I've read several stories that deal with kidnappings and Kid. I AM going to make mine
different then all of them (since it is mine) but I do apologise of some if it sounds
similar. It is a similar idea so it was bound to happen. My later chapters should throw
it off.


Chapter 3: The Officer and the Thief

Out of all the things that still didn't sit well with me, car rides were one of them.

Hakuba and I didn't have anything much to talk about, and the silence was usually awkward when I wasn't driving and he didn't have anything to complain about.

So I went – in silence – on Christmas – with Hakuba – in a cab down towards the police, and left Aoko's party – again – to help a detective.

Things had really changed.

I twirled some of the rings I had put on my fingers. It felt weird to be wearing them but I was trying to stand out. Show someone something obvious and they overlook any of the smaller features. I couldn't do anything about my clothes on such short notice but the dark blue turtle neck and my black jacket were common enough not to seem strange in any face I wore.

I thought the area would be chaotic when we arrived but it was the opposite. No one was running around or celebrating. The only humans to be seen were police officers, and those were only a handful.

"This is going to be fun," I whispered cynically.

"You weren't expecting it to be enjoyable, were you?" Hakuba got out of the cab after paying and took in his surroundings. I did as well but wasn't as obvious in my approach.

I spotted the hotel where the police were gathered in an instant. Their squad cars on the deserted street stood out harshly against the colorful glow coming from Christmas lights hanging in the nearby windows.

We crossed the street and I grinned, narrowing my eyes. I couldn't do much about my Japanese appearance but I could certainly act like someone foreign and of higher standing.

Hakuba opened the door and I followed behind him, nudging it with my shoulder instead of touching the handle. If anything went wrong I wasn't going to leave fingerprints.

The police were gathered in the center of the hotel's waiting room and surrounding a desk with Inspector Megure in the middle. I took me a minute to catch sight of Kudo and Kogoro.

Both looked ragged and, though Kudo was hiding it better, tense and worried like they never had been before. The detective and I received a few looks as we came in.

"Good evening," Hakuba bowed to them slightly. "I was in the neighborhood, and since I don't have any family home at the moment to celebrate the holiday with, I thought I could be of help."

"Who are you?" the Inspector asked.

"My name is Hakuba Saguru. I've solved many cases similar to this one in England so I'm well versed in the procedures that need to be taken." Hakuba smiled. "I'm also very familiar with the Kaitou Kid and have been part of his heists for a while now."

"Why would I listen to some kid-"

"Megure-keibu," one of the other officers spoke up. His hair and face stood out to me immediately as I recognized him as someone I'd taken on the guise of in the past. Takagi Wataru. I had his name, face, birthday, badge number, and personality all come to me without command. "We haven't been able to contact Nakamori-keibu so maybe it's a good thing that he's here."

Hakuba looked at me over his shoulder and I smiled. I'd taken the Inspector's cell phone before I left and had disconnected the phone line to the house. No one would be able to get through to him unless they took the time to go right up to his doorstep.

"And who's that with you?" Another officer spoke up, this one female and also well-known to me. Sato-keiji, though I knew very little of her except that her erratic driving scared the detective more than mine did and she had a nice body.

"Natsuki-san. He's a fellow investigator from England, though both his parents are Japanese. He's my cousin and he came over for the holidays."

"Can't let some little hotshot take all the credit. The family will start thinking he's the smart one." I grinned at the officers and sneered slightly at the detective to show my superiority. The lilt to my words was perfect, even if I wasn't formal.

"And what type of investigator are you?" Sato asked again. I could practically see her sniffing for any cracks in my story.

"I'm a Sergeant, about the rank of one of you officers in Japan." I waved towards them with disregard. "I'm gonna get promoted soon though, so don't lump me in with common black and whites."

"If it weren't for the fact that we aren't able to get in touch with many of our officers right now, I wouldn't be letting foreigners touch this case," the Inspector sighed, "But we need the help."

Megure narrowed his eyes and looked around the group to see if anyone spoke up against him. No one did.

"Sitting around here isn't gonna do any good." I grinned and put one hand on my side. "So, what are we gonna do?"

"We are going to do what we've already planned," Megure rebuked me. I kept smiling. "If I need your help, I'll ask for it."

"Right, but as of now you don't need us. I'm gonna go look at the scene then, to see if the great Japanese police force missed anything. Would one of you care to show me where it took place?"

The group looked around each other and I started to think that I'd been too forward. Sato finally got out of her seat with a huff and strode over to us.

"I'll show you the scene but you're not going to find anything we haven't already."

"How kind of you," I smirked. "I'll have to remember this hospitality when I go back to the UK."

The threat didn't even bring her attitude down and she couldn't tell that my smile was real, not because I'd won but because she was a worthy adversary. This woman seemed like someone I could get along with if she wouldn't arrest me in a moment's notice if she knew who I was.

Sato brought us outside and we walked over to Tokyo Tower together, Hakuba taking the backseat now that I had cemented my position. It was too bad that I'd used water based paints when I was drunk, and it was back to being white and orange.

"Ran-chan was here," Sato indicated with a hand. I looked around the large area, imaging all the people who must have been there earlier and the path that Snake would have taken.

"Was there only one man?" I asked, still scanning the area.

"Yes, and no one noticed he had a gun. By the looks of things, he was aiming to take a hostage from the start; he just wasn't sure which one would give him the most leverage." Sato closed her eyes. "He didn't mean it but Ran-chan was a good choice. Mouri-san has a lot of supporters and his daughter has made some high-level friends."

"How did he get away?" I stood where Ran would have been and looked around. There couldn't have been any place nearby the gunman could have parked with the festivities going on.

"He put the gun to her head and dragged her off into this alley." Sato started walking and I followed in silence, continuing to look around.

"There was more than one person here," I whispered.

"What?" the officer asked as she turned to face me. "You think I'm lying?"

"Not at all," I said playfully, trying to fall back into character. "You can't always trust someone else's judgment."

Sato turned back and continued to walk to the alley. "By the time the police enforcement in the area got here, both of them were gone. We think that there was a car waiting here to pick them up."

"It was definitely premeditated kidnapping," I mumbled as I bend over on the one of the widows that was open. The alley was surrounded by a building that had been under construction for some time and a business office. I could see marks on the window and the floor where someone had standing and leaning against it for some time. The cigarette on the floor and burn mark on the wall where it was put up were new.

If there were people in the building that were there to protect Snake when he came through with his hostage…

"Were any people reported missing after this occurred?" I asked Sato without looking at her, still investigating the window. I walked over to the next one to see if there were any similar markings.

"It was chaotic after that. People went running everywhere and there have been multiple missing person's reports, but we haven't been able to sort out if they simply got themselves lost or if they're missing."

The next window was clean and I jumped through it. "We might be able to clear some of those up."

"Witnesses on the other street saw the man and Ran-chan, so why would there be anything in this building?" Sato asked with narrowed eyes and her hands on her hips. Something I had said made her start to take me seriously though, and she followed me inside. I waited.

I didn't even have to fully turn the corner all the way to find what I had suspected. I leaned against the inside wall so I didn't have to look. Sato watched me with a strange look at my sudden unease.

"You'll want to get the Inspector in here and some lab guys if you can find any." I straightened up and tried to seem like what I'd witnessed hadn't bothered me. Sato moved around me and looked out in the hall.

"Why?" She turned to look back at me and I attempted to smile. Her hard look and my perfect memory made it hard.

"I don't know. Ask all those sick killers out there why they do it. These poor bastards probably tried to follow them down the alley and were killed by the man's associates."

"What made you realize that they were in here?" Sato turned back to me before making it to the window, getting ready to bring backup.

"The other window on the inside, there's blood. I'm sure those of us who are shorter wouldn't have seen it, and the victim of the kidnapping was more distracting."

It was funny but I could swear that Sato understood what I'd hinted at about Kudo. She wouldn't take her eyes off of me and didn't proceed any further out of the room.

"What's going on?" Hakuba asked, leaning against open window on the outside of the building.

Sato remained silent, sparing the detective a glance that focused mostly on her reaction to his company, before keeping her eyes in me. I let myself frown outwardly or my smile could have been taken as a link to my other self.

"I don't know. Missy here isn't going to get back up, so I guess we're just hanging around for a while. She's pretty good a staring contests though Saguru-kun." I almost paused before saying the detective's first name, but it was something a family member would have done and Sato looked like she was starting to see through me.

The detective didn't waste any time coming into the room with us before leaning against the wall next to the police officer and watching her with perceptible suspicion.

It was obvious this way that we were ganging up on her, but she couldn't say it was because we were family or we were purposely keeping secrets from her.

Sato sighed, looking down at the floor in defeat, but she didn't let me miss the smile she had on her face. "It's funny that Kaitou Kid hasn't shown up yet. I've heard that he's protective when his name is involved in a case. It's also strange that one of the officers didn't notice the marks that you claim were obvious to you. I guess you need to be one of the bad guys to know how they operate."

I took on a full look of confusion I was used to sporting with how often Hakuba had already accused me of being the thief; it was natural now. The detective turned his head towards her and raised an eyebrow. It was a small action but the Brit often hid behind cautious gestures, so it spoke of curiosity instead of surprise even more then my actions did.

The officer took in our reactions and saw they weren't what she was hoping for. I had to give it to the detective for being able to mask himself as well as he was. I'd known for a while that he wasn't able to guard his emotions when he felt strongly about something.

"If Kid does show up," Sato's eyes narrowed but she only glanced at me before turning to face the wall between the detective and I so that she could see us both, "I'd have no hard feelings in succumbing to this kidnappers demands in order to get Ran-chan back. I don't deal with criminals, but I think I'd make an exception this time."

The detective shouldn't have reacted to the treat aimed at me, but I was too far away to stop him.

Hakuba stood in the space between us and crossed his arms. "I don't like what you're implying."

I spun him around and clamped onto the front of Hakuba's red coat. He had time enough to look surprised that the attack had come from me and not Sato before it turned into confusion. I had no way of lowering my voice enough that Sato wouldn't be able to hear but I was too angry at him to care. She had figured it out anyway and I'd have to make sure my words could be taken another way.

"Do not associate yourself with me, and above all, do not defend me."

Hakuba seemed to sag in my grip and he looked downcast, though he didn't let his face show much.

"I don't mean you can't defend me when I'm out of the work place. By all means, go ahead. But not when I'm – trying to be inconspicuous… or conspicuous. If they were watching, or anyone like them saw…" It took me a minute to figure out my 'them' could have referred to Kudo's demons or my own. Anyone out to get me really. "They could use you against me."

"At least we'd be in the same boat for once then." Unlike me, Hakuba was able to make his words quiet enough that I was just able to catch them and Sato had no chance of hearing what he'd said.

"You're still mad at me about last month aren't you?" I asked offhandedly. Stating those two of the worst weeks of my life into something that sounded trifling almost made me angry at downplaying the severity the situation had carried – and still carried to this day. Sato couldn't be let onto anything though.

"If by mad you mean beyond infuriated at you, then yes, I still am. But that is beside the point and I've accepted that the past cannot be changed. What I'm annoyed about now is how you seem to think that the center of the world revolves around you, and that you think if you can't accomplish something that no one else can. I'm very capable of coming up with my own conclusions and protecting myself when I know there's danger."

I almost favored Sato staring at me compared to Hakuba's steadfast glare.

"We'll discuss this at another time," I told him.

"So that you can keep putting it off? You haven't let me speak openly to you without disappearing since everything happened. I don't know what you're trying to accomplish by keeping me out – since you have no problem involving me with your other ventures – but I'm not going to smile and take it anymore."

"Another time, detective. We have a guest at the moment and a number of dead bodies around the corner, if you care to obtain a look for yourself. Time wasted here is time wasted in the long run and that cannot be afforded when someone had been seized by men who would sooner shoot you for a napkin then ask you for one."

The detective tried to physically release himself from my hold but it was an impossible undertaking. When I wanted to hold onto something, I didn't let go.

"You've put your walls back up. What point is there in arguing with you now?" he said in quiet undertones of hate. "Let me go."

"What are you talking about?" I whispered back, trying to match his volume. "This isn't the best time to be having this argument."

Hakuba frowned before raising his eyes. "You don't have the same capacity for keeping me out that you used to have. Your voice changed back."

"Detective, I don't -"

"And I told you to stop calling me that."

"Hakuba-san, shut up."

He looked stiffly off to the side, but I could tell that whatever I'd done that had gotten him angrier then I was – and had caused me to forget why I'd been yelling at him – was gone.

Sato was still behind me and I'd left myself open to her while I'd faced the detective to make sure he didn't stick up for me again if any of Snake's men were still in the area. She hadn't made a move.

"And as for you," I turned but didn't face her. "I'm sure the Kid knows that. The thief wouldn't be stupid enough to show himself when it's a cop's friend who got nabbed. They'd take him down in heartbeat. As for the thief himself, I'm sure he'll think of a way to get her back without having the police disgrace themselves or givin' into some lunatic's demands."

It was best to go now before Sato decided to take her assumptions any further and my conversation with the detective left little doubt that something was up, even if I continued to un-associate myself with Kid. Hakuba could stay behind and help Kudo while I tried to track Snake down.

A hand wrapped around my arm stopped me as I headed towards the window and I knew it wasn't the detective.

"I'd prefer not to make deals with criminals – you or whoever this man is who took Ran-chan. I won't stop you if you're here to help and," Sato practically growled "we've all been distracted and wouldn't have noticed that we're dealing with killers if you hadn't shown up."

If she was willing to drop it for the sake of the investigation I didn't mind sticking around, but I couldn't trust her. I didn't know her and had little to go on the ways of her character, since I'd only spent a little time with her before today and remembered nothing but at fiery attitude. I was nervous at the time, so I wasn't focusing on those around me as much as I should have been. Maybe now it was nervousness on my part again, that was making me doubt her. Something.

She must have noticed my uncertainty, even though I knew I wasn't visibly showing anything. I waited too long to get out of her hand.

"I'm not going to peg you down now if you can help get Ran-chan back. Whoever these people are have some connection to you so, for now, having you on our side is better than upholding the law. That won't last long if you don't provide results."

I smiled at her. "And, since you were listening to our conversation, you'll take Hakuba-san down with me if I don't find these killers."

"No." Her eyes went up to meet mine and we continued our staring contest from earlier. She didn't back down but she wasn't going to keep silent this time. "I don't like seeing people get hurt either – it happens too often… The only people who can really understand this are those who have lost a lot, so I don't think I'll have any problem with you, unless you try to pull something over my eyes." The policewoman grinned and put her hand up like she was pretending to shoot me with her finger. "Then I'll take you down if I need to."

I hid behind my smile and suppressed a shiver, telling myself it was because of the cold. "So you're declaring a standoff with no strings attached?"

"For now anyway." She put a hand up to her hands and sighed. "I must be crazy, making a proposition like that with someone like you."

"It's only natural that it doesn't sit well with you," I smirked. "If it did, I wouldn't trust you to keep up what you've said."

"I don't need to be left out of this. If you fail, I have no trouble falling in as an accomplice." Hakuba snuck up behind me and tapped my arm. "Of course, that's only if you fail, and I have yet to see that happen."

First Kudo and now Hakuba. I didn't mind being regarded in such high standing but it was hard to live up to their expectations when I'd already been looking for a way to get to Snake and his group for months now. I had the police on my side, so there were new possibilities opening before me.

"The first thing I'm going to do – that you can't share with the other officers," I waited for Sato to nod before continuing. "Is give you a better description of the man than the ones from the random onlookers who were too scared to pay much attention. I'll also give you what little information I have on them. It's not much but it's better than searching blindly."

She nodded and I felt Hakuba nudge me again.

"What are we going to do about... that?" he whispered into my ear.

"If you're talking about my heist, it can't be postponed," I whispered back, though I was still loud enough for the officer to hear, so I stopped trying to hide my words. "Snake could easily say I'd put it off because I wasn't willing to hand the diamond over to him, and kill Ran-kun to show he was serious before getting a new hostage."

"Does he want that diamond you're after? That's it?" Sato looked at me with surprise at, in her opinion, was not worth the trouble the hit man had gone to.

"It means more to us than it does to you." I closed my eyes. "I can't let him have it either. If it comes down to Ran-san's life or the gem, I'll hand it over, but I'll be looking for another way to go about things, and security is going to be even tighter if the police are trying more determinedly to catch me."

"I could get the diamond for you." I was surprised at her determination to break the law. Even Hakuba wasn't as willing with his help. "You put on a show like always and pretend you've taken it. I'll give it to you before or after."

"That would make things easier," I admitted. I'd noticed that I'd undeniably told her who I was, but there couldn't be secrets that mundane if I was going to be giving and receiving information from her. I could have used Kudo, but this made things easier on the both of us.

Snake would make his move after I'd gotten the diamond. He'd try to contact me secretly so the police wouldn't be involved. If I relayed information to Sato and the other officers about his position, they could take the man down after Ran was safe, and they had the diamond. Both Ran and I would be open season if they acted too quickly, but I could make sure we were safe beforehand.

It almost seemed too easy, but there were a lot of things that could go wrong and, knowing Snake, he was going to make sure that I wasn't able to get away.

"Are you willing to work with me for that long?" I was going to stick to my notice. Snake couldn't make me act faster and the police could only try to stop me then if they were planning to catch me to save the girl. If Snake left any kind of trail, I'd track them down before hand to avoid the whole mess. That left me with a little more than a week of preparation.

"If I have to." Sato looked more drawn in on herself and she pushed passed me to get out the window first. "Come on, I have to get back."

I nodded and shrugged my shoulders when Hakuba gave me an uncompromising glare. "I can't do anything about it, and it's not like having the police help me can hurt."

"I'm going to help as well and I'm not giving you a choice in the matter of accepting my assistance or not. You have it and I'm not backing down."

"I didn't think you would." I crawled out the window and waited for the detective to get through. "Why'd you get so mad when I didn't want you to get arrested with me?"

"Because I'm your partner on this and I don't mind getting arrested as such."

"Hakuba, you know how bad that would look? You'd run your family's name through the mud, and I'm sure that your money won't keep you out of a jail cell."

"I don't care. If I'm arrested for helping you save someone's life, then let them prosecute me. I won't regret what I've done."

I couldn't believe I was having this conversation with him. "Hakuba, she doesn't know who I am. If you were arrested as my accomplice, and I got away and they couldn't identify me – I can't say I'd turn myself in so that you didn't have to go through it alone."

"Good, that would be stupid." Hakuba's eyes widened more than I'd ever see them. "Did you really think that I would want you to do that? Would you want me to turn myself in if they caught you and say 'Hey, I've helped Kaitou Kid on a few of his heist before. Arrest me too'? No, you wouldn't. I know the boarder between friendship and idiocy."

"That wasn't the point I was trying to get across."

"Then what was it?" Hakuba looked at me, and I frowned.

"You made me forget."

The detective laughed. "I thought you said that you were Kid and I couldn't make you do anything?"

"Shut up, Hakuba!" I pushed him into the side of the wall but it didn't hurt him.

"This isn't the time to be messing around." The detective smiled and brushed some of the nonexistent dirt off his coat where it had touched the building. "I thought you came this way to look for clues. Pay attention."

"I did but I don't think Snake would have left any. The police can't even find the shells after he - …."

"What?" Hakuba asked when he realized my silence was more than contemplation.

"Snake, he's gone after me before now; him and a few of his guys. They've shot at me more than once, and one time it was in front of the police. There was never any evidence left, which is probably why you never heard of him before I told you."

"He must be good to clean up evidence while the police were there," the detective stated dryly as he caught what I meant. "Only a policeman can walk among the police unnoticed. He has inside help."

"And they're most likely tied to Nakamori-jisan too, or they wouldn't be able to get the evidence from my heists on a regular basis."

"Meaning we can't let anything slip to them."

"Yeah," I said in level tone matching Hakuba's dry one. I didn't notice the connection before, but one of Snake's men must have been closer to me than I thought every time I struck at one of the gems. They were right there. They had to know how I operated, which was why they went after Ran. "This isn't good. They'll know I won't hand over Pandora without a fight."

"We'll have to make them believe you would. It's not that hard, considering how much trouble you go through to save someone's life. I can attest to that."

"I need a way to draw Snake out before I go after the diamond, but I don't know anything else he would want."

"Kuroba-kun stop over thinking it. We'll go with your plan of getting the police to help if we can't find them before the date. Sato-keiji has agreed to it, and I can't see anything wrong with that idea."

"He could kill Ran-kun before that. Snake could decide that he'll shoot me after I'm close enough and offering him the gem, he could have one of his men hiding somewhere close by to kill me before I even land and make the trade… Hakuba, there's so much that could go wrong with that situation that I don't even want to try it."

The detective looked ahead. "I hadn't even thought of some of those scenarios. You're right, it's not safe." He looked over at me with a fierce stare. "You'd still go if we can't think of anything else, wouldn't you?"

"I couldn't just sit around and hope for the best. That's not me. But I have some rather creative ideas to use against him if it comes down to it. Things could still go wrong."

"Then we'll have to think of something before that time comes."