Midnight Meeting: Chapter 4

There was few seconds of silence as Kaito reprimanded himself for not being more careful about getting Aoko involved and he wished he had left someone to watch her for her safety. He told himself that it was too late for regrets he told himself, it's happened now and you have to deal with it and suffer the consequences of your actions.

"Hand over the jewel Kid," Snake demanded breaking the silence. "Or your girlfriend gets dropped off and has a scenic death that you'll remember for five seconds because you'll die too."

Kaito decided he would have one shot at saving Aoko's life. "I don't know her. Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with this."

Snake smirked. "You're not very discreet for a supposedly master criminal Kid. You were seen visiting her house in full Kid regalia. You gave yourself away."

Kaito gave himself a mental slap. "Her boyfriend could just be a hard core fan of me with a good cosplay costume."

Snake's reply was to nod at the man holding Aoko. He delivered a swift punch to Aoko's stomach. She made a small noise and shook her head at Kaito to tell him not to give in because of her.

"The jewel Kid. Hand it over."

Kaito produced the jewel from his pocket with a stone poker face that hid the calculations and plans he was hastily making and threw it a little to the right of Snake who fumbled to catch it before it fell. As soon as Snake had moved Kaito dropped a smoke bomb and rushed forward blindly to grab Aoko. He saw her outline in the smoke and reached out to pull her away when he felt a sharp pain in his left arm. He realised he had been shot with a silenced gun.

He tried to persevere, but the smoke cleared too quickly. When all the smoke cleared he saw that Snake we holding his gun which was smoking and the jewel.

"Nice try. I admire your stupidity and bravery, but your time has run out now. I will give you a chance to say good bye to your girl friend if you like. Now I've got what I want I am a patient man, but only for five minutes," Snake said putting the jewel into his pocket. "Actually I wouldn't mind knowing your name first. I know you aren't Toichi Kuroba. I know you won't tell me so I'll ask your girlfriend."

He walked over and pulled her forward. Aoko glared at him balefully, not able to fight due to the handcuffs she was wearing. She had spent the car journey unconscious due to being shot with a tranquilliser dart. She had woken to find herself in a store cupboard handcuffed and gagged. She had no idea what the time was or where she was. Aoko had tried to attract attention by kicking the door, but on one had come to help so she assumed that she was in an isolated place away from the public. She had slumped against the door in defeat and waited for someone to come.

The next thing she knew the man that had kidnapped her was ripping her gag off and she was being dragged to the observation deck. She had recognised that she was at Tokyo Tower immediately and her suspicions about her kidnapping being connected to Kaito's heist had been confirmed. They were in trouble and the Black Organisation had the upper hand.

The only thing that the Black Organisation didn't have was Kaito's name and they wanted her to give it to them.

The man with the moustache took a step closer. "What's Kid's real name? I know you know it."

Aoko muttered something so he had to come closer.

"What was that?" he said leaning forward.

He came another step closer. Aoko appraised the distance and came to the conclusion that she wouldn't get another chance like this. She kicked the man with the gun and moustache in his instep so he was distracted momentarily. Then she turned and threw her weight forwards to head butt her kidnapper. He grunted and took an involuntary step backwards.

Kaito took advantage of the distraction to throw another smoke bomb to help her escape. He grabbed her arm and they pelted towards the stairs and ran down. They heard sounds of shots behind them.

"I'm sorry Aoko," Kaito puffed as they ran. "This is all my fault and should have never have happened."

"It's a bit too late for that now."

"Hurry up," Kaito said increasing his speed and pulled her along faster. "We need to get back to the museum to evacuate everyone from this place."

*X*X*

Hakuba coughed and found he had a crick in his neck from being crumpled in a contorted position on the floor. He remembered in a flash that reason why he had a blinding headache and pink hair and sprang up too quickly. He winced and fought his dizziness. The other members of the task force were starting to stir too.

He had been completely shocked when what he had thought was Aoko had thrown a flash bomb and disappeared. When the flash had terminated and his eyes had cleared Kaito Kid had been standing on top the display case holding Koh-i-noor and everyone had pink hair. Kid had then thrown something else and he couldn't remember anything that had happened until now.

He had to admit that it had been a good plan since he had thought to check Aoko's face for a mask, but hadn't done it for fear of the Inspector's wrath and no one else had thought of it either. Naturally that mistake would have to be rectified for next time, but the chances of him using the same disguise again were a million to one.

His recovery was permeated by shots resonating into the comparative silence. Hakuba knew that they were coming from somewhere above him and he heard the sound of running feet. Without thinking he sprinted out the room and collided with Kaito Kid and a handcuffed Aoko. He opened his mouth and closed it again.

"What the bloody hell is going on Kuroba?" he enquired raising an eyebrow taking in the picture and his eyes noted the blood pouring from Kaito's arm.

"My sentiments exactly," Aoko agreed turning to Kid. "I want a proper detailed explanation about those men after I get the hand cuffs off. I now pity criminals slightly, they're so painful."

Kaito produced a paperclip from his jacket pocket and bent down to pick the handcuff lock. He unpicked it, straightened up and put the handcuffs in his pocket. Aoko stretched her arms out and hugged him. Kaito returned the embrace and then noticed too late that Hakuba had called him Kuroba. He knew it was pointless to keep up the pretence any longer as things had gotten serious with the presence of the Black Organisation. Besides he would be a useful ally and he needed one at the moment.

He turned to him. "Hakuba, in pursuit of us are members of a criminal organisation armed with guns probably have accomplices all over the tower. I need your help."

Hakuba eyed him with suspicion and observed the grim line of his mouth and knew that he was being serious. The face that he Kaito Kid had admitted to being Kaito Kuroba didn't escape him either, but he decided to leave it for later. "What do you need?"

"First I need to get Aoko out of here before she gets put in any more danger."

"What if Aoko doesn't want to?" she protested. "I want to stay and help. Besides my father is here too; he can protect me so I can stay here."

"Aoko, you are going to tell the Task Force that they have to evacuate the tower and this place needs to be empty of people including all the workers and police. You will leave with them. Understood," Kaito ordered wincing as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Remember that I love you. Whatever happens to me I will still love you. Remember that." He hugged her.

Aoko kissed him in return as tears slowly pooled in her eyes and ran down her face and he let go of her as Hakuba cleared his throat. She gave him a final kiss and ran off to find her father. Hakuba waited until she had gone to speak.

"I hope you have a good plan Kuroba. I don't want to have to tell Aoko that you're dead. I don't particularly want to die myself either."

Kaito took off his hat. "I have a plan of sorts that I just came up with. It involves knock out gas and no hair dye."

Hakuba scowled in reply, then he relaxed. "I'll trust you for the time being. I'm in."

A short time later they were running down a corridor that was normally only used by the staff after making some preparations in the toilets. They were halfway down when they passed a man jogging in the opposite direction who was wearing the staff uniform and a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. Kaito tripped him up as the man was reaching into his pocket while he was going past. Kaito pinned him to the ground and hand cuffed the man. He struggled, but Kaito was too strong.

"Nice one," Hakuba congratulated. "I was about to point out that he was one of Them and was about to pull out a gun, but you got there before me. Where should we put him?"

"I spotted a store cupboard on the way here. It should be locked. However I always carry my lock picks."

Together they half-dragged, half-carried the man to the cupboard and locked him in. After having to put up with his struggles Kaito had found it easier to knock him out first to minimise difficulties.

"Hakuba, are you sure that you want to go through with this?" Kaito asked because he didn't want to risk anyone else getting harmed and have their life ruined because of him.

"It wouldn't be fair to arrest you without knowing your entire story and agenda," he answered promptly as if it was a silly question to ask and stopped walking as the corridor split off into two directions.

"Well this is where we part. In case it all goes wrong and I die, I'll just say good bye here and thank you for being a formidable opponent. Thanks Hakuba."

He followed the corridor to the left and walked off without a backward glance. Hakuba waited until he was out of sight to reply softly.

"Thank you Kuroba for the exact same thing."

Sorry for the slight lag in updates my first week of Work Experience was very tiring and I didn't feel very creative, but I tried to keep my mind on this and write this so it might not be that good as I am still very exhausted and behind on sleep.