The Travelers Chronicles Chapter 4: Phantom Thieves, a detective conan/case closed fanfic

A.N: Well, I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but here it is anyway!

Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK or DNA [This is the only story I've ever written where the disclaimer is different every chapter ^^]

Notes:

Chapter Length: Okay, the verdict is in and it seems just about everyone prefers the one world per chapter format, so that's how it'll stay. However, if I ever do decide to do more than one adventure on the same world, they may end up in separate chapters.

The Belt: I know the balls are only supposed to last ten seconds or so, but let's say Agasa made a version that lasts a little longer.

: . . .: means thought-speech.

4: Phantom Thieves

(World 4: D.N. Angel)

"That was close," Kaito noted, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. All around him the night had been replaced by pale rays of sunlight and the ground had sprouted a lush covering of neatly trimmed grass. Getting to his feet, he took a moment to breathe (and marvel at the fact that his leap hadn't resulted in a face to face introduction to any unyielding surfaces) before casting a glance around the clearing he'd landed in. He expected to see the detective, probably examining his leg, but the clearing was deserted. The only living creature other than himself that wasn't a plant was a small, brown rabbit who was staring at him with large, dark eyes.

Tearing his eyes away from the petrified bunny, he focused on the distant outline of buildings. Well, at least he knew in which way civilization lay. It didn't however tell him where his wayward companion was.

And Shinichi was injured. How badly, he didn't know, but wounds didn't have to be fatal to cause irreparable damage, especially if they weren't tended to properly. Speaking of injures, he should probably deal with his own before he did anything else. Thankfully it was fairly shallow (it had already stopped bleeding). He also had bandages on him and water in the wizards' box.

Well, first things first. Deal with the wound and swap his clothes so that he didn't scare people later, then he could find Shinichi.

The moment the world around him steadied Shinichi collapsed to the ground in mixed relief and exhaustion. He winced as pain shot up his left leg. The wound hadn't really registered when it had happened, he'd been more focused on the fact that he had to either move or get shot again, but now that the immediate threat of death was gone it was making itself known with a vengeance. Shifting as best he could into a sitting position, he almost groaned out loud when he realized that he was actually sitting in front of someone's house—almost on the doorstep in fact. He could only imagine what the house's occupants were going to think when they came out to find him there with blood all over his clothes.

Praying fervently that no one would come outside before he'd managed to vacate the premises, he began the slow and painful process of getting to his feet.

Luck had never been his strong suit (except maybe when it came to surviving—that was one department where he was almost supernaturally fortunate).

The door behind him opened and a red haired boy came running out. The boy in question had his face turned back towards the house as he called goodbye to someone inside and he didn't see Shinichi in his way. An instant later two cries—one pained, one surprised—shattered the early morning calm.

Shinichi groaned. This just wasn't his day.

"Oh my god!" someone was shouting somewhere over his head. "Mom! Dad! Grandpa! Come quick!"

Soon one voice morphed into three, then four, and he was being carried into the house. That was a surprise (though whether it was a good one or a bad one he couldn't tell yet). He'd expected either the police or an ambulance. On the other hand, it seemed these people had some medical knowledge.

There was, Kaito mused, definitely a checklist forming somewhere in his mind. Language sat somewhere at the top of that list. This city, wherever it was, spoke Japanese (which was making asking around to see if anyone had seen Shinichi a lot easier. It also helped that he could just point at himself when they asked what his missing companion looked like), so he tucked his translator away for the time being. No one so far had any leads for him though. Hopefully Aome was having more luck than he was.

Shelter was another high priority subject, especially since he didn't think Shinichi—once he'd found him—should be moving about too much for at least the next several days. They could always camp out if necessary, but camping out with bullet wounds didn't sound appealing when they might have a choice about it. And that was why, when his eyes landed on the advertisement in the jewelry shop window, he turned without a second thought and walked inside to the soft tinkle of shop bells.

A tall, hawk-like woman at the counter looked up as he approached, adjusting her glasses with bony fingers. "May I help you?"

"Are you still looking to hire an assistant?" he asked, gesturing to the back of the poster in the window.

"Ah, yes." Her eyes lit up and she studied him for a moment before fishing a gray box out of a drawer behind the counter. Opening it, she fished out a ring and handed it to him. "Tell me about it."

The magician's eyebrows rose at the abrupt request before he turned his attention to the ring.

"Fourteen karat diamond, platinum setting," he rattled off, turning the ring over in his hands. "Well cut, but somewhat lacking in clarity."

The woman snatched the ring from him before he could say any more and handed him a green, dragon-shaped pendant.

"Jade, but it's had its natural color artificially enhanced."

"Good, good," she murmured, snatching the pendant away too and producing yet another piece of jewelry. They repeated the process another two dozen times with various pieces ranging in value from average to star-businessmen-only. By the end of the session the woman was beaming like someone whose birthday had come early and Kaito was feeling a bit bemused. This was one strange lady.

"Perfect!" she declared finally. "If you bring all your papers in by this evening and everything checks out you can start work tomorrow. Your duties will include helping me catalogue new items and dealing with potential customers. Payment is calculated depending on how business goes. How about it?"

"You've got a deal," the magician laughed. The lady's enthusiasm was almost as infectious as his own. "Can I drop off the paperwork if I come back this afternoon?"

"Of course. I'll be here until seven."

"Great. See you later then." That had been unexpectedly easy. People around here sure were trusting. Not that he was complaining. He paused by the door, turning back to his soon-to-be boss. "Oh, by the way, have you ever heard of KID the Phantom Thief?"

She gave him a puzzled look. "Who?"

"Never mind." The magician mentally checked off the next box on his list for world profiling. Still not home yet—though he supposed he'd seen enough of this place to have guessed that much. About to leave, he was caught by surprise as the lady continued speaking.

"I have heard of Phantom Thief Dark though. Is that who you're talking about?"

"Would you like something to drink? Is orange juice all right? Here, I'll go get some."

Shinichi watched as the woman bustled off into the kitchen, leaving him alone with the red-haired boy who had knocked him down before. The boy's father had been sent to the store for more medical supplies and the grandfather had disappeared at the insistent pecking of a plump, blue bird some minutes ago, muttering something about needing to check a few things.

"So . . .uh . . .what happened to you?" the redhead asked after a long moment of uncomfortable silence in which the sound of his mother in the kitchen filled their ears. He was still looking guilty over having run into the detective despite having apologized multiple times already.

"I—got mugged," Shinichi hazarded, spitting out the first possibility that came to mind.

The boy's red eyes widened in sympathy. "That's awful. What did they take? Do you want us to call the police?"

"I didn't really have anything important on me," Shinichi hastened to explain, beginning to feel guilty himself. "And I didn't see their faces so I doubt the police would be much help . . . I'm Kudo Shinichi, by the way. Thank you, I really appreciate all the help."

The boy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment but he relaxed. "Niwa Daisuke. It's nice to meet you. And I'm glad we could help. If you need anything else, just ask."

Shinichi smiled, wondering if everyone in this world was this kind to strangers met under such strange circumstances. "I don't suppose you've seen someone around who looks a bit like me?" He hadn't had time to get a good look around for Kaito before the Niwas had taken him inside.

Daisuke frowned slightly. "I don't think so. Is he a relative of yours?"

"A friend. He was with me earlier but I lost track of him."

"Well, if you have his phone number we could try calling him."

"Uh, he doesn't have a phone . . . We kind of just moved here," he added.

"Daisuke!" Mrs. Niwa exclaimed as she came back into the living room with a glass of orange juice in one hand and a plate of apples in the other. "What are you still doing here? School started fifteen minutes ago!"

The boy froze for a moment before leaping to his feet with a horrified cry. Gabbling out a quick farewell, he grabbed the book bag he'd discarded earlier and bolted for the door. His mother watched him go with a smile and a laugh. Once he was gone, she turned back to Shinichi and handed him the juice.

"Here you go. I heard you tell Dai you just moved here, right? How do we contact your family? I'm sure they're worried about you."

The question sent a pang through his chest but he pushed it to the back of his mind. "I'm actually here with the friend I was telling Niwa-kun about. I'm not sure how—" He cut himself off as he caught sight of motion outside of the window. That looked like . . . "Excuse me Niwa-san, but could you please open the window?"

The woman blinked in surprise but did as he had asked. A moment later she let out a cry of surprise as a small, white bird streaked past her. Shinichi reached out automatically and the bird latched onto his fingers with an almost painfully tight grip. Once there, she began to titter at him, sounding rather agitated.

"Whoa, calm down," he said, holding her closer in an attempt to soothe her obviously frazzled nerves. It seemed to work and a few seconds later she stopped trying to cut off the flow of blood through his fingers. "Is Kaito all right?"

Blue eyes peered up at him before Aome bobbed her head. A sigh of relief escaped the detective and he relaxed muscles he hadn't realized he'd tensed. For a moment he'd been afraid that the bird's frantic arrival had meant the magician was in trouble.

"Oh it's adorable!"

Both bird and detective started and looked around to find the lady of the house hovering over them, her hands clasped in delight. "Is it yours? Does it have a name? I've never seen a dove with eyes that color before! It is a dove, right?"

"Well . . ." Shinichi glanced down at Aome again. He'd always assumed she was a dove, all considered she bore a great resemblance to the rest of Kaito's flock, but now that he thought about it he wasn't actually sure. Did monsters fit into everyday species labels? "I think so. I'm not really an expert on birds. Her name's Aome." The bird in question chirped a greeting, making the woman's smile widen in delight.

"Was she waiting for you outside this whole time?"

"No, she was with my friend. He must have sent her out to look for me."

"Really? I didn't know doves could be trained to do that."

Shinichi laughed. "Kaito's a magician. I've seen him do some amazing things with his birds. You'd be surprised what they can be trained to do."

"I'd love to see that," she mused, eyes bright. "Does that mean she can tell your friend where you are?" Aome fluttered her wings at the question and the woman chuckled. "Aww, it's almost like she understands what we're saying!"

"Sometimes I'm almost sure she does," Shinichi replied, mentally sheering the 'almost' out of the sentence. There was no doubt left in his mind these days that the bird could do just that. Saying so would probably have made him sound crazy though. "Aome, could you let Kaito know where I am?"

Both humans watched as the dove took flight once more, cutting a graceful path through the room and out into the open sky. The sight made Shinichi feel oddly at peace, as though he could almost read the promise in its unfettered motion that everything was going to be all right. Not just now, but for as long as the world could hold such a beautiful sight as a bird soaring free against the clear, blue sky.

Kaito was starting to get worried. He'd run around what felt like half this city and there was still no sign of his missing companion. He'd even found the city hospital and asked around there before winding up at the library where he'd gone through all the aisles before taking a break at one of the library computers. The technology in this world didn't seem quite as advanced as the technology back home, but that just made the things he had to do easier.

He was just debating whether he should go to the local police station and ask for Shinichi there when Aome finally returned. She landed a bit more heavily on his outstretched hand than she usually did (tired perhaps?) but her happy coos told him all he needed to know.

"It seems your luck was better than mine today huh," he remarked, stroking her head lightly with a finger. "That's an impressive feat in itself you know. Would you like to show me the way now or do you want to rest a bit? No? All right, let's go then."

He was mildly surprised to find himself being directed down a street he'd passed several times earlier in the day until Aome turned her blue gaze to a particular door. Well, that would certainly explain why he hadn't seen Shinichi. It hadn't crossed his mind that he might have to look inside people's private homes (unless someone in those homes was screaming about materializing people, which no one had). Aome seemed pretty sure of herself though so he knocked on the door.

"It's open!" a woman's voice called from inside.

Marveling again at the oddly careless attitude the people here seemed to have about strangers, he opened the door and stepped inside.

It was pure instinct that had him up in the air moments before the floor beneath his feet gave way. Aome gave out a shrill cry as she was nearly flung off of his shoulder by the sudden movement. There was a gasp from farther inside the house then a woman with short, honey colored hair appeared in the front hall just on the other side of the trapdoor he'd almost fallen through.

"Oh my, I must have turned it on when Dai left without even realizing," she said, giggling at the realization before she spied the boy up in the corner of the ceiling over the door. "Eh? Who're you?" Then her eyes landed on Aome and they lit up with understanding. "Ah, you must be Kudo-kun's friend! We've been waiting for you! I'm so sorry about the floor. Here, just let me close it up for you."

"No need," Kaito said before the woman could move. Calculating the distance with his eyes, he pushed away from his perch and landed lightly on the other side of the hole in the floor. Once there he offered the surprised woman a sweeping bow. A rose appeared in his hand and he offered it to her with a grin. "I'm Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire! Thank you for looking after my friend."

"It was no trouble at all," she said, beaming if slightly flustered. She'd never met anyone quite like this young man before, she noted with some delight (and maybe a bit of surprise too. This Kaito really did look a lot like her other guest, if maybe a little taller and wilder around the edges). "Right this way. Sorry again about the trapdoor, but I must say you handled it really well. Oh I forgot to introduce myself didn't I? I'm Niwa Emiko—just call me Emiko. And here we are! Kudo-kun, your friend is here."

Shinichi looked up to see Kaito with a rather bemused look on his face. The expression vanished the moment he spied the detective however and he disappeared in a cloud of smoke to reappear next to the couch, earning a startled exclamation from their host.

"How's your leg?" he asked, leaning over for a better look. Someone had obviously done a good job tending and bandaging the wound.

"It grazed the bone but nothing's broken. Really it looks worse than it is." Shinichi frowned, catching a glimpse of bandages peeking out from under Kaito's collar. "Your shoulder—"

"Just a flesh wound," the magician assured him. "So can you walk? We should get going before we wear out our welcome."

"Oh, that's all right," Emiko interjected. "You're welcome to stay longer."

"Thank you, but we shouldn't impose," Shinichi replied, swinging his legs over the edge of the couch and gingerly standing up. Biting back a hiss as a stab of pain shot up his leg, he turned to Kaito. "I can walk, but I'm not sure for how long."

"It isn't far."

Both boys thanked their host again before heading out the door, followed by her invitation to visit again soon. The moment they were outside, Shinichi shot the magician a puzzled look.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Well you see, while I was running all over town this morning I found a small apartment not far from here that was up for rent. The landlord was willing to waive our first two payments as long as we cleaned and fixed the place up."

"Are you serious?" The detective couldn't keep the incredulity out of his voice.

By now the thief was wearing a rather self-satisfied smirk. "Completely. Lady Luck's always smiled on me, if I do say so myself."

" . . .Right . . . So what else have you been up to?"

"Looking for you mostly, but I think I got a pretty good feel for this place while I was at it. We're still not home yet—though you probably knew that already. But get this, there's a famous thief in this world too—"

"Oh lord . . ."

"—Calls himself Dark or something like that. They speak Japanese, but the city looks more European to me. Otherwise it seems fairly normal. How about you? Anything happen while I was away?"

"No. I've been at the Niwas' since we got here. Though I've been thinking—"

"Are you ever not?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Shut up and listen for a moment, will you? We need to stock up on supplies since we didn't get to before we left that last world, but I've been thinking and even if the money we do have works here, I'm not sure if leaving otherworldly money scattered throughout the universes is a good idea."

"Yeah, we'd probably be arrested for counterfeiting eventually."

" . . .I was thinking more along the lines of it possibly interfering with their currency flow, but I guess the results would be similar to having counterfeit bills floating around."

"Exactly, which is why I'm starting work tomorrow."

"What?" The detective turned to stare at him.

The magician laughed. "I saw this help-wanted ad earlier and thought I'd try for it. Had to do a little hacking to get my papers to check out, but they like me."

"Okay . . .so who's 'they' exactly?"

"It's a jewelry shop downtown. Owner's an interesting lady."

Shinichi walked for a moment in silence, imagining Kaito behind the counter in a jewelry shop. For some reason the Kaito in his mental image kept insisting on turning into Kaitou KID. He shook the image away. It was just—too wrong to even contemplate. On the flip side, no one could say that Kaito didn't have the knowledge to qualify for the job. And from what he'd come to know of the magician he could probably sell anything to anyone.

Now there was a frightening thought.

Kaito kept a careful eye on the detective as he led the way through the city streets. He would have offered to carry the other teen if he wasn't fairly sure the detective would be greatly offended, sensible suggestion or no (admittedly, he wouldn't have bothered with asking if he didn't think his own shoulder injury might act up if the detective struggled, which he no doubt would). Sometimes he really lamented how illogically stubborn most of the people he knew could be. Or he would lament it if it didn't make them so much more interesting to play with.

Ugh, he was really starting to miss his heists. It hadn't been an issue before since he'd been focused on all the new things to see and explore on top of the more immediate problems like shelter and finding out what in the world was going on, but hearing that this world had its own phantom thief was really making him itch. He wondered idly if this was some form of home sickness—the desire for a familiar pastime he'd always had fun with.

Well, there would be time to think about that later.

"This place is a mess."

"Yeah, well, I was kind of expecting that if the owner is willing to trade money payments for us cleaning the place."

"It looks like a family of tornados lived here. With frequent visits from Cousin Dust Devil." Letting out a tired sigh, Shinichi sank onto the couch, grimacing a bit at the dust that puffed up around him at the motion. This place didn't need cleaning, he thought, so much as it needed to be knocked down and rebuilt. Exhaustion was pulling at his eyelids and all he really wanted to do was sleep, but he'd probably suffocate if he tried amidst all this dust. He was also in desperate need of a change of clothes, but again the current surroundings rendered changing pointless. No clothes could stay clean in his mess. The next best thing would have been a really, really, really big mug of piping hot coffee, but that was equally, if not more, out of reach. He sighed. "We really should open the windows."

"And eat something," Kaito agreed, tossing the small, black wizards' box to him. "I'm starving. How 'bout I open the windows and you see what we've got left in there?"

It was probably, by far, the least glamorous introduction a person could possibly have to a new world, but it was a beginning nonetheless. At least this place seemed peaceful.

"I need to make a quick trip to drop off the rest of my paperwork," Kaito announced when they'd finished their ragtag meal. "Are you going to be all right if I leave you here?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "I've been living on my own since I was fourteen. I think I can handle being here by myself for a few hours." He sighed, glancing around at the less than welcoming apartment. Being alone wasn't going to be an issue, he was fairly used to that, but he was probably going to end up bored out of his mind unless he could manage to sleep despite the dust. "I don't suppose you have a book stashed away somewhere that I could borrow?"

"No, can't say I do," Kaito replied, sounding a bit apologetic (like he should have had one). "Although . . ." he continued, a sudden thought lighting his eyes as he snapped his fingers, conjuring a sheaf of paper which he dropped into the detective's lap. "I do have this!"

Curious, Shinichi picked up the paper and turned it over. He blinked.

"Is this a heist notice?" he asked incredulously.

Kaito grinned with a touch of regret. "Yep, was supposed to be for my next heist, but well, then all this happened."

"And you're giving it to me because . . .?"

"You wanted something to stave off boredom, right?"

Shinichi blinked again, processing the query, then laughed. Feeling oddly light but in a good, warm sort of way, he turned his attention back to the note. "Thank you."

The thief's grin softened into a smile though the detective couldn't see it. "No problem. At least this way my efforts aren't going to waste. I'll write you another one when I get back. Hopefully the wind will have carried off enough of this free-floating dust by then for us to breathe properly."

Niwa Daiskue slipped off his shoes and peeked into the living room, expecting to see the teenager he'd knocked over that morning. Finding no one, he blinked in surprise before making his way into the kitchen.

"Hello Dai," his mom greeted him, cheerful as ever. "How was school?"

"It was okay," the boy replied. "Uh, so where did—"

"Kudo-kun go? Don't worry, his friend came to pick him up."

"That's good." Smiling, the redhead was about to head back upstairs when his mother stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Surprised, he looked up to find her smiling brightly.

"You have another job tonight," she told him, excitement dancing in her eyes.

The boy's eyes widened and he squawked, "What? But it's only been three days since the last one!"

"You'll be leaving in an hour," she continued without pause. "So you'd better go get ready~!"

"Does this have something to do with that disturbance you and Grandpa mentioned this morning?"

"Oh no, not at all. You'll be going after the Eye of Shrines. I'm sure you've seen it on the news. Now go on, time is ticking!"

The boy let out a longsuffering sigh but he was too used to this scenario and knew protesting would be futile. An hour later he stood in the middle of his room and held up a photograph of a girl with brown hair and brown eyes. In moments red hair bled to purple as the spirit that dwelled in Niwa Daisuke's DNA surfaced. Not long after that the thief who called himself Dark was making his way through the night sky on pitch black wings.

Inspector Yagi looked from the application on his desk to the teenage boy sitting across from him. Was the rest of the precinct playing some kind of joke on him? Seriously, he knew there was one kid working with the police these days, but that was a special case. Hiwatari Satoshi's father was a high ranking officer after all. But this boy . . . He claimed to have experience, albeit unofficial, but honestly, he'd never been through their training program (and hadn't even asked to participate in it). Well, he'd go along with it for now and see who came to laugh at him later.

"So . . .how old did you say you were again?"

"Eighteen," the boy replied, looking him straight in the eyes and sounding like there was nothing at all odd about this situation. Like he really was interviewing and intended to get a job. Whoever was pulling this prank, the inspector thought, they'd found a damned good actor for it. Well, he had a few tricks up his own sleeves too.

Pulling out a drawer, he extracted a set of files and set them on the desk between himself and the boy. "Your grasp of procedure is very thorough, but I've always felt the ability to regurgitate facts and rules can't really tell me if a person is prepared for this kind of work or not. So you see these? These are the various pieces of information we had regarding five different cases. They've all been solved already, but I want you to take a look and tell me what you think."

The boy took the file without hesitation and began flipping through the information. His face showed only intense concentration despite the handful of somewhat gruesome photographs the inspector knew were in that folder. What was up with this kid? Even some of the older officers would have flinched upon seeing those for the first time. Twenty minutes later the inspector could only gape. Five old cases. Every last one solved like—like—well, like they had the answers written all over them (which he knew for a fact wasn't true). And he remembered some of those cases! It had taken days to solve most of them! This had to be some kind of crazy fluke. Someone must have given the boy answers, but how? Or maybe the boy was one of those people who liked reading old newspapers? Ugh, these kinds of things just weren't supposed to happen. People were supposed to complete the training program and be sent to them. They weren't supposed to come walking in looking for a job! Especially not a job as a police detective. On the other hand, if this wasn't some grand prank and this kid really could—but no, he couldn't think like that. Not without some good, hard proof anyway.

"Come with me," he said abruptly, getting to his feet and making for the door. The boy gave him a confused look but obliged.

For his part, Shinichi was mentally praying that Kaito's hacking and assorted other related skills were as good as he claimed they were (and feeling guilty that he was wishing anything of the sort, but there wasn't any help for it). If they did notice, he'd probably end up spending the rest of his time in this world in jail. It was not a pleasant idea. At least he knew Kaito was thorough. He himself had spent the last few days ensconced in the local library giving himself a crash course in local laws and history. It had had the added bonus of taking his mind off of his healing leg injury. He'd never been the most patient of patients, but it helped to have something productive to do (that wasn't cleaning—oh god the cleaning . . . He so did not need to be thinking about that right now).

Inspector Yagi led the way out of the station, one eye trained on the faces of every officer they passed in search of any telltale signs of a prankster. All the faces he saw however exhibited only curiosity. It was definitely starting to look less and less like a hoax . . .

Well, he'd hold off on any further judgment until he'd gotten the boy on an actual crime scene and seen how he handled himself. Unorthodox as the whole thing was, if he could really solve cases like the ones in that folder as quickly as he had then Yagi himself would recommend him. It wasn't every day you ran across someone with that kind of talent.

The apartment door creaked as Shinichi pushed it open, reminding him that they should probably look for some oil for the hinges. Locking the door behind himself, he deposited his keys on the kitchen table and glanced around the house. Where to begin today . . .

He'd mentally divided the apartment up into numerous smaller sectors and made it a goal to clean at least one sector a day. Kaito helped when he had the time, but the shop he'd gotten himself hired by was apparently a fairly busy one so Shinichi had taken it upon himself to at least make the place feel livable. Yet even after all the work he'd put into it the place was still . . .well . . . It was probably best just to say that it wasn't the kind of place you'd invite friends to. Or at least not friends you wanted to keep.

At least he'd only found the one dead rat.

He'd gotten the kitchen in working order first. It had struck him as the most important since there was no way eating anything made or kept in it in its former state could have been healthy. The last thing they needed was to add to their already complicated situation by getting sick. For similar reasons he'd cleaned the bathroom after that. Now most of the living room was decent (they'd been sleeping on the moth-eaten couches), so perhaps he should go ahead and finish cleaning that room out.

Arming himself with the vacuum cleaner the landlord had provided, he made his way into the living room and turned it on. The noise masked the sound of the front door opening and closing.

"So how did it go?"

Shinichi jumped, smacking the head of the vacuum into the table he'd been vacuuming under, and looked around to see Kaito. His thoughts were momentarily derailed when he noticed the dove sitting on the magician's head. Apparently Kaito's hair looked like a bird's nest because it really did have the occasional bird nesting in it. Pulling his thoughts back to the present, he turned the setting on the vacuum down so that it wasn't as noisy.

"They've agreed to take me on for a trial period, but they keep looking at me like they're expecting me to turn around and say I'm kidding." He made an exasperated face at the memory. It seemed he just couldn't get away from all the skepticism no matter what world he was in. It was like being Conan again only worse because he couldn't borrow a more authoritative voice to get people to listen to what he had to say. But he supposed it was at least less awkward than the last few weeks he'd been spending back home trying to 'reacquaint' himself with the Beika police (having to interact with people he'd come to know so well as Conan like they were near strangers was far more taxing than he'd care to admit—not that there were many people to tell). "How about you?"

"Business as usual. Sales were particularly bountiful today. I even got a bonus, so I thought I'd pick up some groceries and—ah yes, here it is! This is for you!"

Shinichi looked dubiously from the object that had just been flourished then shoved into his hands to the magician and back again. "An alarm clock?"

Kaito only grinned. "This apartment doesn't have any timekeeping devises. And we wouldn't want you to be late to work now, would we?"

" . . .Why do I feel like you're implying I would be late without this thing?"

"Just five more minutes Ran-neechan," the magician recited, mimicking Shinichi's voice complete with sleep induced slur.

Shinichi flushed red in embarrassment. Ducking his head in an attempt to hide it, he turned his back on the snickering magician.

"It's not easy growing up ten years again in a day you know," he muttered, turning the vacuum's power back up. "I would appreciate it if you didn't rub it in my face."

Kaito stopped laughing. There had been more than a hint of bitterness in that sentiment (probably more than his companion had meant to let slip). And he found himself feeling a little guilty—something he almost never was. He hadn't meant to poke at what was apparently an open wound.

"I'm sorry," he said finally, watching as Shinichi poked the head of the vacuum into a particularly unpleasant looking corner behind the pot of withered plants they hadn't found time yet to evacuate.

Shinichi stilled in his work for a moment, glancing up at something only he could see, then sighed and resumed his assault on the dust bunnies. "It's all right. It's my problem anyway. Just forget about it."

The weary note in the detective's voice left Kaito feeling oddly unsettled. It occurred to him that while he knew the general story of his companion's rather bizarre recent years of life, he had never considered what kinds of marks it might have left.

"I'm gonna go drag those mattresses from the back room out to sun and see if there's anything living in them," he announced before retreating to the hall to grab several garbage bags just in case he really did find something unsavory. He had a lot to think about.

"Dark's sent another warning letter!"

"Dark?" Shinichi repeated, turning a puzzled look to the officer nearest him. He seemed to recall Kaito mentioning that name before. If he remembered correctly, it had been when he'd mentioned—oh no . . . "Who's that?"

The officer gave him an incredulous look. "Dark the Phantom Thief? Flies and steals works of art?"

"Oh, I do remember hearing something about him."

Yep, so he'd remembered correctly. And of course it'd be too much to ask, especially with his luck, that they not have to cross paths with this world's own infamous thief. Well, at least it wasn't a killer, he thought wryly. Then he paused. Why was he assuming that another thief would have Kaito's principles? That was stupid. KID had always been weird that way. It was one of his quirks, like returning the things he stole (which was definitely an abnormal trait in thieves of any kind).

Well, there was one way to know for sure. He was starting to become very well acquainted with this city library.

An hour or so of research later he felt he could be confident in saying that his fears had been misplaced. This thief wasn't known to hurt people either, even if it wasn't a stated policy. From what Shinichi had read this Dark's heists were a lot more straight forward than Kaito's (not that that was hard). There were no riddles and no traps. Just a simple notice and a theft (permanent). Or at least that was how most of the reports came across. There were a few mentions here and there of odd happenings, but nothing concrete. The one really abnormal thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that this thief sometimes had wings. Not the glider kind like Kaito's, but real, honest to goodness wings.

He wasn't sure if he believed these reports, but lately he'd learned to hold off on the judgment when it came to what could be real and what couldn't.

Still, despite the lack of flash and flare Dark had a lot of fans and was purportedly rather cocky. It kind of made a person wonder. Was there some kind of unwritten law of the universes that all phantom thieves have big egos? And that they somehow be wildly popular despite the fact? It was definitely one of those mysteries of existence he'd never understand.

"Kudo-kun! It's time to leave."

"Well, here goes nothing," he sighed, dropping the last newspaper he'd borrowed onto the table and trailing after the departing police. He wasn't even sure why they had asked him to come along except that they seemed to be going for the 'the more the merrier' approach.

Dark frowned. The police were being sharper today than they usually were while the Hiwatari kid was out of town and he'd wondered for a few minutes if perhaps the boy had come back unannounced (it wouldn't be the first time), but at the same time the force wasn't as organized as they would have been had that been the case. It felt more like someone had maybe gone around before the heist and pointed out places and things the police should pay attention to. And done a damned good job at it too. Still, unorganized was still unorganized.

He was on his way out, ring in hand, when the oddly familiar voice called out.

"So you're Dark. I was wondering, is there a reason you feel no need to hide your face?"

"Why bother?" Turning, the thief's eyebrows rose. :Hey Daisuke, isn't that the guy you ran over the other morning?:

:I didn't run over him,: his alter ego protested. :But yeah, it is . . . I wonder what he's doing here.:

:Seems to me like he's working with the police.:

Dark waited, curious to see what the boy would do.

He was not expecting the soccer ball that popped out of what looked like nowhere to come spinning towards his face. What the hell?

Unexpected as it was, Dark wouldn't have been the thief he was if he couldn't deal with surprises. He twisted out of the way and the black and white projectile missed him by a hair. He saw it hit one of the museum's pillars out of the corner of his eye and ducked as it rebounded to come at him again. The Kudo boy spun as his own ball reached him, catching it with a kick for a second launch.

This could go on forever, the thief thought, torn between exasperation and amusement at this weird, weird duel. Weaving around the second volley, he fetched up right in front of the startled teen and deflected the ball from its attempt to return to its master as he mentally called out for his familiar. An instant later black wings snapped out and Kudo stumbled back, eyes wide with surprise.

"I think there's probably a rule somewhere about playing recreational sports inside museums," he remarked before taking off with two beats of his wings.

It wasn't until he'd flown out the window he'd left open that he noticed something was missing. He flapped his wings, coming to an almost standstill in midair as he checked all his pockets. Nothing.

For a moment he hovered there, torn between disbelief and indignation, then the indignation won and he swore out loud.

"That kid must have taken it when I was dealing with the soccer ball." The nerve! And he'd been too busy being amused by said ball to notice. Great. Last time he was ever making that mistake. It was the first time he'd ever actually failed to leave with his target. Or it would be if he allowed it. No way was he leaving without that ring! Scowling, he doubled back under the searchlights, his dark clothes and wings blending him into the night. He didn't usually use magic when dealing with opponents who didn't use it themselves, but he'd make an exception for this.

Shinichi turned the ring over in his hands as he made his way through the museum's deserted halls. It was solid gold, true, but unadorned and of a fairly simple design. Why had it been targeted? From what he'd heard, nothing Dark had ever stolen had ever showed up on the markets, legal or illegal. In fact they were generally never seen again.

Was he just some kind of art fanatic? Or was there something more to it?

A soft rustle caught his attention and he stopped walking. Looking carefully into each shadow around him he found nothing out of the ordinary. It had been a quiet sound though so maybe he'd imagined it. Turning back in the direction of the main entrance, he stopped abruptly. There was something drifting slowly down through the air. On an impulse he reached out and caught it—

"Kudo-kun! Kudo-kun, are you all right?"

Shinichi blinked slowly. He was looking up into one of the officer's worried faces. The man helped him into a sitting position and he realized that he had been lying on the museum floor.

"What happened?" he wondered aloud, confused.

"He must have knocked you out. Can you walk all right?"

"I . . .yeah." Getting to his feet, Shinichi trailed after the officer in a slight daze.

He knew he hadn't been hit. His head didn't hurt. Gas maybe?

The last thing he remembered was a black feather floating down from the ceiling. Then . . .nothing.

"You were where?"

"At the heist. And why do you keep asking? I've only told you like ten times already."

"But I thought you only do homicide cases!"

Shinichi gave him a look. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Of course not, but that's different!"

Now Shinichi had to stare. He'd never seen the magician so obviously irritated. "What's gotten into you? They hired me. If they want me at a heist, I kind of have to go. Though I'm still not sure why they wanted me there."

The magician shot him a dark look before disappearing into the kitchen without another word, leaving Shinichi more than a little confused. Deciding it was just easier to file it under the many things about the magician that would probably never make any sense to anyone but the man himself, he picked up his coffee mug and inhaled deeply. Ah coffee, he thought happily, the saving grace for weary souls.

Kaito stood in the kitchen, drumming his fingers on the counter as he mulled over recent events. He had never liked sharing the spotlight, and this felt an awful lot like being upstaged. Not, of course, that he'd even been there, but still . . .

His thoughts were interrupted by a tapping noise from the window over the sink. Turning, he found a familiar, white shape perched on the outside sill. A smile made its way onto his face as he opened the window and let the Duel Monster inside. Aome hopped onto the window's inner sill the moment the intervening glass was gone and dropped a glossy pamphlet into the magician's waiting hands with a happy coo.

"It's good to see you too," he told her, offering her a grape from the nearest grocery bag.

He glanced over the pamphlet halfheartedly, mind still occupied with his earlier unsettled feelings, then paused and stared at it for a long moment before a grin slowly spread itself across his face.

"Oh Shinichi~," he sang out as he made a beeline for the living room.

The detective jerked around in his seat, nearly spilling his coffee, and stared warily at the grinning magician. Kaito rarely ever called him by name (he seemed to have some kind of obsession with nicknames), and that maniacal note in his voice was really putting Shinichi on edge (not to mention the sudden one-eighty in attitude). It kind of made him want to run away really, really fast.

"What is it?" he asked tentatively, not sure he really wanted to know but sure he was going to find out anyway.

Kaito's grin widened impossibly and he dropped the pamphlet into the detective's lap without a word. The detective looked from that slightly creepy grin to the pamphlet. It was an advertisement for an upcoming museum exhibition. And there on the front was a photograph of the leading attraction—a mysterious artifact said to have fallen from the very heavens themselves.

His jaw dropped. "But that's . . ."

"The Angel's Passing Grace, not that they know that." Kaito was beaming, indigo eyes bright with obvious excitement. "I think it's time this world is introduced to the one and only Kaitou KID!"

"Just don't get carried away writing your notice," Shinichi sighed after a long, long moment's pause. "Remember, this world might not have the same mythology and certainly not the same history as ours."

"That, my dear Tantei-kun, is where research comes in."

The following days saw their relatively peaceful existence in this world being turned upside down and inside out. It seemed to Shinichi like maybe Kaito had been bored, this world being fairly normal as worlds seemed to go and him having nothing to do that would actually challenge him. Shinichi at least had cases to work on (it was this thought that stopped Shinichi from pointing out that there would be a lot less hassle if Kaito just slipped in and took their gem with no one being the wiser). And now that the magician had been given the opportunity he was practically bouncing off the walls. It was nice to see him obviously having so much fun. Still, the detective wasn't sure what he was supposed to think about the fact that his housemate was running around planning a heist while he himself sat reading over case files. Sure it was kind of necessary, and he knew the gem in question didn't actually belong to anyone in this world, but it seemed like the universe should rebel at having a detective and a thief literally doing their work side by side in the same room. He could look up from his files to see Kaito pouring over blueprints across the table (where he'd gotten a hold of said blueprints Shinichi had no idea and didn't really want to ask, it would just make everything all that much stranger). He had a momentary freak out when he walked into the apartment one afternoon to see a blond-haired, green-eyed, middle-aged man sitting in the kitchen before the intruder grinned and he realized it was Kaito in disguise (as one of the museum's curators, it turned out), but he was starting to get used to all the hustle and bustle that was Kaito preparing for a heist. Not that it made it any less weird to see a heist from this end of things.

Truth be told part of him was morbidly curious to see how this world would react to being forced to meet Kaitou KID—and a Kaitou KID who seemed hell bent on making up for lost time at that. From what he'd seen it seemed Dark annoyed the police because he always got away, but KID annoyed the police because he went out of his way to do just that before he got away. Kaito might have to work extra hard though if he wanted his tricks to surprise them seeing as their usual thief had real wings and possibly other supernatural powers, but he had a feeling that KID's showman tendencies may surprise the city's police more than his tricks.

That was provided the police realized in time that KID wasn't some upstart wannabe or prank anyway. That part might be a problem . . .

The initial reaction at the police station at the arrival of KID's heist notice had been confusion.

"What the hell is this supposed to be?" Saehara, the man generally in charge of Dark's heists when the person they called Hiwatari wasn't around, had demanded of the officer who had found the card in the mail and delivered it to him.

"I thought maybe it was one of those Dark copycats," the man had replied with a sheepish shrug. "I mean, it wouldn't be the first time, right?"

Shinichi, who had overheard the exchange, coughed into his hand to hide a snort of laughter. He could just imagine Kaito's face if he heard they thought him a mere copycat. To say the magician was territorial about his title and work would be a monstrous understatement (something Shinichi had known long before he came to know the thief personally).

The inspector read it over again and snorted. "It doesn't even make sense! Throw it away or something, we have more important things to deal with than this nonsense."

"But what if it's not nonsense?" the other officer wondered, taking the note back.

"Well, what else could it be?"

"Uh . . .it could be for real . . .?" the slightly confused officer suggested.

"But it doesn't say what this—KID? What kind of name is that?—anyway, it doesn't say what he wants. It's just a bunch of nonsense. Just because whoever it is signed off as a phantom thief doesn't make him one. He'd have to have a goal first."

Unable to just stand by and listen to the bizarre argument anymore (and maybe feeling a little anxiety over how disappointed he was sure Kaito would be if they dismissed him just because they thought the note was a hoax), Shinichi cleared his throat. "It's just a thought, but maybe it's a riddle?"

Both officers turned to him with matching expressions of surprise. Neither had noticed his presence until that point it seemed. "And what makes you say that?"

"Can I see that for a moment?" he asked, holding out his hand. They passed him the note and waited as he read it over.

Kaito had apparently heeded his warning and this notice was much simpler than his usual, even if he hadn't been able to resist making it a riddle. Then again, that was almost a KID trademark these days, so he supposed that was no surprise.

"Well?" Saehara prodded, growing impatient.

"I was just thinking about the name of the lady referred to in that first line . . . If you switch it around a bit, it's actually an anagram for the name of the city art museum."

Two pairs of eyes stared at him then down at the writing on the card. They blinked.

"You're right," the inspector said in mild surprise.

"And then there's this phrase here referring to her treasure: the tear shed in an angel's flight." He gestured to the words in question. "What does that make you think of?"

"Tears . . ." The officer who'd found the note frowned. "I don't think there's anything in the museum right now that has anything to do with either tears or angels."

"But there is that strange stone they found . . ." Inspector Saehara said slowly. "The one that looks like a feather. So perhaps the line is actually referring to what might fall when something like an angel is in flight."

Shinichi watched as the two men bent back over the note with identical frowns of concentration. Well, now that he'd gotten them on the right track, he'd just leave them be and see how it all went. He felt kind of bad both about having given them part of the answer and for not helping them more. It was a strange feeling and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do about it. Wasn't it wrong to withhold information like this? But at the same time he wanted KID to acquire his target. It was only natural, really, since they needed it to move on from this world, but he would be lying if he said that was the only reason.

To some degree he knew, mortifying as it was to admit it even to himself, that he had given the police the information he did because without it the police might have ignored the magician altogether and he knew Kaito would be extremely disappointed if it came to that (and probably proceed to cause mass mayhem in retaliation, but that was beside the point). He wanted Kaito to have fun with this. He deserved it with all the stuff that had been going on. They'd both had more than their fair share of stress after all.

Still, he shouldn't be thinking this way. He was a detective! He shouldn't be rooting for a thief, even if that thief was a friend. At best he should be resigned to the necessity of the situation.

Pushing the bewildering collection of thoughts aside to puzzle over later, he packed up the rest of his work and excused himself. It was getting late.

The city streets flowed with a sluggish tide of people out for an evening stroll or making their ways home from work. He was passing a grocery shop when he spotted a familiar head of bright, red hair coming out.

"Niwa-kun," he greeted the boy who jumped at the sound of his voice and spun around to face him.

"Oh! Uh, hey Kudo-san," the redhead stammered, scratching at the back of his head as he laughed a bit nervously.

Shinichi smiled, wondering why the boy seemed so anxious. "I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye before I left. I really did appreciate the help from you and your family."

"Oh, no, that's okay," Daisuke assured him, visibly relaxing. "Is your leg healed now?" At Shinichi's nod, the boy hefted his grocery bags higher up in his arms. "That's good. Um, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I have to get these to Mom so . . ."

"Better hurry then. Goodbye."

"It was nice seeing you again." With that, the boy started down the street in a half run.

Shinichi watched him go, a bit confused. It was obvious the boy had been unnerved by him, but why? Was it something he'd said? Thinking back, he couldn't recall having said anything that might make a person nervous. Was it his presence then? There didn't seem to be a reason for his presence to make Daisuke nervous either. Buying groceries wasn't anything to be ashamed of after all.

He let out a quiet breath and continued walking. He'd always been taught it was rude not to say hello to someone you knew if you saw them, but perhaps not everyone felt that way. Or maybe it had been something he'd said after all? Being social had never been his strong point, and this world might have some subtle customs he'd somehow violated without knowing. Shaking away the unhelpful thoughts, he turned his attention to what he should make for dinner.

"Hey Shinichi."

"Hmm?"

"Why don't we go watch a movie?"

Shinichi paused for a moment in his perusal of the papers then looked up at the magician in puzzlement. "Why?"

"Think about it. This is a different world, so there's bound to be movies here we can't see back home."

"But why do you suddenly want to go watch a movie?" the detective prodded, still confused. "Shouldn't you be putting the finishing touches on your plans or something?"

"Nah, everything's just about done. I just thought we should do something normal for once since in all likelihood we'll be leaving soon. You know, relax, look around, and have some fun. I mean, so far we've always done everything in order to get by and find our translocater. I say it's about time we do something just for the sake of it—call it experiencing. Come on, it'll be interesting."

"I . . .guess I wouldn't mind."

"Oh, and I wanted to swing by the museum one last time before the show. And make sure they understand they can't ignore me," he added as an afterthought.

"What does that mean?"

"Hmm? What does what mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about," he insisted, beginning to feel the first tendrils of anxiety at the non-answers and what they might mean. "That last bit. What are you going to do?"

"It's a surprise~!"

" . . ."

"Besides, weren't you the one who said they might not be taking me seriously?"

"True, but I know for a fact the police have finished decoding your note."

"Ah but the police aren't the only ones I have to convince, are they? There's the rest of my audience to consider! I'm going to make sure every biped in this city has its eyes open when the curtains go up."

And he probably would too, Shinichi thought a bit ruefully. Hopefully whatever he had planned wouldn't cause too much trouble.

It was weird, this sense of peace. And it made him wonder that he should find peace to be strange. That said a lot about his life, he supposed, little of it good. He couldn't remember the last time he'd just spent a day hanging out with friends, just going to the movies, the arcade, eating . . . Usually when he did he'd inevitably end up at a crime scene and any hope of a 'normal day out' went up in smoke. It happened so often that it had become his normal, even if people like Ran kept reminding him it wasn't.

But they'd watched the movie, eaten lunch, visited a bookstore, and been to an arcade all without anyone getting killed. It felt . . .weird. But not in a bad way.

"You know, you really suck at video games."

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Shinichi rolled his eyes at the magician. "Thanks, I needed you to tell me that."

The two of them had stopped for dinner on their way home at a café they had discovered offered fairly decent meals for nice, low prices. The sky had already grown dark but the fact that it was the weekend meant that the streets were still as lively as they had been during midday.

Leaning back in his seat, Kaito idly twirled a spoon through his fingers, drawing silver shapes in the air. "We've been traveling for nearly three months."

Shinichi nodded slowly. "That sounds about right."

"I never did like school much, but you know, we're missing graduation and college entrance exams."

"Yeah . . ." Grimacing, Shinichi closed his eyes for a moment, speaking more to himself than to Kaito. "And I still feel like I'm supposed to be finishing my first year of high school."

"I see . . . I suppose that would be a bit confusing," the magician mused. "Was your school letting you graduate this year?"

"It took a lot of work, but they did agree since I scored well on the exit exams. Though I think they'll probably have changed their minds by now."

"Or they might not have. You should learn to look on the bright side, Tantei-kun. I could have sworn I'd already told you that."

"Many times."

"Should work on those listening skills~."

" . . ."

"I wonder what they're doing back home. Mom's probably worried sick." His grin faded a little at the thought. He hated worrying her, but he'd chosen a path where he couldn't avoid doing so and he knew that, given the choice, he'd choose it again. Sometimes that made him feel a touch guilty, but not enough to change his mind. "Knowing Aoko, she probably has Hakuba and her dad looking for me by now. I wonder if they'll think to go see Koizumi . . ."

"Who's Koizumi?"

"Our class witch. Creepy girl. Red hair. Kind of obsessive. Tried to kill me once but she got over it."

"Oh." Not too long ago Shinichi would have scoffed at the idea of witches, but now . . . "Do you think she'd be able to tell them where you are?"

The magician shrugged. "Who knows? She does tend to know a lot of weird things, but this whole dimensional thing might be a bit too weird even for her . . ." He trailed off, remembering his own experiences with the witch, and shuddered. "Or maybe not. Anyway, what about you? Any supernatural mediators on your end?"

Shinichi snorted. "No. They probably won't really realize I'm gone for a few more weeks anyway." Blue eyes darkened slightly. "They'll assume I ran off on some case again."

Kaito hummed thoughtfully. "Were you serious when you said you've been living alone since you were fourteen?"

The detective gave him an odd look. "Of course. Why would I lie about that?"

"Just wondering why."

"They wanted to go to America, I didn't feel like moving."

"That's it?"

"Just about."

"Huh." The magician put the spoon down on his empty plate and traded it for his drink. It was slightly disturbing that his companion apparently saw nothing strange about the idea of someone that young being left to fend for themselves. No matter what way Kaito looked at it, it seemed a rather irresponsible thing for any parent to do, no matter how well the child in question could handle themselves. But he supposed that could explain why no one had bothered really looking for the detective when he'd disappeared. He'd always thought that was a bit odd, but there would have been no one at home to notice he was gone, at least not for a while, and only a handful of acquaintances who were apparently used to Shinichi up and disappearing.

He sipped at his juice, making a mental note to introduce Shinichi to his mother when they got home.

He paused and backtracked over his last thought before laughing. The great Kaitou KID had just thought that he should introduce a detective to his mother. He'd been known to do some crazy things in his lifetime, but even he'd never expected himself to do something quite like that.

Casting a glance at his watch, he grinned and pushed his chair back as he stood. "It's time."

Even as the last syllable left his mouth shouts rang out through the night air and people began pointing skyward. The magician himself winked at his companion and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Shinichi blinked at the empty chair across the table for a moment then turned to follow the pointing fingers. He didn't have to look far to find what they were pointing out. There, somehow projected into the sky, was a larger-than-life image of Kaitou KID.

"Ladies and gentlement!" Kaito's voice rang out, echoing up and down every street in the city. "Good evening! I must say I have found my stay in this beautiful city most enjoyable, and thus it is my pleasure to welcome you all to the show. But don't forget," he added, leaning forward and raising a finger. "This is only the beginning. Don't look away! Three . . .two . . .one!"

And with a flash KID's image dissolved like smoke on the wind and the entire night sky was suddenly set ablaze as thousands upon thousands of small balls of light streaked in every direction—a rain of shooting stars. A few people shrieked, wondering if it would be safer to duck inside lest they be hit by whatever was flying through the air towards them, but most of the city stood in shocked wonder, unable to tear their eyes from the glittering display. As the falling lights drew nearer they slowed, each resolving itself into a tiny, paper lantern being gently lowered the rest of the way to the ground by its own little parachute. Hands reached out on reflex to pluck them from the air and several people began to laugh as others clapped.

Shinichi scooped one of the small, glowing things from the air and turned it around. There, grinning at him, was one of Kaitou KID's signature doodles, complete with KID's signature (and judging from the murmurs he could hear there were others in the crowd who recognized it from the notice that had been printed in the newspapers).

"So what did you think?"

He jumped and spun around to find Kaito grinning at him, dressed once again in nondescript civilian clothes. "You know, you could have wound up committing arson with a stunt like that."

Kaito gave him a mock sorrowful look. "Do you have so little faith in me?"

" . . .How did you manage to keep all those lanterns from going out anyway? Come to think of it, where did you keep them all? I haven't seen any in the apartment."

The magician wagged a finger at him, that all too familiar smirk stretching across his face. "That's for me to know and you to figure out. Now come on, we passed a television store earlier. I want to get back there and see what they're saying on the news about me."

In a house elsewhere in the city, a redheaded boy was watching the news announcing the mysterious Kaitou KID's spectacular show that night with an incredulous, wide-eyed stare. "Is this guy for real?"

The voice of his counterpart laughed in his head. :Whoever he is, at least he's got style. I wonder where he's from. He seems to know what he's doing.:

"Mom thinks it's someone trying to copy you. At least that's what she said when she saw the note in the paper earlier this week."

:Maybe, but I doubt that. A copycat would've used my name.:

"Daisuke!"

The boy turned away from the TV. "Yes, Mom?"

"Come down to the basement! We need to talk to you!"

"Coming!" Shutting off the television, he hurried down to the basement where he found his mother and his grandfather standing next to a roaring fire. They were both dressed in the cloaks they wore when performing rituals. "What is it?"

"Do you remember that special disturbance we told you about before?"

Daisuke thought for a moment then nodded. "Yeah. The one you couldn't trace, right?"

His grandfather nodded, his expression solemn. "We found the source."

"Really? What is it?"

His mother and grandfather traded looks before the former cleared her throat. "It's that stone feather sculpture they're going to be displaying at the museum in two days. The thing is . . .there's nothing like this artifact in any of our records. It could be very dangerous."

Daisuke blinked then gasped. "But isn't that the item that new thief is going after?"

Emiko's eyebrows rose. "What are you talking about Dai?"

"It was just on the news," the boy explained. "He just made it rain lanterns all over the city and the police told the reporters that that weird note he sent before was a riddle saying he was going after that feather in two days."

The Niwas shared a long moment of thoughtful silence.

:Well, this is going to be interesting.:

"And score! They sure aren't ignoring me now."

"How could they after you go and introduce yourself like that?" Shinichi looked around from where he was scrambling eggs to see Kaito smirking as he read the newspaper.

"And I'm going to make sure they never forget me," the magician declared. "Hey, do you know where the scissors are? I'm going to cut these out. I can add them to my collection when we get home."

"You collect articles about yourself?" Shinichi asked incredulously before letting out a sigh. "Never mind, of course you do. I'm not sure why I was surprised. You left the scissors on the living room couch—which, by the way, is a really stupid place to leave sharp, pointy objects."

"Thanks," Kaito replied before disappearing in search of the wayward scissors, either not hearing or just not caring about the reprimand.

Shinichi let out a puff of air and returned to making sure he didn't burn their breakfast. It was odd really. The magician only seemed to have heard half the things he'd said all morning, too busy gloating over the torrent of articles about his stunt the previous night, but Shinichi was finding it surprisingly difficult to be annoyed about it. Then again, he supposed it wouldn't make much sense to get annoyed at someone for being happy about something. That or he was just getting more accustomed to his companion's antics.

Dividing the eggs onto two plates and adding a slice of toast to each, he carried the plates to the table and set them down. Spying the newspapers splayed there, he let his eyes skim quickly over the headlines. They caught on a line near the bottom and he frowned. He read it over again. It didn't change.

"Kaito?"

The magician appeared in a shower of confetti, scissors ready and waiting in hand. "Yes?"

Shinichi pointed without a word. Curious, his companion leaned over to peer at the article in question. Indigo eyes scanned it over quickly before a manic grin crept across his face.

"My, this calls for some extra planning."

"Aren't you the least bit worried about this?"

Kaito gave him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding? This is going to be awesome!"

Shinichi groaned inwardly. It just figured Kaito would see it as some sort of bonus. He was just that kind of crazy.

It started when Kaitou KID made his appearance in midair outside in front of the museum to greet his audience and wave hello to the police through the windows that looked into the museum's front hall and the location of the stone.

"What kind of fool wears white to go steal something?" Inspector Saehara had muttered under his breath. "It's like he's mocking us."

It took only about five minutes for every officer to realize that that was exactly what was happening.

Shinichi however didn't see much of it because moments before the chaos really broke loose something heavy landed against his back and he staggered forward. He might have fallen but for the arm that slung itself companionably across his shoulders.

"Say cheese~!" a familiar voice had sung out right into his ear at a near deafening volume.

"Wha—" he started only to cut himself off with a yelp as his entire field of vision filled with a brilliant flash of light. The arm disappeared along with the presence but he couldn't see a thing with the ultraviolet spots dancing merrily before his eyes. As he blinked in an attempt to make them go away he could hear shouts and dozens of pairs of running feet in every direction. The maelstrom of sound came to an abrupt halt as the last of his vision cleared and he looked up hurriedly. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened.

Half the force had been caught up in a complex net of crisscrossing wires so thin they were practically invisible. Unable to move, they resembled a wax sculpture display of running men. Next to them a sign dangled from the ceiling, the words on it explaining that "Here we have an accurate depiction of the time honored policemen's chase, a habit observed in all species in this family". Not too far from that sign was Inspector Saehara trapped inside a cage with no visible doors. The sign tacked to the bars read "Saehara: A local species of police detective. Note the similarity in cries to the Nakamori". Shinichi groaned, his gaze dragging itself to the next sign despite his protests. This one adorned a much larger cage where the rest of the force stood in shock decked out in matching tie-dye T-shirts and it read "A native breed of police believed to be in the same family as those found in Tokyo. Notice the colorful spring plumage. Warning: Stay out of arm's reach, they can be very irritable".

For a long moment the entire museum was filled with a deafening silence. Then the very foundations of the building rocked with an explosion of confused and angry shouts. It was, Shinichi reflected, probably a very good thing that Kaito had remembered to disarm all of the officers. Said equipment had been piled up inside a large, glass box with its own label.

Standing in the middle of the room, KID spread his arms out in a grandiose gesture and announced, "Welcome to the grand opening of our new law enforcement exhibit!"

He was answered by a chorus of snarls and waving fists. They only made him laugh—much to the officers' increasing ire.

"Much as I hate to have to leave you all so soon, I do have other places to be. I'll see you later, Tantei-kun!" With that, the thief vanished in a puff of multicolored (how was that even possible?) smoke, leaving behind an empty display case and a lot of angry police.

Shinichi could feel several pairs of eyes glance his way at the thief's parting words, but he didn't have much time to think about it as he caught sight of movement in the shadows near one of the arches leading from the room. It looked like one of the officers had managed to avoid becoming part of Kaito's collection. But there was something about the way it moved . . . His instincts were telling him it wasn't an officer or KID in disguise. Moving into the shadows, he ran after it.

Later, when the bedraggled officers had been released from their respective traps and dragged themselves back to the police station to deal with the aftermath, Saehara had been seen shredding the sign from his personal cage (after it had been analyzed for prints and found wanting) as he snarled to himself.

"I'd rather deal with ten Darks than ever have to see that damned magician ever again!"

Kaito smirked as the darkly clad figure detached itself from the shadows by the door leading out onto the roof. "I've been expecting you, Dark-san."

The figure halted a good distance away, obviously wary. "Really."

He gave a careless shrug, nonchalance evident in every motion. "Yes, well, I thought I should say hello all considered it isn't every day two Kaitou declare their intentions on the same target."

"That's true," the other agreed, shifting slightly. That was when Kaito noticed that his opponent really did appear to have wings. Interesting. Did that mean perhaps that he wasn't human? Or was it all some kind of magic? "But the fact remains that only one of us is going to be leaving with that statue."

"Indeed." He swept into a stage bow, never taking his eyes off the other thief. "So sorry for your loss." That said, he stepped back and off the roof.

Back on the roof, Dark stood still for a moment in surprise. He was ninety percent sure that the other thief hadn't had any lines securing him, but the way he'd gone over the edge was definitely not one condusive to climbing. Then he caught a glimpse of something white and it clicked. A glider.

He laughed. Surely the guy didn't think a glider would be any match for his wings. The guy was either really confident or really foolish (probably the former). Five long strides and a flap of his wings and he was airborne, eyes scanning the sky for the telltale signs of white.

:Up there!: Daisuke's voice exclaimed in his mind.

Dark glanced up at the pale, triangular shape, studied it for a moment, and frowned. :No, that thing's too light on the wind. It must be a fake.:

Further searching revealed several more similar shapes—all equally false. Which probably meant . . . Violet eyes scanned the ground below. There! A flat roof with a door only a few blocks from the museum. There weren't all that many accessible roofs in this city and this one had a convenient wall around the top that would make staying out of sight from overhead eyes easy.

Circling back, Dark landed. The moment his feet touched the ground there was a flash of light. He threw up a hand to shield his eyes. When he could see again he met the cool gaze of his opponent. The other was leaning against the wall that surrounded the roof, white clothes painted gray by shadows, with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a—camera. That was unexpected. He'd obviously been waiting (definitely really confident).

"What kind of game are you playing?" There was just something strange about this person—something that didn't feel quite right that was telling him to keep his distance.

"Game? This is hardly anything so complex." Straightening and making the camera disappear in a puff of white smoke, he swept his now empty arm up in a grand, beckoning gesture. "This is the finale of the show."

Right on cue multiple lines of brilliant, orange flames streaked across the sky. Like luminous ink being tracked across dark paper by a painter's brush, the lines crisscrossed and came together until they formed the caricature and signature that Dark remembered seeing on the notice printed by the newspapers.

:Wow,: Daisuke marveled. :How did he do that?:

:I bet it had something to do with those fakes. Hey, you're not cheering for the enemy here are you?:

"Nothing to say?" the mocking voice inquired. "Or are you just speechless?"

"Hardly," Dark retorted, gaze shifting from the blazing image in the sky back to man in white. "I was just giving you a few moments before you have to part with my statuette."

"Really?" KID withdrew the hand that had been in his pocket and examined the carved feather critically. "I don't seem to see your name on it."

"Neither is yours."

"That can be easily fixed." Fingers snapped and a pen appeared in his other hand.

Dark tensed. Someone randomly writing all over the magical artifact was not part of the plan. Was that a permanent marker?

"Don't! You have no idea what you're holding," he exclaimed, sounding equal parts irritated and exasperated. Didn't this guy have any respect for art?

"I beg to differ," Kaito said airily. "I'm holding a trans-dimensional traveling device that has a tendency to shape-shift in moonlight." He couldn't help his widening grin at the other's obvious surprise. "So was there anything else you wanted to tell me or can we be on our separate ways?"

Dark's eyes narrowed slightly. "Tell me, what use could you possibly have for that stone?"

"I've been having a severe case of footloose-ness these days," Kaito half-lied with a casual wave of his pen as though brushing away an inconsequential matter. "I think this will solve it nicely. Don't you?"

"It's not a toy."

"I didn't say it was."

"I can't let you leave with that."

"Oh?" The magician tilted his head slightly, his monocle flashing almost menacingly in the shadows as his grin widened a fraction more. "Well, it's a good thing I didn't ask for your permission then."

The wings on Dark's back unfurled slightly and Kaito tensed, but a voice rang out before either of them could make a move.

"Hold it!"

Both thieves turned simultaneously to find Shinichi standing in the open doorway leading back into the building.

"Not you again," Dark groaned at the sight of the detective.

Kaito hid a snicker at that. He was probably enjoying this way too much, but hey, he certainly wasn't going to complain about that. "Hey Tantei-kun, you're a little late."

Shinichi turned to fix him with a withering glare. "You! Do you realize that you've probably ruined any chance of the police here ever letting me work with them again?"

"But we'll be leaving soon so it doesn't matter," the unrepentant thief replied, waving a hand dismissively.

"I don't think so," Dark cut in, picking up on the implications of the statement. "The spirit of that artifact is very powerful! You can't just play around with it as you please. It needs to be dealt with."

"Hold on a moment." Shinichi turned abruptly to focus all of his attention on the violet-eyed thief. "What spirit?"

Dark paused at that. With the way the other thief had been talking—and since said thief and the Kudo boy seemed to know each other—he'd assumed they knew. Hell, presuming what the magician had said wasn't a blind guess, they knew more about what the statuette's powers were than he did. All he knew was that whatever lay inside it had a lot more power than your run of the mill art piece.

:I think we should talk to them,: said Daisuke.

Dark raised a mental eyebrow. :Why?:

The boy was silent for a long moment before he spoke again a bit hesitantly. :I just have this feeling that we should. It feels . . .like they need that stone somehow.:

:Is that so.: Dark thought for a moment. Daisuke had always had good instincts for these things. :Fine, but since this is your idea you can do the talking.:

:Huh? Wha—wait! You can't just—: His protests died as he found himself back to normal, standing in front of two staring people who had just witnessed Dark turning into him. "Uh . . ."

"Niwa-kun?" Shinichi blinked but the redhead was still there, standing where the taller, purple-haired thief had been only moments ago.

"Yeah, uh, I can explain! But, c—can we go back to my house?"

Kaito glanced from the sheepishly smiling boy to Shinichi and back again. "Well, this certainly has been an entertaining night."

"You!" Emiko exclaimed the instant the door opened and her eyes landed on the visitors. Scowling fiercely, she leveled an accusing finger at Kaito's chest. "You're that copycat!"

The magician looked very offended as he placed a hand over hers and lowered it. "I am no such thing! I'll have you know in our world I've been famous internationally for years."

The woman didn't seem to hear him. "How dare you show your face at my house! You—"

"Please calm down, Niwa-san," Shinichi said quickly, stepping around Kaito and bowing politely to the woman. "We're very sorry for the intrusion."

"Kudo-kun!" Emiko took an involuntary step back as her eyes flicked from Shinichi back to Kaito. "But then you must be—"

"We thought it'd be better if we talked to them here," Daisuke explained quickly as he ushered everyone inside the house and shut the door.

"Talk?" Emiko's frown returned, though not quite as strongly this time. "About what?"

"We were wondering if you could tell us more about this," Kaito replied, opening his hand to reveal the stone feather before making it disappear again just as quickly. "Your son mentioned something about spirits. Though I must admit I am also rather curious as to why your son refers to himself with a plural pronoun."

Half an hour later everyone was seated in the living room. Kaito was still in full KID regalia and earning odd looks from the assorted members of the family, but not quite as odd as the look Shinichi was sure was stamped across his own face at Daisuke's garbled explanation as to how he and Dark both were and weren't one person. It made him think of ghosts and possessions but the redhead had exclaimed vehemently against that proposition.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room and Shinichi found himself scrambling for something to say. "So . . .about this spirit . . .?"

"All works of art contain some of the hearts of their creators. The greater the piece, the stronger the spirit and its power," Daisuke explained. "Dark and I usually have to seal them so they can't cause any harm."

"So . . .if it has a spirit . . . Can you, I don't know, communicate with it?" he asked hesitantly.

"Sometimes," the redhead admitted. "But Dark says he's already tried with this one. It has some kind of presence, but it's not responding to us. He thinks it may only speak to you guys, since it's yours."

"But how do we do that?" Kaito inquired, interest lighting up indigo eyes.

"We don't know . . ." Daisuke looked away, apparently feeling guilty over his lack of ability to provide them with the answers they needed. "We're kind of more familiar with the sealing things away part . . ."

There was another uncomfortable silence. This time it was broken by Emiko standing up.

"So does anyone want some tea?"

The docks were quiet this time of the evening. The sky overhead shimmered with the golden hues of sunset and a gentle breeze whispered in from the sea, carrying with it a faint tang of salt.

Shinichi closed his eyes for a moment, just letting the sound of the lapping waves wash over him. It had been two days since that night spent at the Niwas. They hadn't been able to find anything else that might be a lead to unlocking the secrets of their gem, but the fact that they had learned anything new at all about it had been encouraging.

"Well, that's everything," a cheerful voice announced and he turned to see Kaito walking up behind him—in full KID costume. "You should've seen the landlord's face when he saw what we'd done to his place. He was so happy he nearly had a heart attack."

The detective stared. "Are you sure it wasn't abject horror? Or shock? You didn't go see him like that did you?"

"Of course not, and that's on all three counts. He wouldn't even let me pay him anything, so I went and got some extra supplies instead."

"So then why are you wearing that?" The detective couldn't quite resist taking a quick look around to make sure no one was watching.

"My personal amusement. Don't look so worried. No one saw me."

"Well, if you're sure . . . So what did you get anyway?" he asked, curious.

"Oh, a little this and that." Kaito shrugged, then smirked.

Shinichi eyed that smirk for a moment before deciding he didn't want to know and turning back to the bay. A quiet sigh escaped his lips. "I'll never be able to look at art the same way again."

"Or collectable cards or wooden sticks and a whole lot of other things besides," Kaito agreed with a thoughtful grin as he moved to stand beside him. "But hey, you learn something new every day. That's the fun thing about being alive."

"Do you think there's really a spirit inside this stone?" Blue eyes peered down at what was now a dark green miniature, three-mast sailing ship. The detail was truly astounding, complete with webs of stone rigging that looked too delicate to touch (this had been proven to be misleading, and Shinichi was pretty sure even a sledgehammer couldn't crack a thread of that carved rope).

"Maybe, maybe not, but if there is, and we can find a way to communicate with it . . ."

"Then maybe we could ask it to take us home."

He was answered with a broader grin. "There have to be answers somewhere out there. We just need a little luck and a little patience. So, are you ready to go?"

Shinichi took one last look at the gleaming gold expanse of the bay before he nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

TBC

Next: Sailing with Pirates [One Piece]

A.N: This chapter was frustratingly hard to write and I'll just apologize now for not having more of the DNA characters in this (but they were giving me grief). I am never writing in this universe again! Speaking of universes, thank you to everyone for your suggestions. I've picked out a little more than a dozen so far that I think I'll use. Their order however hasn't been determined yet. I want to try and make sure that worlds that may seem similar aren't next to each other, and there are a few worlds that need to be placed in certain points because of the 'getting home' part of the plot, etc. I am currently very stuck in what exactly to do with the next chapter and I'm open to suggestions of what people would find amusing to see in One Piece. I have a general theme and island in mind already, and it'll be with the crew of seven (because fun as I think it'd be to introduce Shinichi to a living skeleton I don't want to deal with that many characters), but yeah, I'm hunting for inspiration. Well, thanks for reading! ^_^