Case 4 – The Accident

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Kaito was in a ridiculously good mood by the time he made it home that night, wondering with impish amusement if Shinichi had noticed yet that he'd slipped the emerald into the detective's pocket before he'd jumped from the roof.

Unlocking the door, Kaito entered the small house in Beika where he'd been living for the past few months, and did his usual cautious sweep of the rooms before heading to the secret entrance to the KID room. When his mother had heard of his plans to get an apartment in Beika, he'd half expected all of the usual protests. He'd been a little surprised when her only objection was that renting was simply no good and he needed a place of his own, so she'd helped him finance the little house, and had even helped design and build the secret room. He had just tripped the hidden switch for the entrance when his phone rang.

Kaito paused, a little confused given that it was going on 3AM, and pulled the phone from his pocket. A slight chill rippled through him under his skin. Aoko's name was printed dispassionately across the screen.

When Kaito had decided to move to Beika, he'd told Aoko that it was because he was taking some college courses in the area. That much was true. What he didn't tell her was that he felt he needed some distance. The gap that KID had created between them had always been a little uncomfortable for Kaito, but manageable. That is, until the end of their last year of high school. With graduation looming, Kaito had felt that the time was right to try moving their relationship to a more official status. He'd been in the process of planning a good way to dazzle Aoko with all the not inconsiderable charm he possessed when he suddenly found himself wondering where that would lead, long-term. Every scenario he thought of ended badly. It was at that point he'd made his decision, and while they'd gone their separate ways on friendly terms, he hadn't seen or spoken to Aoko much in months.

And now, in the middle of the night, she was calling him. Something was definitely wrong.

Kaito flicked his thumb over the screen and brought the phone to his ear. He was immediately met with the sounds of poorly subdued distress, and panic clamped cold fingers around his heart.

"K-Kaito?"

"Aoko, are you okay? What happened? Where are you?" The questions spilled out, sharp and quick. He was already locking the KID room shut again and hurrying for his front door.

"I-I'm at home," Aoko said, the words jumping with the spastic gasps that came with hard crying. "S-Someone from the f-force just called. My dad–" She broke off for just a moment and Kaito heard the rush of her breath against the speaker of her phone. His fingers gripped his own so tightly they almost shook and he pressed it harder against his ear as if that would somehow help him take in the words he felt coming. "H-He's in the hospital. There was an accident…"

It took more concentration than it should have to stop his thoughts from reaching his tongue. He had just seen Nakamori at the heist. Everything had been fine. What had happened? "Listen Aoko, I'm going to call my mom. She'll get you over to the hospital. I'm in Beika but I'll be there as soon as I can, all right? It's going to be okay." Aoko shakily agreed and Kaito absolutely hated to end that call, to hang up when she was like that, but she needed to get to the hospital and she was in no state to do that herself. The practicality of it did nothing to ease his frustration.

He was already out the door by the time he'd put the call through to Chikage and he had never been so glad he'd decided to buy and fix up that old car he'd gotten dirt cheap because it had been "beyond repair." Kaito had scoffed at that. It had only taken him a few weeks to teach himself everything he needed to know and have it running again. It had been a fun challenge and those skills would certainly come in handy if he ever had to impersonate a mechanic or hotwire a get-away car or something (unlikely, but it never hurt to be prepared).

Chikage answered after only a few rings and Kaito filled her in in a rush. She listened and agreed, and Kaito felt himself stilled by the calm with which she asked her questions and gave her answers, the efficiency in her responses not dampened by the subtly soothing lilt to her voice.

"I know you're already in the car and driving, Kaito," she added, and he could hear her car door close, a muted background sound. "But you didn't even find out which hospital we're going to, so I want you to pull over and wait for my text to let you know."

And there was that practicality again. He bit back a groan but did as she asked, realizing the logic of it, but why did the practical, reasonable things have to be so damn frustrating? Action was so much easier than waiting around.

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He recognized the name of the hospital the moment the text came through. It wasn't far from the night's heist location at all. So, Kaito thought, feeling slightly like he'd swallowed a lead weight. Something must have happened after I left.

There was another text waiting on his phone by the time he got there, informing him where to go within the hospital. He didn't bother stopping at the reception desk and instead slipped past and straight up to the waiting room.

It was in the instant that he ran through the door, the instant that he rushed past Kudou Shinichi and Inspector Megure of the Metropolitan Police Department, Division One, that he fully acknowledged that there was more to this "accident" than might first meet the eye. Kaito shoved the thought forcefully aside for the time being as he reached Aoko and Chikage.

Shinichi, sitting in a chair near the entrance to the waiting room, barely holding himself up with his elbows propped on his knees, had seen the young man run past, but hadn't thought much of it until he heard his voice. His head came up, turning instinctively toward the small cluster of people on the other side of the otherwise empty waiting room.

"Aoko…" Kaito took hold of Aoko's shoulders and guided her gently but insistently into a seat, though she tried to resist. He could see that she was full of nervous energy, but as soon as he managed to get her into a chair, she stilled, folding against him, his hand squeezed tight in hers and her face against his shoulder. "Hey," he said, pitching his tone to be cheerful but still quiet and subdued. "Everything's gonna be okay, you'll see." He ran a light hand over her wild hair and looked up at Chikage. "Has anyone let Hakuba know?" He might hate the bastard, but he was sure Hakuba would want to be told about this. Kaito had heard that Hakuba and Aoko had grown much closer in the past few months, but he also knew that Hakuba had been in England for the past week and a half.

Chikage looked down at Aoko, who was making a valiant effort to stop the small residual sobs that were still jumping through her every now and then, and told Kaito softly, "Stay with Aoko-chan. I'll give him a call." Kaito nodded and, with a quick hand, stole the cell phone from Aoko's pocket, handing it over to Chikage without a word. Chikage stepped out of the waiting room, already scrolling through Aoko's contacts to find the number.

From across the room, Shinichi stared. He hadn't missed the effortless theft, and even though the young man's face was unclear, his head bent low over the girl hunched against his side, Shinichi couldn't help the growing suspicion that this person comforting the head of the KID task force's daughter in soft, soothing tones was the Kaitou KID. Or maybe that was the exhaustion talking.

Shinichi actually started when Kaito suddenly looked up, meeting Shinichi's eyes. For a few moments they just stared at each other, Kaito's face held carefully blank across from Shinichi's bewildered expression. Then, abruptly, Shinichi realized what had made Kaito look up in the first place. Megure was trying to get Shinichi's attention. He'd probably said his name several times by now if the worried edge to his voice was any indication, and Shinichi hadn't even heard him. He quickly tore his eyes away from Kaito's and looked up at Megure.

"Sorry, Inspector," he said, and the words were heavy with exhaustion.

"Are you sure you're all right, Kudou-kun?" Megure asked. "You only just got out of the hospital. You should probably be taking it easy."

Shinichi caught a sharp movement out of the corner of his eye – the young man's head had come up abruptly again, almost as if in response to the inspector's words. Like he'd been startled to hear that Shinichi had been in the hospital. But why would he care? He was fairly certain they'd never met… unless this guy really was KID–

"Kudou-kun…"

Shinichi had been staring again and Megure's voice, when it reached him, sounded tortured with concern. The inspector's hand landed heavy on Shinichi's shoulder. "Maybe while we're here we should get you checked out. You don't look well."

Shinichi laughed humorlessly. If he looked half as bad as he felt he was pretty sure he could understand why Megure was worried. "I'll be fine," he said anyway. And he did actually believe that. Really, he just needed some coffee.

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The hospital coffee was especially bitter and Shinichi was grateful; it woke him up nicely, even if it did nothing for the tremors in his hands. He'd gone through five cups in the hour between when Kaito had arrived and when the doctor had come out with news on Nakamori. Aoko had finally been allowed back to see him, Chikage had already gone home, and Megure had gone out into the hallway to talk to the doctor, leaving Kaito and Shinichi alone in the waiting room.

Kaito was slumped in one of the chairs, pretending to be deeply engrossed in his phone while he watched Shinichi, counting cups of coffee as the detective sat stooped over a folder full of photos that an officer had brought in earlier. Honestly, he had been expecting Shinichi to confront him. It was obvious he had his suspicions, but Shinichi never looked up from his work. Kaito let out a silent sigh, wondering if it would be stupid to ask him about the accident. He wanted to know. He needed to know what had happened, but he wasn't sure he should push his luck… Or maybe he should think of this as an opportunity for damage control. After all, he hadn't done anything all that damning. So Shinichi was suspicious of him. So what? Hakuba was convinced that he was KID and nothing had come of that.

He was standing before he'd consciously made the decision, and he walked out of the waiting room. Shinichi hardly even looked up.

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Shinichi picked up his seventh cup of coffee – empty, just like it had been the last time he'd picked it up, but he had forgotten again and he wasn't sure he wanted to expend the effort to stand so he could go get more. Then a hand came down in his line of vision and deposited a full, steaming cup of black coffee right in front of him. It took him a second to look up.

"Hey," Kaito said, taking care to adjust his voice very subtly to a lower register than his normal tone. With any luck, the detective would assume anything he'd heard earlier he'd just imagined as sounding like KID. Kaito had even gone so far as to make slight changes to his bone structure and skin tone with makeup before he'd gone to get the coffee. From the look on Shinichi's face, he'd succeeded in instilling at least a little bit of doubt in his mind. After all, he definitely seemed tired enough to start questioning his own observations. Kaito almost felt bad about that, but only because Shinichi looked like he might drop any minute, yet he was still working to find out what had happened to Nakamori.

Shinichi blinked up at him. "Hey…?" he responded slowly. Carefully. Like he was afraid he might be talking to a hallucination.

"You're looking into the accident, aren't you," Kaito said, sharp eyes flickering over the spread of photos on the low table in front of him. "Do you know what happened?"

"Hit and run," Shinichi answered. "Literally," he added as an afterthought, and he was pretty sure he shouldn't be telling this random person about the case, but it was so much easier to think out loud at this point that he didn't bother stopping himself. "Another car smashed right into Nakamori-keibu's door, but I swear the angle is off, and the driver got out and literally ran away – just disappeared somewhere. We had people out looking for 'em but turned up nothing and that's weird too."

"You don't think it was an accident," Kaito stated. Shinichi shook his head, looking grim. "Any thoughts on motive?"

Tired eyes moved up to lock on Kaito's face again and lingered there, like he knew something wasn't quite right. "You're concerned about him," Shinichi observed.

"Aoko's a friend," Kaito answered vaguely but Shinichi only nodded.

They both looked up when Megure came back into the room, Shinichi watching the inspector expectantly, but Megure only shook his head. Shinichi slumped back in his chair and sighed. They'd been hoping Nakamori could tell them something more about what had happened, but he either wasn't awake or didn't remember. Megure came over to the table.

"Kudou-kun–"

"I know, Inspector," Shinichi said. "I'll call it a night. Let me know if anything changes."

Megure nodded and Shinichi gathered the report and pictures together before forcing himself to stand. He handed the folder over to Megure and headed for the door, lifting the full coffee cup slightly in Kaito's direction as he went.

"Thanks for this," he said.

"…Anytime," Kaito replied, watching in slight bewilderment as Shinichi left the waiting room.

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Kaito lingered in the waiting room for a while longer before the doctor returned to gently inform him that Aoko was not leaving and that Kaito couldn't go in to see Nakamori, so he might as well head home and get some rest. Kaito agreed, reluctantly, and headed out to the parking lot, but only because something had been quietly churning at the back of his mind ever since Shinichi had left. How had he gotten home? He'd been alone the whole time in the waiting room and he hadn't called anyone before he left… Had he headed home alone?

It was an uncomfortable conclusion for Kaito to come to, but one that seemed to fit with the stubbornly independent detective. And Kaito didn't like it. Not only was Shinichi in no shape to be making his own way home, there was still someone out there who had just tried to kill Nakamori. If they decided they wanted Shinichi out of the way as well… Kaito's hand twitched and he slammed his car door with more force than was strictly necessary. Making up his mind, he started the car and headed out toward the Kudou manor.

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Kaito left his car a few blocks away just to be safe then scaled the tree in Shinichi's yard that overlooked his bedroom window on the second floor. He peered in through the open curtains and his grip on the branch beneath him tensed. The bed was empty. Not only that – it was untouched, the blankets spread perfectly neat and smooth over the mattress. Surely, surely not even Kudou Shinichi would have come home after a night like the one he'd just had and not gone to bed. So had he even made it back at all?

Six seconds later, Kaitou KID was moving silently toward the door in Shinichi's bedroom and out into the rest of the house, his cape licking around corners after him. A quick search showed the second floor to be empty and he hurried down to check the first, but he stopped short at the bottom of the stairs, a chill rising through him for just a moment when he saw Shinichi. He was slumped in the corner just inside his front door, eyes closed, quiet and unmoving, and KID's feet were carrying him forward before he could tell them to move. His last step rolled smoothly into a dip as he took a knee in front of Shinichi, his hand reaching out in almost the same movement to check for a pulse at Shinichi's neck. A sigh of relief left him as he found one, slow and steady under his glove.

Having confirmed that the detective was not, in fact, dead, KID took a quick look around at where Shinichi was sitting. The key to his door was on the floor beside his hand, and, though the front door was closed, it hadn't been locked behind him. Slightly concerned, KID edged closer and ran light, careful fingers through Shinichi's hair and down the sides of his face, checking for injuries, but there were none. It seemed as though he had simply sunk down to the floor and fallen asleep as soon as he got in. Recalling how he'd looked at the hospital, and the eight or so cups of coffee Kaito had watched him drink within the span of ninety minutes, he supposed he shouldn't be too surprised. Clearly he was exhausted if KID's careful poking and prodding had hardly caused him to stir.

KID breathed out a small sigh and reached up to lock the door, then carefully gathered Shinichi into his arms and carried him to the sitting room, trying not to notice how little he seemed to weigh or how thin he felt. He laid him on the couch and stepped away but hesitated a moment, going to retrieve a blanket as an afterthought and returning to lay it over the sleeping detective. He was a gentleman thief after all, and really he felt like he owed Shinichi at least that much for his help with Nakamori's case.

Returning to the open window upstairs, Kaito changed back into street clothes and slipped out of the darkened house into the early morning sunlight and headed home.