Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito.

Neko no Triad

Chapter Six

Ran fidgeted slightly, checking her appearance in the mirror. There was a flushing sound and Sonoko exited the stall, sighing happily. She scooted over to Ran quickly, a cheerful smile on her face.

"Mah, Ran,"She began,"did you like the bandages?" Ran stared back at her, befuddled. "Bandages? Wha-" She cut off abruptly and rifled through her purse, pulling out the band-aids. The teenaged girl gasped in surprise. On the edge of the bandage, the words 'Shinichi Love' were written.

"Sonoko!" She scolded the other girl. Sonoko giggled. "Do you like it? I thought you would like to have a reminder of you husband." The Suzuki heiress's eyes sparkled conspiratorially and she grinned deceitfully when Ran flushed. "I-It's nothing like that!" Ran weakly responded back, failing to dispel Sonoko's assumption. Her eyebrows furrowed as a thought suddenly struck her. "Ah-!" She exclaimed. "I gave one of the bandages to one of the crew members when we boarded! What if he thinks that I wrote it?" Sonoko lifted her arms up and waved them back and forth, warding off Ran's worries. "Maa, maa, Ran," She assured, "the words are so tiny, I don't think he even noticed!" She grinned reassuringly. "I'm sure it's alright!" Ran stared back at her skeptically, resigned. "If you say so."

The two girls left the lavatories and strolled towards their rooms. "Eh?" Sonoko turned around to look at Ran, who was heading in the opposite direction. "Ran," Sonoko questioned, "where are you going?" Ran smiled and answered back. "I want to take another look at the Lady Sky. Since there were so many people and otou-san had to go and cause such a commotion, I didn't really get to have a good look at it."

"Well then," the Suzuki heiress began, "You go ahead and do that. I'll meet you later. I'm going to send a message to Makoto. This KID thing is just temporary, so he doesn't need to know!" Sonoko smiled conspiratorially and winked, giggling as she skipped back to her room.

Ran looked back after her friend, laughing slightly at Sonoko's eccentricity. She entered the elevator and headed to the top floor. The elevator dinged as it docked at the top floor and the doors opened smoothly. Ran stepped out and stopped in surprise. "Oh!" She exclaimed, noticing another person standing in front of the case, intently observing it. The stranger turned around upon hearing her footsteps, greeting her. "Hello." Ran tilted her head in confusion and asked haltingly, "Hi... who are you?" The person walked towards her steadily, smiling pleasantly. "I am a waiter on this airship." He said, shifting slightly. "I just came during my break to take a look at the famed Lady Sky." As he spoke, he turned to gaze at the aforementioned jewel before returning his attention back to Ran. Ran regarded the supposed waiter for a moment, her eyes drifting down and noting his appearance. His hair was straight and smooth, almost like Shinichi's, but his was considerably more spiky, but tamed as well. The waiter's face was youthful and she noticed with a start that his eyes were a tilted much like a feline's would and was also a startlingly familiar cerulean blue. Her gaze drifted downward and her eyes widened perceptibly when she saw the band-aid she had given one of the crew members. The teen followed her gaze warily and, with a start, leaned forward to take a closer look at her.

"Hey!"

Ran jerked up to look at the other, startled by his sudden exclamation. "Aren't you that girl that gave me that bandage this morning?" Ran was taken aback. "Y-Yeah..." She stuttered. The boy grinned radiantly, bowing and extending a hand to shake. "Ah, nice to meet you, then. My name is Russell. What's yours?" His eyes sparkled excitedly. Ran looked uncertain as she reached out to shake the offered hand. "Ran. Ran Mouri." She replied back, hesitant. The waiter – Russell – glanced at his watch momentarily. "Oh! I should leave now. My break is almost over." He bowed to her again. "It was nice meeting you again." Russell lifted his hand to wave at her lazily, a warm smile on his face as he leisurely strolled into the elevator. "Bye." The bemused girl stared after him, briefly wondering if the other suffered from some sort of multiple personality disorder.

Russell – no, Shinichi – breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator doors closed behind him. That had been too close! He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it and making more spiky and somewhat reminiscent of one Kaito Kuroba's hair. It was just a simple stroke of luck that he had noticed where Ran's gaze was fixated on. Otherwise, he just might have not made it out without being accused of being KID and had to create an alibi. On the bright side, he had gotten a chance to meet and talk to Ran. And it didn't hurt that he hadn't worn a mask and had retained the same appearance as his first disguise, therefore solidifying his alibi. The disguised Shinichi was startled out of his thoughts when Sonoko rushed past, colliding rather painfully with him. The Suzuki heiress responded as expected, angrily scolding him for almost ruining her makeup, of all things. Because, apparently, she had to look perfect for her KID-sama. As he stood there, obediently listening the scolding, his face darkened imperceptibly. Kaito owed him big time for this.

Shinichi glared at Kaito sourly. Kaito drew back, sweating nervously. "Wha-What?" He stammered intelligently. The thief winced as Shinichi's glare simply intensified. He cowered, terrified of bringing down Shinichi's wrath on himself. (What? People died around this guy on a daily basis! He had a right to be terrified!) "I didn't actually plan for that to happen!" He blurted out suddenly, huddling in a corner and mentally sobbing. "Well, I would have thought an internationally wanted thief like you would at least account for any possible alterations! Plus, I had to sit through Sonoko's rant about you – Kaitou KID – for fifteen minutes!" Shinichi's eyes flashed – Kaito personally thought that the detective looked like some sort of vengeful avenging angel or, more likely, death itself personified. The normally amiable detective's head abruptly and slowly swiveled around to face him, his expression dark and ominous. Kaito's eyes widened and he quickly clapped his hands over his mouth. Did he actually say that out loud? The panicked Kaito began to flail his arms wildly, babbling apologies and hiding from the other teen's barely concealed rage. Shincihi took a deep breath, attempting to restrain the cold fury flowing through his veins. But the terrified thief's panicked gibbering was not helping in any way.

Shinichi fixed Kaito with a deadpan glare. "Kaito. Shut up."

Kaito abruptly halted the flow of words and slew of gibbering apologies. Shinichi sighed for what seemed to be the twentieth time that day and ran his hand through his hair again, shifting the locks of hair tiredly and messing it up more than it already was.

"I guess I shouldn't blame you; after all, I really did want to see Ran again." A tentative smile blossomed across the teen detective's face. "Speaking of which, I should thank you for that. I know you were planning to be disguised as a waiter on your own." As quickly as his expression had changed to blissfully happy, it abruptly switched to considerably annoyed. "But if I have to sit through another one of Sonoko's spouts of admiration about Kaitou KID, I will beat you to death with a soccer ball. And you should know how capable I am of doing so." Shinichi accented this with a vengeful glare. Kaito whimpered and nodded his assent. He was never going to piss Shinichi off ever again. The detective was scary when provoked!

Ran seated herself at one of the tables, quietly thinking. The waiter she had met – was he actually Kaitou KID? There really wasn't a very large possibility that the attendant she had met this morning would somehow also be a waiter on the airship. She bit her lip, running over the theory in her mind. Could it be? That Russell was actually Kaitou KID in disguise? Ran's thoughts were interrupted as the said mysterious waiter entered the room to serve the dessert. Sonoko exclaimed in delight when her plate of cake was set in front of her. "Wah~! It looks so good!" She bit into a piece of the pastry, pleased. "What's this in between the whipped cream?" Ran stared at the aforementioned waiter thoughtfully, doubtful about his true identity. Another pleased exclamation erupted beside her. "Ah! It's blackberry!" Sonoko looked up, distracted from her fascination with the cake and noticed Ran's distracted visage. "Hm? Ran?" The addressed girl snapped out of her thoughts with a start. "Huh?" The Suzuki heiress made a sly face as she observed the object of Ran's thoughts. "Moving on already, hm? See something you like?" Ran flushed a dark red and rebuked Sonoko's observation, thoroughly flustered. "Sonoko!" She scolded. "It's nothing like that!" The karate champion reigned in her wildly rocketing blushes and attempted to regain some composure. "It's just that – he's the person I gave one of those bandages to!" Sonoko suddenly looked less teasing and a bit more serious. "Really? Did he notice?" Ran turned away, blushing slightly. "No, I don't think so. If he did, he hasn't said anything about it." Unnoticed, the object of their conversation sauntered over to offer drinks and refreshments.

"Would any of you ladies like anything else?"

The unexpected question from the very person they had been talking about shocked the two girls substantially. They both nearly jumped out of their chairs when his voice drifted from beside their table. "A-Ah – nothing, I'm fine." The girls stammered out negatives, flushing because of the fact that he had almost overheard their conversation and intruded upon it. The poor boy looked rather confused as he walked away, if his baffled glances back at them were any sign. Said perplexed waiter also nearly tripped over the stairs as he strode away. He caught himself, luckily, before he faceplanted at the feet of one Nakamori Ginzou and made a fool out of himself. Slightly ruffled, the waiter unsteadily carried himself out of the door, amid the muffled snickers.

Shinichi barely managed to keep a hold on his composure and pride. The flustered teen couldn't believe that he had actually fallen on his face – and at the feet of the leader of the KID task force to boot. Luckily, he had made it through with his pride still intact, although he did receive a considerable dent in his ego. Had Kaito been around to witness the event, he would have never lived it down. Shincihi groaned. Could things get any worse? (Bad idea, bad idea! Whenever that phrase comes to light something will go wrong!)

Almost immediately after the thought ran through his head, Kaito contacted him, telling that it had been revealed by a anonymous call that a virus had been let loose in the smoking room of the airship and two people were already infected. Shinichi stood, bewildered, in the men's bathroom slack jawed and wide eyed at the report. What the heck? Was he some sort of attractor to bad luck or something? (-cough, cough- YES.) The detective slammed his head against the bathroom stall and proceeded to knock the rhetorical voice out of his mind with a series of echoing thunks. He was not a bad luck charm! A sudden palpitation ran through his body and reminded him why he had locked himself in the stall. Shinichi slipped a hand into the waiter's vest to pull out a small water soluble pill. This was the temporary cure he was using, although it wasn't completely a cure either. It had come to his attention that ginseng triggered the change to human, although it was somewhat altered. The last time he had transformed into his human self for a few hours, he had cat ears and a tail, coupled along with not being able to speak. And that had just been with a miniscule, diluted amount of ginseng tea. This pill was a kind of ginseng in its full, almost natural form. He had Akako, the weird crazy witch lady, to thank for it, although he would do so grudgingly.

Suddenly, Kaito's voice sounded in his ear, whispering urgently. The airship had been hijacked by a terrorist group called the Red Siamese Cats. Suddenly, the seizures that signified the trigger between the change from human to cat started. After a few agonizing moments, it was over. The lithe feline wriggled out of the mound of clothes, staring at them in dissatisfaction. Not more than a minute later, he was tucking them away in a pouch that had supposedly appeared out of nowhere. Said pouch disappeared to wherever in came from in small, soundless cloud of smoke. With that, Russell bounded out from underneath the bathroom stall and stealthily slipped through the halls towards the lounge where everyone was located.

Shinichi couldn't help an ironic thought from floating through his mind – that a cat would be taking down the Red Siamese Cats.

A/N

Everything is winding up to the defeat of the terrorist group. It's almost the same plot as the fourteenth Detective Conan movie, but here, we have a cat working with Kaitou KID without Conan's fancy gadgets. The odds are tipped in the favor of the cat working with Kaitou KID, quite obviously. After all, the Red Siamese Cats just have guns, hostages, protective clothing, guns, weapons, sharp stuff, big machine guns and guns of other sizes... and did I mention guns? While KID and Russell have the element of surprise and cat instincts on their side... ah, who am I kidding? The scales are tipped in the Red Siamese Cats' favor. But hey, Russell's a cat, isn't he? Maybe that will count for something at least. Whoo! Go Russell! We all have faith in you! ...Right?

Oh yeah. -bows with a flourish- Thank you for the constructive criticism, for those of you that reviewed. It really opened my eyes to other ways to specify and continue my writings. And my writer's block was scared off. I don't think it's coming back anytime soon.