( quick a/n: sorry it took so long to get this up. But truth is I was recently in an accident and sprained my wrist. It's made typing a chore so until it heals up there might be slower updates. And in case you were wondering, I still don't own either Detective Conan, Magic Kaito or Death Note. )
Light wasn't entirely sure what happened. One moment he'd caught the almost legendary Kaitou Kid. The next Kid had vanished leaving only confetti and dissipating smoke. In that instant he suddenly understood why so many detectives tried to catch him despite that he wasn't exactly a threat to society. There was no denying that he was annoyance that needed to be dealt with but he wasn't a threat-he was a challenge. The Kid had let Light believe that he'd had him only to prove to him how very wrong he was.
"Ryuk." He kept his voice low, eyes flickering towards the Shinigami. Ryuk probably found the whole thing amusing but the irritating look on his face vanished the moment he'd heard his name, giving his full attention to Light. "Did you happen to see which way he went?" Ryuk shook his head but Light wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not. Irritating Shinigami.
He took a breath to try and calm himself before glancing around the room. Kaitou Kid was human. No matter how much he tried to pass himself off as a ghost he was still flesh and blood so he couldn't have possibly vanished into thin air. He had to be around somewhere. Looking at it in that light though made everyone seem suspicious. He should probably just find Aoko and go home. Kid had to have traded places with her when she'd run off to the restroom so logically he had to have stashed her between here and the women's restroom.
Thirty minutes later and Light was convinced that Kaitou Kid didn't follow logic because he'd checked every closet and room leading to the public restrooms. He pushed the janitor closet next to the only restroom Aoko could have used closed with a forceful snap. If he didn't know any better he'd say that Kaitou Kid was trying to keep him away from Nakamori Aoko. There'd be no other reason to store her somewhere that far out of the way. Or had he just left her in the stall?
"Ryuk." He stated, having debated the pros and cons of going in himself. He'd come to the conclusion it wasn't worth it. "Go inside and tell me if Aoko's in there." His voice was final but Ryuk still hesitated, eying the girl's bathroom as though it was some kind of void that might suck him into oblivion. Stupid Shinigami.
He pulled out his phone and hunted through the list of names he'd recently added until he found 'Mouri Ran.' Thankfully, it didn't take her too long to answer. "Ran-san, I need a small favor, are you still down stairs at the event?"
"We were about to leave but what do you need?" Good. Ran was far more useful than some other parties that were nearby. He informed her where to meet him and clicked the phone off. Now all he had to do was wait.
"You sure are giving it your all to find this girl." Ryuk chuckled. "You sure you don't have a crush?" Light scoffed at the notion. Him? Have a crush? He had no intention of throwing his hat into the ring with Kuroba and Hakuba.
"Don't be ridiculous Ryuk, as her date and chief Yagami Soichiro's son, I couldn't possibly leave her to wake up on her own. Besides, what if Kid has done something to her? I'd like to get a look, just to see. It could be just what I need to bring his popularity down." He explained. Always looking for an opportunity was one of his strong suits after all.
"You sure you aren't just worried?" Ryuk's teasing was getting annoying and Light grit his teeth.
"If I were worried, I'd have checked the stalls without asking for Ran-san's assistance." He pointed out, leaning casually against the wall while waited for Ran to arrive. He was glad she didn't take long and moved away from the wall to greet her, taking note of the fact that Conan had followed along and was now glaring darkly at him. What had he done?
"Thank you for coming, Ran-san. I'm sorry I didn't explain much over the phone, but Kid had disguised as my date-I'm concerned-" He shot a glare at the amused Shinigami. "-that she might be inside." He explained.
"Then why didn't you just check on your own? No one else is around." Conan spoke up before Ran could get a word in, his tone flat and annoyed.
"C-Conan-kun!" Ran looked shocked at his poor manners. Light's gaze shot down to Conan-the seven year old was still glaring. It wasn't the same unsettling narrowed glare from earlier there-more like a tiny body guard or over protective puppy.
"It's fine, I don't mind." Light said good naturedly, trying to ignore the glare before glancing down at Conan. "I thought about that-but I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea." Ran was convinced but Conan clearly wasn't. "I'll stay out here with Conan-kun if it'll make him feel better." He offered.
"Sorry about this." Ran apologized, for what he wasn't entirely sure but he nodded and leaned against the wall again.
"Did Kid really disguise as your girlfriend?" Conan asked, his voice sounding very much like a suspicious seven year old. There was just no pleasing this kid.
"Yes. He did a poor job of it, too." Light sighed. Conan looked even more suspicious.
"Kaitou Kid is a perfectionist though, it's a little strange that you say it was a poor job of disguise." Conan stated folding his arms behind his head. The tone said very clearly how much the brat did not believe him.
"Let's just say that he added an extra detail he probably thought no one would notice." Light tried to sugar coat it. He wasn't about to tell the overly suspicious seven year old what the mistake was. Conan was still eying him suspiciously-he still didn't believe him. Not that Light really cared what a seven year old thought of him.
"Kid's not the kind of person that makes those kind of mistakes though. He wouldn't add in details like that since it increased the likelihood of capture. If it happened as you say it did-he would have had a reason for it." The suspicious tone in this brat's voice was getting really annoying, really fast. It did give Light something to think about though-if what Conan said was true what reason could Kid possibly have to make Aoko's chest slightly larger than it really was? Once again, he couldn't help but wonder if the Kid was intentionally trying to keep Aoko away from him.
"Regardless of what you think, that is what happened." Light tried not to sound too annoyed at the implication he was lying. Before Conan could retort, Ran re-emerged and shook her head.
"There's no one here." she stated what Light had realised the moment she shook her head. Where could Kid had possibly put her and now a far more pressing question, why? He could feel Conan's suspicious little glare intensifying.
"Ne, Why would Kaitou Kid store her somewhere so far out of the way? That doesn't make sense." The statement was so pointed Light had to resist the urge to react.
"Well, when he disguised as me he stored me in a lifeboat-that seems a little out of the way, doesn't it?" Ran tried to pacify Conan but he wasn't convinced.
"That's not surprising." Conan stated, tone a little softer now that he was talking to Ran directly. Oh, someone did have a crush. It just wasn't Light. "Ran-neechan had left to the bathroom and probably just got lost on her way there." Ran coughed, sounding indignant. It was true then. Perhaps it had been the same in Aoko's case?
"Regardless, shouldn't we tell the police if she's missing?" Ran tried to push past Conan's comment. Light considered it-he'd really rather not tell the inspector that he'd given Kid the opportunity to kidnap his daughter.
"Conan-kun, I've heard from several sources you're particularly good at finding Kid-what does he usually do with the people he disguises as?" Conan's glare vanished as he thought over the question being asked to him, no doubt recalling every disguise victim.
"He knocks them out." He supplied, less than helpfully. "He usually leaves them in a bathroom stall or somewhere near where he took their place but sometimes he'll hide the person in an obvious spot with a mask over their face so you think it's actually someone else." Light considered Conan's answer. Kid had done neither of those things with Aoko. Why was the pattern different with her?
"Would there be any reason he'd stray from the general pattern?" He inquired, Again Conan thought about it but Light could tell by the way his expression kept getting more and more focused that he couldn't really think of anything.
"He's… occasionally just made sure that the person he was disguising as wouldn't be around by calling to tell them plans have changed or something along those lines. But I can't think of any instance in which he deliberately made it difficult to find someone." Conan finally decided, still trying to come up with a plausible answer.
"...Maybe she used a different restroom?" Ran threw in her two cents. It was possible, but this would have been the easiest to get to and the only other restroom opened to the public had been in the opposite direction of the way Aoko had run off. Possible but unlikely.
"She headed off towards this one though." Light said calmly. "She asked me to wait and I watched her leave in this direction." Conan and Ran both looked at one another and went right back to puzzling over where Nakamori Aoko could have possibly gotten to.
"I don't think it's because the restroom was full." Conan offered. "It's a pretty exclusive party and there should have been more than enough stalls." That ruled out that theory. "It starting to seem like Kid really did move her somewhere she wouldn't be easily found." It really was a special case. How annoying. Maybe he should just give up and go home. "You've already checked all the closets on the way here, haven't you?"
"Of course." Light tried not to sound appalled. As if he wouldn't have thought of that.
"But what reason could Kid have to want to hide her that well?" Ran voiced the question that had been grating on Light's nerves since the beginning of the conversation.
"I wouldn't worry, if Kid was the one that knocked her out then he probably didn't hurt her at all-and he never ties up the girls he disguises as." Conan shrugged it off. Light couldn't have that though, he couldn't just leave her to find her own way back there was no telling how long that'd take and he couldn't just leave without her. "Anyways, if you're that concerned you should ask Hakuba-no-niichan-He's been to more heists than I have."
"I don't believe that I have his number." Light admitted. Conan shrugged.
"Nakamori-keibu probably has it." That was probably true but that involved telling the inspector that Aoko was missing and he really didn't want to do that. What was Kid's problem? Why did he want to make it so difficult to find this girl?
"Is there really no other option?" He asked, half annoyed and not trying nearly as hard anymore to hide it. It was understandable wasn't it?
"You could always expand your search radius. He had to have stored her somewhere nearby because it'd kind of difficult to avoid getting attention if you were carrying someone unconscious." Conan had a point. Even if Kid wanted to make it hard to find her he couldn't have carried her far because she would have been knocked out.
"We'll help you look if you'd like." Ran offered as Conan nodded. They decided that she had to be somewhere on the same floor and no more than twenty minutes outside the route she would have taken to the restroom. Twenty minutes was being generous according to Conan. If she wasn't found with the new search radius then they might have to consider that idea that Kid had originally knocked her out and someone else kidnapped her. Light didn't want to think about that.
It took every bit of a full half hour to find her even with two other people having joined the search. Light was now sure that Kid really wanted to keep someone from finding the inspector's daughter. Light was almost relieved when he finally opened the very last broom closet in the expanded search and found Aoko with a blanket draped over her sleeping soundly. He was a little annoyed with how soundly but it was hardly her fault that Kid has chosen her as his disguise.
"Aoko-chan." He said softly, shaking her shoulder a little. She stirred slightly but otherwise remained asleep. He did not want to carry her but if she didn't wake up he'd be left with little other options. He gave her another small shake, willing her to just wake up.
Her eyes fluttered. Good.
"Aoko-chan, wake up." He said again, trying to sound concerned. She made a noise and started to sit up, blinking blearily at the boy in front of her. Her eyes were a little cloudy and he could tell she'd been drugged. Her dress was intact but Kid had taken the butterfly pins. Perhaps he hadn't counted on them?
"Light-kun?" She asked, obviously trying to piece together what had happened. He didn't answer her, giving her a good look over to see if Kid had done anything to her-not that he could immediately tell. As Conan had stated was normal for Kid he'd left her clothes on and hadn't tied her up. He offered his hand out to her to pull her onto her feet.
"Sorry Aoko-chan, it seems Kid-san got away with your clips." He stated, immediately she reached up to see that her clips were indeed gone.
"Bastard." She hissed angrily. Light pushed a stray strand of her hair out of her face, letting his finger linger on her chin more or less to distract her from the oncoming rant about Kid. Not that he disagreed with her at all, it was more that he just didn't want to think about Kid right now. "He can't just take people's hair clips!" She stated angrily pulling away from him a looking down the hall as though expecting him to be just disappearing around the corner. So much for distracting her.
"I'm sorry that happened to you, I shouldn't have let you go off on your own." He switched tactics. "But I'm glad you're okay."
"Those clips were expensive!" She was still ranting, obviously very upset over her stolen hair clips. "Those were my favorite! He better give them back." Was there anything he could do to get her to calm down?
"Kid usually returns what he steals, doesn't he?" Light offered. "They might just turn up in your room." Aoko looked at him like she thought he might be crazy.
"He better not go in Aoko's room!" She stated angrily. He'd have been amused if not for the fact he was extremely irritated at the moment. However he couldn't blame her for not wanting him in her room.
"Would you like me to stay with you while you search your room?" He offered. That paused her anger and he could tell she was thinking about it. He offered her his hand, intent on leading her home.
oooOOOoooOOOooo
Things hadn't slowed down at the Detective Agency since the rise of Kira but Conan was pleased to see they slammed to a stop for the detective boys. It wasn't surprising most kids were scared of Kira. The lack of business didn't bother Shinichi one bit though as it allowed him to focus on more important matters. As he normally did, he stayed ten steps behind Genta and the others with the same thoughtful expression they were used to by now. As per normal his long standing ally in keeping the kids out of trouble was right beside him while he contemplated his next move.
"Kudou-kun, could it be that you're not particularly interested in this trip to Tropical Land?" The girl known as Haibara Ai questioned. His eyes pulled away from the ground in front of him and he turn them towards the strawberry blonde beside him-his expression much less than amused. He was not looking forward to the trip. After nearly being murdered and forced to swallow an experimental poison at Tropical Land he'd have to say he'd completely lost his taste for it. Along with any other amusement park.
"I have more important things to be doing." He stated arrogantly. Haibara gave him a look of her own. Hers was far more impressive.
"What are you hiding, Kudou-kun?" She asked, voice low enough the other three couldn't hear. Shinichi tried to look innocent.
"Nothing, don't be so suspicious." He hadn't told her anything regarding the conversation he'd had with Vermouth as he knew she'd just get upset. He'd promised to protect her and part of that involved protecting her peace of mind.
"Kudou-kun…" The tone in her voice was edging on dangerous but Shinichi continued to play innocent. "Does this have to do with the new superintendent?"
"Huh?" Shinichi blinked. "Oh, no." His voice was even enough and convincing enough Haibara seemed to have taken it for the truth. "Just thinking about the Kira Case." It wasn't a complete lie and it did satisfy the shrunken biochemist.
"Of course that case would interest you. But you shouldn't get involved. The only security you have with that case is the fact you have a false name, but this case is a little advanced for Edogawa Conan's skills, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I suppose so, and giving Occhan the credit would be placing him in danger." Shinichi pretended to let out a defeated sigh. "And I can't solve it as myself because it would gain too much attention." He paused, waiting for her nod of approval. "Speaking of gaining attention though-Kira-san must be making those guys nervous by now."
Haibara's eyes snapped back to him, waiting for him to continue when he didn't she looked him over suspiciously. "Kira hasn't stumbled onto them yet and you should hope that he doesn't." She turned back to face the three children climbing into the bus going Tropical Land.
"What does that mean?" Shinichi asked, how could she know that Kira hadn't gotten to the organisation yet? Did she think they retaliate if he did? At the rate he was going it was only a matter of time before he did. The Balance of probability was just against them in that regard.
"Conan-kun! Ai-chan! Hurry up or you'll be left behind!" The overly cheerful voice of Ayumi sounded as she waved at them from the bus. Conan and Haibara both dropped the subject and sped up, getting on the bus right before the doors closed.
Haibara continued over to an empty seat and Shinichi looked around as he normally did upon entering any where. There weren't very many people on the bus-a couple near the front that seemed to be deep in discussion, Genta and others were seated at the back, on the other side of them was a man sitting by himself and keeping a close eye on the person in front of him-a bit odd that he'd be on the bus by himself at his age.
"Ah le? Light-niichan?" Shinichi recognised him. He had a girl sitting beside him-the same girl from the Kid heist, chatting animatedly about something. At the sound of his name, Light's eyes flickered to the smaller.
"Aa, Conan-kun, this is a coincidence. Are you going to tropical land too?" He smiled pleasantly. Shinichi nodded his head, trying hard not to show just how displeased he was with that fact. Kids liked amusement parks, he had to at least pretend. Then again, he could always say that he didn't like them since he'd almost been killed at Tropical Land and then again at Miracle Land. It wouldn't even be a lie.
"I wouldn't have thought that Light-niichan was very interested in amusement parks though-there's no studying involved." He stated in a very innocent child like way. The look that flash across Light's face was slightly shocked and the girl beside him started giggling.
"I think he just called you boring." She whispered into Light's ear. He let out an exasperated sigh, not really too upset over the statement.
"I'm allowed to go out for a day of fun-It's my reward to myself for having done so well on my practice exams." He stated evenly before glancing at his date. "And besides, Aoko-chan is adventurous and this seemed like a much more suitable date option for her."
"Eh?" Aoko's cheeks flushed bright red and she sank back in her chair a little. Light didn't react. Shinichi's wasn't concerned with Light's date, he was concerned with the man that seemed to watching him intently.
"You'd better go sit down," Light advised. "The bus will move soon and you could get hurt." Shinichi smiled a bright innocent smile and moved over to the empty window seat beside Haibara.
"Oi, switch seats with me, I need to keep an eye on the man behind Yagami." Shinichi whispered. He wasn't sure why the man was there, but a fully grown man riding a bus to an amusement park with no kids or date registered as suspicious. Haibara sighed and moved to the window so Shinichi could keep an eye on things happening in the aisle.
"Y-you didn't tell me this was a date!" He heard Light's date whispering harshly, clearly not wanting to cause a scene. Light wasn't nearly as quiet with his answer.
"Oh, was it not a date to you?" His voice was even and pleasant. Aoko stammered incoherently, clearly not sure how to respond. "Would you have turned me down?"
"W-Well no.. I mean-I just wish you had told me it was a date." She was whispering again, Light sighed.
"Aoko-chan, I called you last night and asked if you wanted to go to Tropical Land with me, why wouldn't it be a date? Is it a problem?"
"No, of course not. Th-thank you for inviting me out today." Shinichi immediately tuned their conversation out it wasn't important. The entire time the bus was moving the man sitting behind Light kept glancing up at him-why though? Perhaps Shinichi should find an excuse to follow Light and Aoko around when they got there just in case.
Two stops before they reached Tropical Land it was clear there was a sudden change of plans as a man with his arms stuffed in his pockets stepped onto the bus. Shinichi recognised him from the news and with the man's hand in his pockets like that he could only assume what it was he was he was concealing.
He heard the click of the firearm before he saw it jammed against the bus driver's head.
"I'm hijacking this bus!"