu stood between the two sections, brows furrowed pensively. Other officers busied about behind him, murmuring quietly and walking lightly, none willing to disturb the inspector while he stewed.

After a moment of quiet stillness around Nakamori's personal space bubble, one of the rookies on the Task Force, still stained with paint, was gently pushed and sympathetically over in his direction. He spoke up with a cautious, slightly wavering voice. "S-sir, aside from the broken monocle, none of the patrols have reported any traces of Kaitou Kid or Edogawa Conan-kun around the base of the building-"

"Of course they haven't," Nakamori spat angrily, turning on the rookie. "Tonight was clear, and Kid's got a hang glider. He'd never go down with a fall - especially if he had a brat clinging to him!"

The other man shrunk back. "Er - yes, but nobody saw any signs of him flying away, either-"

"The guy can disappear into thin air whenever the hell it suits him, of course nobody f'king saw him if he didn't want to be f'king seen! Didn't I tell them to search the nearby civilians?"

By now, the poor guy was sweating and shaking so nervously that it was a surprise his teeth weren't audibly chattering. "U-um, yessir, a-and nothing has been found so far, sir. A-ah, and Edogawa Conan-kun's guardians, particularly Sleeping Kogorou-san, would like to-"

"Help? We don't need a private eye's help, we need-"

A crimson hue shot through the air, and suddenly Nakamori's words were muffled in a blur of scarlet static.

Red. Magic? Kaito wondered blearily. Red magic...

Akako.

After a moment, the shimmering static cleared, but the lingering thought remained.

"-Got it? Now go!" Nakamori was demanding, causing the rookie to squeak, nod, and flee - but Kaito wasn't paying attention, he turned in a circle and tried to spot his classmate, who knew magic and its inner workings, and could help them get back home, somehow, anyhow -

Everything blurred again, static whipping violently in red across his vision as he clawed his way to awareness, straining for something he didn't know -

She wouldn't even be here, she wasn't here at that heist, why am I looking for her -

Something seized the static and ripped it away along with the roof and the night, pushing him away with a possessive burst of mine! Suddenly, everything fell quiet, as if an unnoticed buzzing noise had been silenced. Kaito's vision cleared.

He was in the portal space again. And he was staring at who he suspected was the culprit of this time's teleportation.

Akako Koizumi stared back at him. Some sort of red energy curled off of her silhouette, several strands twisting in the air as they dissipated. Her lips parted and formed words, but her voice echoed from everywhere but her throat.

'Are you... Kuroba-kun? How… What are you doing here?'

He couldn't respond. He tried to open his mouth or move towards her, and found his body unresponsive. Unbreathing.

'No... No, you're not. Who are you?' Akako narrowed her eyes. 'That body is Kur - is mine. Who are you to take it?'

He felt himself shift, ever so slightly, and blink once. Discomfort flooded his system. Slow suffocation? E...

'Is Kuroba-kun there?' Akako took half a step closer. Her power thickened, burdening the air with its weight and glaring heat. 'You. Whoever, or whatever you are. Release him - he is not yours. Let him speak to me.'

Kaito began to sweat. He tried to breathe, to inhale, to speak - but nothing happened. El...

'Kuroba-kun, can you hear me?'

'Kuroba.' That wasn't her voice. That wasn't his own, either. He wanted to breathe. 'O-oi, Kuroba!'

Elp… is…

Two sounds wrenched themselves out of his soul but went unheard, undetected by all and any. As soon as they faded, the locks in his body gave away, and Kaito shuddered in a huge breath. His vision swam. He moved forward, and crumpled.

Akako's eyes widened. 'Kuroba-kun-?'

'Wake up, Kuroba!'

Everything flashed red and black and white - and suddenly Kaito was staring into blue eyes, a blue sky behind the face right in front of him.

"Kuroba?" came Conan's worried inquiry. "You - you weren't breathing."

Kaito tried to swallow. "I think I almost died."


It took a moment for the statement to register, and then a much longer stretch of time to calm the shrunken detective down. And it took even longer to explain what he meant.

"Let me get this straight." Conan pinched the bridge of his nose and rocked his weight to the back of his heels. "You dreamed your way back into our world, and after watching Nakamori-keibu for a bit, there was red... static... and you got sucked into the portal space again, where you saw your witch classmate. And for some reason you couldn't control your body to talk to her or anything, so you weren't breathing, just staring at her as she asked you a bunch of questions but seemed to be talking to something else, until just before you woke up."

"That just about sums it up," Kaito confirmed, shuffling a deck of cards in any way but the conventional means. "Fun, no?"

"No, it wasn't," Conan groaned. "You said it yourself - just how close were you to asphyxiation?"

"So you do care! I'm so touched," Kaito wailed dramatically, lifting Conan off the ground in a hug. He did not want to think about how long he'd been forced to hold his breath, thank you very much. "My favorite critic finally admits that he's not the emotionless rock he tries to make everyone believe he is!"

"That sounds more like Haibara, if you ask me - and let me go already!"

"But if I do that, you'll kick me!"

"Damn right I will, and I'll do it twice if you won't let me down right this instant!"

Kaito gasped in mock horror. "Language, tantei-kun! Sheesh, what are you kids learning these days, and from whom? Such a foul mouth. We should wash it out with soap."

"I learned it from the high-and-mighty Sleeping Kogorou," Conan shot back sarcastically, managing to writhe out of Kaito's grasp. He didn't quite manage to land on his feet, stumbling onto his hands and knees, but he quickly scrambled back up. "And don't you dare to even try doing that again, or you'd better get used to picking locks with one hand and running away with half a leg!"

"Alright, alright, no need to get so violent." I thought the walk was to help him cool off, which would help him not get so riled up at me. He must be really annoyed at this whole situation. Which Kaito somewhat understood, but still.

In any case, it was all too obvious that a subject change was in order.

"Did you find anything interesting while you were out?" Kaito asked, flipping through his cards idly as he sat himself on one of the ruined half-walls. "You were gone for quite a while, so you should've accomplished something, right…?" Considering he apparently didn't even vent on anything that wasn't named Kaito.

"I found some information and our next destination, if you'd call such a thing 'interesting'," Conan answered sourly.

Kaito paused mid-shuffle before vanishing the deck up his sleeve and putting his chin on his hands, elbows propped on his lap. "Ooh, do tell."

"There was a strange battle of sorts yesterday afternoon - we appeared near the end of it, I think. The Callaghan guy that those people had been talking about, he was the culprit, and he was trying to get revenge on a guy named Alistair Krei. His motive is his daughter's supposed death during a demonstration involving highly experimental teleportation technology, which Krei is responsible for. Seems like Callaghan bought himself some time and cover by faking his death by blowing up part of his university, San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, during project presentations for applicants. One victim of the fire was a Tadashi Hamada, who used to be a student there."

"Oh, I remember that name," Kaito recalled. "That's Hiro-kun's brother, whose name was on that green chip I returned."

"Yeah. Hiro somehow found Callaghan out and, with his friends, tried to attack him. They weren't successful at their first tries, one of which happened at an abandoned island somewhere close by, where the portal demonstration took place. That's probably where they found out the backstory of his plot. The final big confrontation happened here, where Callaghan used some sort of technology to reconstruct and turn on one of the portals for a one-way trip, with Krei's life and business stamped on the ticket. Hiro and his group managed to stop him from throwing Krei in there, but somehow found out that the daughter was still alive. Hiro went in there with someone to save her - he crashed into us on the way out."

Kaito whistled. "How scary. So, did you read that off of a newspaper, or...?"

"Only some of it," Conan corrected in an offended tone. "I doubt any of them know that one of them was Hiro - he's a minor, after all. No, they only published the bare bones; miscellaneous mentions of Alistair Krei, Robert Callaghan, his miraculously alive daughter, and a portal."

"That's rather little," Kaito remarked.

"Protection of minors. I'd know, I've been using that excuse rather often in the past while." Conan smiled wryly. "Besides, they probably didn't know very much anyway. Most of the articles just filled in the gaps with dramatic filler. You know, the type of hypothetical conspiracy theories that sell quickly, while there's no evidence."

Raising a brow, Kaito filled in, "And from those itsy bitsy little hints, you came up with that huge deduction of yours?"

"Yeah. Back at the hospital, they mentioned an island, and I figured from that-"

"No need to explain!" Kaito quickly cut in, waving his hands to stop Conan as he hopped off of his perch on the rubble. The magician had long since learned (mostly from his classmate) that asking a detective to elaborate on a deduction was opening a floodgate of words that didn't actually go over his head, but was nonetheless endlessly more boring than the end result itself. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Hakuba. "Got it, great, brilliant deduction. So! What's that next destination you were talking about?"

After the little detective spent a full ten seconds on staring at Kaito, utterly unamused, he said slowly, "Callaghan himself. That jail they said he's in? I found it. And now that it's a more decent hour, we can go and pay him a visit."

Catching himself before he could nod in mindless agreement, Kaito tilted his head to the side with a blink. "Why would we need to visit him?"

"I'm not a fool, Kid," Conan drawled. "You were planning to drag us over there at some point anyhow. I saw that look on your face when Hiro's group mentioned it at the hospital; I know you have something in mind. Just cut to the chase, and let's go."

"Thinking on my wavelength now, aren't we," Kaito teased.

"No, just saving time." Conan half-turned around, taking a couple steps in the direction of the road. "Well? Are we going?"

"Yeah, yeah, no need to be so bossy." Kaito grinned, walking half a step behind him. His smile faded slightly, however, as he thought back to the dream he'd had. It was… Too realistic to be something he just made up, of course. And with Akako having been there, anything was possible.

It had been scary, not being able to control his body. Not being able to tell himself to breathe. And that one time he blinked, and shifted - those motions hadn't been him. It was - it was almost as if someone or something else had taken the strings to the puppet, but didn't use them. Didn't know how to use them.

Kaito wasn't sure he wanted to sleep again. Would all of his dreams be like that, while he was here in this other world? To dream achingly of home, only to realize the powerlessness he had over his own self? He hoped not. Going sleepless was equally unappealing.

Akako had seemed to know something.

She'd said… She'd said that the body - was not yours, whoever 'you' was. Was he being possessed, then? By what?

Although his Poker Face kept his grin intact, Kaito internally bashed his head against a wall. Now he understood why logic and non-magical stuff was so appealing to those detectives. One could think things through with scarce pieces, and come up with the whole puzzle. But with magic, there simply was no elimination. It could very literally be anything he could ever dream up, and even things he couldn't.

"Now who's not paying attention?" Conan asked smugly, breaking into his thoughts. Hiding his inattention, Kaito assembled his mask into something innocent as he gazed at the detective.

"You're not paying attention," Kaito said, careful. What did I miss?

Apparently he'd asked so out loud, because Conan responded with an all too casual, "I rambled on about the scientific application of cookies in solving a murder trick, and you didn't so much as blink. Actually, you even nodded along."

"How do you know I wasn't just seriously agreeing with you?" Kaito shot back. Cookies? Really, tantei-kun? Those kids of yours have corrupted you.

"Because I just lied. I was talking about soccer balls and how the Detective Boys aren't quite as bad at it as they used to be, when I first taught them how to play." Conan smirked at the baffled thief, enjoying his tiny victory a little too much. "Just because I pursue the truth doesn't mean I tell it all the time, you know."

Kaito opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. The sneaky little brat! It was like that one time when he tumbled off the roof and gave the thief a heart attack, all so he could show off that annoying paraglider… "You're annoying," Kaito declared.

"Says the thief who goes around parading in a white suit and plays pranks on the police as he's flying away," Conan retorted. "No wonder they call you a Kid. "

"You're so mean, tantei-kun," Kaito complained. His lips quirked up in a smile, though.

"Hey, have you seen some of those poor police officers? With all that paint and glue and feathers stuck to their clothes, you're the mean one. Any one of those things take forever to wash off, I've heard, and you love to combine them."

Kaito concealed his surprise with a quick, "That I do - what did you do to 'overhear' that, eavesdrop on them?" Actually, he'd thought that the Task Force had long since figured out that vinegar solved most of those icky sticky issues; that was why he'd been more relentless with using those particular traps, lately... Well, now he knew why Nakamori-keibu was even more high-strung than usual recently. Thinking back to all the containers that he emptied into pranking the police force, Kaito was kind of tempted to send in an apology note.

Of course, he couldn't do such a thing until he got back home. First things first.

Dragging his attention back to the present, Kaito picked up his pace slightly until he was walking right beside Conan, to keep up the appearance of an elder brother. More people were out and about, now, so he needed to be a bit more careful with maintaining their cover.

After a couple of moments, Conan slowed into a turn, eyes set on the dank-looking building in front of him. Kaito almost went right along with him before he remembered exactly what type of building they were going into, and what kind of people they were supposed to be posing as.

"Hey, wait, Conan-kun," Kaito called, grabbing the detective's arm before he could move off. "That's not a very good place to be, kiddo, so let's go to that restaurant you liked and pick up some food from there instead of wasting time here, alright?"

The silly little guy actually looked like he was about to protest, for a moment, before their situation came back to mind and realization flickered across his eyes. "Ah, okay," Conan chirped childishly, holding onto Kaito's sleeve as he played along with the act. "Ne, can we get ice cream afterwards then, nii-chan?"

"That depends on how well you behave," Kaito answered, smiling. As expected from someone who'd been living a false life for almost a year, tantei-kun wasn't half bad at acting, and was actually more than decent when he put his heart into it. Of course, if Kaito ever said as much out loud, he ran a high risk of serious bodily harm. "But only afterwards. You don't want to spoil your appetite before you eat your food."

"Aw, okay," Conan pouted. He peered up at Kaito with huge, wide puppy-dog eyes, and suddenly Kaito decided those eyes were a power that such a devious little detective shouldn't have. Ever. "Afterwards, then. Promise?"

"Pinky promise." Kaito kept his smile glued to his face, even as he leaned down to mutter into Conan's ear, "Sheesh, with all that sweet talk, you're going to give me a cavity. I don't even get cavities."

"I can imagine you with a cavity," Conan murmured back. "Wait, no, here's a better idea - imagine you in your Kid outfit, but with braces."

"That's not even funny." Kaito was more than glad that he didn't have braces or some other distinctive thing like that. His identity was debatable already, what with Hakuba flaunting his suspicions everywhere and Akako sometimes nodding along when she didn't think anyone besides Kaito was paying attention. Thank goodness Aoko defended his innocence so furiously - although that made him feel all the guiltier.

He'd have to tell her. Somehow. Maybe once they got back, when Kaitou Kid announced his retirement.

... It would be smart to remove all mops within a mile radius before doing that.

Speaking of which, Kaito wondered how Conan expected to survive telling his almost-girlfriend his real identity as Kudou Shinichi, when that time rolled around. She had, pardon the word choice, a seriously murderous set of skills, as Kaito was highly aware of.

"You walked us into a dead end," Conan remarked, staring at the wall in front of them. They'd been headed down an alley, but now found their progress halted by a big, fat wall. Kaito gazed at it for a moment before shaking his head.

"We just needed to get out of sight. Now, I've got the perfect chance to get us in there," he explained, turning to the building on their left - which was the back of the jail that Conan had tried to lead him to.

The little detective widened his eyes. "Oh, no. That's not a good idea."

"It totally is. Don't tell me you've never snuck around to get into places you shouldn't be in." Kaito smirked when Conan flushed and glanced away. "Yeah, I thought so."

"It's different when an internationally-wanted thief is doing it," he huffed, trying and failing to defend himself.

"Keep telling yourself that, and you might actually start to believe it." Kaito kept a careful eye on the security cameras on the targeted building, taking out his grappling hook. It would go just like a heist; flawlessly. Hopefully without the fanfare, though. This would be the one time he was okay with going without all the popularity. His gaze flitted upwards. The next roof over would be a nice place to begin from... "So, tantei-kun, let's get started."

"I'm really annoyed at you."

"I'm flattered. Now, come on - time's wasting away."


So maybe it was a little harder than Kaito expected. Maybe they had eleven close calls, and maybe they ended up actually tripping one of the alarms. Maybe they ended up having to tranquilize the guard that came to check the alarm, faked his voice into the radio, told whoever was on the other end that he was going to take a longer look around, and maybe Kaito stole his clothes and left him in his underwear in a closet.

Maybe Kaito was caught off guard by the higher-than-he-was-used-to technology. But only maybe. Just maybe.

Probably.

"When we get caught, I'm saying that you're an insane alien who kidnapped me against my will," Conan hissed, eyes darting around hurriedly as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Shut up and keep watch, I'm trying to concentrate," Kaito snapped back in a hushed voice, rummaging through the pockets of his stolen officer's uniform, trying to find the jingling noise before someone came to check up on why this officer was taking so long. "Keys, keys, where did he put them... Ah, nope, never mind, they've got fancy ID cards with all the - wait, what do you mean by 'when' we get caught? It's if! And hopefully not at all!"

"Kuroba, at the rate we're going, we're going to get caught red handed. Move quicker!"

"Ye of little faith, hold your horses, let me scan the little card - there!" The door popped open, leaving the disguised thief and detective free to proceed down their final stretch. "See? Go, go."

Ushering Conan in quickly, Kaito locked the door behind them and glanced down the hall - nobody there. Good. Maybe the guard that was supposed to be here was on a bathroom or snack break, or maybe he was asleep in a closet a couple corridors away because of two rather literal aliens and a tranquilizer dart. Who knew?

Either way, they had to pick up the pace. Someone might come back in a burst of responsibility, or the one in the closet would eventually wake up.

Since Conan was the only one of the two who knew what the imprisoned man looked like, he guided Kaito through the hall and peered in the different cells briefly before moving on. Some were empty, and some were filled. The few that took notice and looked up in time to see the kid leading the officer said nothing, but were probably super confused at the sight.

One hurried, skidded stop later, Kaito found himself in front of the person he assumed was Callaghan. The defeated-looking man glanced up at him after a moment.

"What do you - why's there a kid here?" he asked, staring at Conan. Kaito glanced down at the detective, who'd apparently discarded his kiddy face sometime during the rush and was now in full detective mode.

"We need to know about your portal," Conan said flatly, plunging in before he could be stopped. Kaito quashed the urge to bang his head on the wall and, instead, sighed. "Everything you can remember. You messed with something you shouldn't have, and we need to correct it."

Callaghan continued to gaze at Conan, brows furrowing. "What? That - no, everyone - Abigail is alive. The kids are alive. That - Krei is still alive and breathing."

"Yes," Kaito answered, matching up the names to what he remembered. "Um, but you kind of teleported Conan-kun and I halfway across the world." Which was more probable than halfway across the universe. Slightly. "We kind of need a way to get back home that doesn't, you know, involve discussing why we don't have passports."

The man stared at Kaito for a long while. "You're an officer."

"… I borrowed the uniform." Conan twitched. Kaito wasn't sure if he was holding back annoyance or laughter, but he sheepishly pushed his - Conan's - glasses up the bridge of his nose a little. "Anyway, is there anything you can tell us that-"

"Could help you rebuild the portal?" Callaghan finished, shaking his head already. Kaito's hopes fell a bit. "No. It's too dangerous to rebuild - and even if you somehow got ahold of the old notes and remains at the island, half of which has been decimated, you'd never find the technology or power to turn it on. Aside from that, there's no knowing where you'll pop out, if at all… Wait, how did you two get sucked into it in the first place?"

Instead of responding to the rather unanswerable question, Kaito put a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "An island, huh?" he murmured. "Hey, Conan-kun, Hiro's group mentioned something about it too, didn't they?"

Suddenly surging to his feet, Callaghan shouted, "No! You can't-"

"Nobody tells the Kid where he can or cannot go," Kaito cackled, already plotting out a plan.

Conan glanced at him. "I feel like I should get ready to grab a map or something."

"Oh, you don't have to do a thing," Kaito purred. He settled into a more Kid-like mindset, grinning. "Just don't stray too far, or you might get lost in the crowd. This is a rather busy city, is it not?"

"Promise to return it." Having deduced his intentions, Conan pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Promise me."

"Don't worry, I will. I wouldn't have a use for it anyway - huh, I wonder if it gets reception back home?"

"We're not finding out, Kuroba."

"Wait - stop, don't do it, it ruins lives!" Callaghan protested, scrambling up to the front of the cell and grasping at the bars. "You'll be gone forever, Abigail was so lucky, and she had protective gear around her-"

"Luck is something this guy tends to have in abundance," Conan countered, pointing at Kaito. The magician grinned shamelessly. "Besides, we made it through the first time; we can make it back. All we need to do is shake things up a little, and look for a new angle."

"Is that how you solve all your cases?" Kaito inquired suddenly, curious. "I mean, I've seen or read up on some of those, and the murder tricks you have to decipher are ridiculous."

Callaghan stared at the two of them unbelievingly, before sagging and backing up. "I see that I can't convince you. Just know that I warned you ahead of time."

"Sir," Conan said, quietly, uncharacteristically respectful, "you have to understand us. That portal is our only way home. I… We have people waiting for us."

The other man had no response to that, but Kaito observed his critic appraisingly, knowing who he'd been thinking of.

Some had been waiting longer than others.


"Holy crap - don't look, don't look," Conan hissed, yanking on Kaito's sleeve as he pulled him away from the vent they'd just slipped out from. "Don't say a thing, just keep walking. Act normal."

"You're not acting very normal," Kaito stage-whispered. His eyes darted towards the cause of their panic. "They're not looking, don't worry. But we should probably get out of here anyway."

"I wasn't talking about them, I was talking about you." Conan slowed down, however, and loosened his grip on Kaito's newly retrieved clothes to a more natural grip. "Okay. Good. We're good. That was too close."

Hiro and his friends - plus an odd balloon-looking robot thing - and just strolled casually into the building that they'd just escaped from, thankfully unseen. However, the two had almost been busted when the group passed right where they'd been about to hop on down from the vent, which succeeded in giving Kaito a near heart attack. Especially since Conan had half a leg sticking out at the time.

Conan's previous statement to Callaghan about Kaito's luck proved true, however, as Hiro's entourage trotted on without a second thought.

Unwilling to test it further, though, the duo hightailed it out of the area, in the end finding themselves right back at the place they appeared in. Or near it, anyway; some police officers had already started to tape off and move around the place, so Kaito and Conan roosted in an abandoned-looking warehouse practically next-door, but had been somehow left untouched by the mess.

"We're going to have to find a place to rent a boat or something," Kaito mused, plopping down in a corner. "Since it's an island and all."

"No, actually, we should be able to find one that's ready to go," Conan corrected, sliding down the wall beside him. "Callaghan had to have a way to get to the island without others knowing, since that's apparently where he did a lot of his plotting after he faked his death. If we can find the boat or other vehicle that he always took there, then we can just take that."

"Good point… But where would he dock it?"

"That's where a map would be useful. We should get our hands on one… soon…" Conan yawned.

Kaito grinned at him. "How's being a kid treating you?"

"Shut up, excuse me if I'm tired." Conan blinked slowly, visibly attempting to think through the haze of drowsiness. "I can wait until proper night, though, so we don't stay off-time for our whole stay here."

"If you say so." Actually, Kaito himself was feeling rather sleepy. Which wasn't right, he'd had a nap shortly earlier. In fact, the onset of the feeling was too sudden to be normal…

In the lull of the conversation, though, both of them drifted off, something else tugging their consciousnesses under.


Kaito stood on the roof once more, but didn't notice anything else aside for the fact that it was still night before the visuals were whisked away in a blur of red into the depths of the portal. He stood on nothing, just like before - but this time, he could move, and he could breathe.

This time, Conan stood beside him.

"Oh, good, it worked. You're here."

"Akako," Kaito said, and the witch smirked at him briefly before the expression dissolved into neutrality. Then, she turned towards Conan.

"Can you breathe?" she asked seriously. "Are you in control of yourself at all?"

He nodded, a little jerky in his movements, but that was to be expected.

"Good," Akako said, the seriousness fading away slightly. "Someone needs to rein in this idiot while he's there."

"Hey," Kaito cut in, "since we seem to have gotten ourselves stuck in an alternate dimension and all… A little help would be nice, you know."

She raised a brow at him. "… Idiot. I can see that. However, my magic doesn't extend its power across dimensions. This is already pushing it. You're going to have to help yourselves out of it in the same way you helped yourselves in."

Kaito frowned. "What? But-"

"Yes, I called you both here - but that's only because there's a hook, per say, that I can latch on to. I wasn't even the one who 'installed' that hook. You know why I crossed your dream earlier today, Kuroba-kun?" She paused. "I didn't. In fact, using my powers hardly crossed my mind. No; you are the one who reeled me into the subconscious world, and you costed me a perfectly good cup, too."

"Wait, but that's saying that…" Kaito shook his head. "But I don't have powers."

"No." Akako sighed. "No, you don't, and thank goodness for that. On the other hand, that gem of yours likes to… share."


Author's Note:

So... Yeah. Not much to say about this chapter? Other than it took a while, and it's currently over 8k words. Whee. There's a bit of fluff here and there, though... Hope you enjoyed!

Lots of thanks to my beta, InsanityOwl, as well as the Poirot Cafe community, for pushing me onwards through this chapter. Reviews are welcome and help feed my plot bunnies so they don't eat me instead. Thanks again!