Midnight Clashes
Chapter 7
Entering The Third Party
Kaito rubbed the back of his head. Why could he not figure it out? The short discussion Kaitous Red and Sinbad had shared the night before plagued the brunet's mind.
"Who do you work for? Hell or heaven?"
"Neither."
What had the redhead meant with that? Jeanne had given Kaito the impression that only heaven and hell were caught up in this war over the demons that haunted different pieces of art. If that truly was the case, like the magician suspected from Sinbad's reaction to the words, then who could Red be working for? Was there a third party?
"What is the third party in the war between heaven and hell?" Kaito thought, this time rubbing his forehead. He was not getting anywhere with this.
"Earth", a voice spoke suddenly. Kaito glanced up into Hakuba's face. The blond was eyeing him curiously, his head tilted to the side in a gesture Kaito had not seen on the other before. That did not mean he did not find it endearing, though.
"Bwuh?" Kaito replied intelligently to his rival.
A small smile twitched on Hakuba's lips before the blond said: "You asked what's the third party in the war between heaven and hell. The answer is the human realm, earth."
Kaito blinked, surprised. He had actually asked his question aloud? Well, it did not matter any more. At least he got the answer he was looking for from it.
"Why are you interested in such a thing?" Hakuba asked, his head starting to tilt again. Kaito felt his lips turning into a fond smile as he realized that Hakuba was sleep-deprived. The blond was always so cute when he suffered from lack of sleep, as long as it did not go overboard.
"Just wondering about something I heard somewhere", Kaito replied carelessly. "You stayed up late? You look horrible." That was a complete lie, Hakuba had never looked sweeter than he did at the moments when his brain refused to work properly.
"I got a call from Toudaiji-kun..." Hakuba's reply was distracted as the blond seemed to sink into his own thoughts. The thoughtful air continued surrounding the detective as he made his way to his desk and sat down.
Toudaiji... It took a Kaito a moment to connect the name to a face. Toudaiji was the girl who kept chasing Jeanne in the same manner Hakuba chased Kid. It would figure that the two of them would get along.
Something twisted in the pit of Kaito's stomach when he thought about the two Kaitou-experts growing closer. What if they started to date? Toudaiji seemed like the kind of a girl Hakuba would like. Strong and intelligent.
With a quick shake of his head Kaito ordered himself to stop bothering with so pointless thoughts. But the thing was, they were not pointless. They were very important and Kaito was just starting to realize why.
The magician leaned his chin on his hands as his gaze drifted to the blond-haired detective that was now taking over his thoughts. Could it really be? Had the world finally come to an end? Was Kaito really starting to feel jealous because of his greatest rival?
&&&&&&&
Saguru rubbed his eyes with his other hand, trying to clear his head a bit. Toudaiji had sounded so frantic on the phone the previous night that it still disturbed him. The thoughts the conversation had woken up in the detective had kept him up almost the whole night.
&&&flashback&&&
The sound of his cell phone ringing snapped Saguru out of the slight doze he had barely had time to drift into. With an annoyed growl the blond tried to crawl out of bed and ended up on the floor in an undignified heap.
Feeling more aggravated by the minute the detective dug through the clothes he had carelessly thrown on the floor, cursing himself for not bothering to fold them properly like he usually did.
Finally Saguru pulled out his cell phone, letting out a victorious but mostly relieved grunt as he pressed the button on the phone to take the call.
"Hakuba-san?"
Saguru blinked in confusion at the tentative tone. It took his a few moments to connect the voice to the correct face.
"Toudaiji-kun", Saguru acknowledged, his voice still groggy from just being awaken. He really was not a fast riser.
"I hope I'm not calling at a bad time."
"Don't mind me", Saguru muffled to the phone. "I'll just be very stupid for a while so just go ahead and speak."
"Thank you. There was a heist tonight and Jeanne did not show up even thought Sinbad did."
Saguru had no idea how Toudaiji's monologue was supposed to affect him so he just listened without a word.
"The worst thing about it all was that my friend knew she wasn't going to show up!" Now Toudaiji's voice rose from the fear the girl was apparently feeling. "I don't know what to think about it. What if my friend is Jeanne?"
"Ah..." Saguru managed to get out, finally getting a grip of the conversation. This was a topic was on safe ground with. At least somewhat.
"I don't know what to do", Toudaiji said in a weak voice. Saguru realized the tone as the same one from the day before. The tone was the same the girl had used when talking about her best friend dating the boy she had a crush on.
'Oh no...' Saguru thought to himself. If things were like he suspected then they were really bad. He was not sure if he could give Toudaiji much consolation.
"Protect her at all costs." Saguru had no idea where those words came from. They were definitely not the ones he had intended on speaking. He had not idea what he had been about to say but that had not been it.
"You need to keep her safe", Saguru said warmly. "It's what friends do, isn't it?"
"Hakuba-san..." Toudaiji's voice was very weak, barely audible. Then the girl started speaking again, her voice growing stronger with each word: "You're absolutely right. Thank you."
Saguru was about to shut the cell phone off when he heard one last muttered sentence: "Oyasumi, Hakuba-san."
A small smile tugged on Saguru's lips as he replied: "Oyasumi nasai, Toudaiji-kun", before closing his phone.
Tiredly Saguru tossed the cell phone aside and climbed back into his bed and crawled underneath the blankets.
After about twenty minutes Saguru realized that it was not going to be easy to fall asleep again. The words he had said to Toudaiji troubled him. Where had they come from? Such thoughts had not passed his mind ever before.
With a defeated sigh Saguru accepted the fact that he was in for a hazy day tomorrow. Hopefully he would not act too much out of character.
&&&end of flashback&&&
Saguru glanced briefly into the direction of the class clown and magician. When he saw the deep violet eyes flash in his direction he felt his cheeks heat up. Quickly looking away Saguru tried to focus on the teacher's lecture.
It did not work.
Saguru's stomach was making flips and for a moment the blond thought that he was going to throw up. But then he realized that the flipping was quite pleasant-feeling once it calmed down somewhat.
It did not take long for the detective to realize that he was again thinking about the brunet. Furious at himself, Saguru shook his head to clear it. It was absolutely ridiculous! He should not be affected this much by the other boy but the words he had spoken to Toudaiji, the ones from the previous night and earlier, plagued his mind.
With a sigh Saguru came to a decision. He would protect Kuroba at all costs, because that was what he wanted to do. Perhaps then the magician would stop invading his thoughts. He was probably just worried. And maybe the change in perspective would help him understand the thief better.
To be continued...
Ending Notes: I decided to keep this one, since I couldn't figure out any way to get this story to work without the Kaito x Saguru pairing. So, sorry to anyone who dislikes shounen-ai but practically won out in the end.
