Chapter 10: Join me for a wild-goose chase

The next two weeks went past in an almost blissful peace. Or as Conan thought: It was damn boring. Even Kogoro was complaining about the lack of work, which was actually something that had surprised Conan for a moment.

In this time he hadn't seen much of Kaito, though they did write a lot. Kaito more than Conan, but the thief managed to pull him in quite a few conversations, despite the detectives reservations about the contact.

He now knew that Kaito Kid wasn't yet working. That meant his age was – just as he thought – between late High-School and university, just like he himself. The first thing he had noticed was that Kid liked sweets. Especially chocolate seemed to be an addiction to him, which would explain where the endless energy was coming from. From previous occasions he had deducted that his mother was or at least had once been, the Phantom Lady (was being a thief just in his genetics?). It wasn't surprising that Kid was doing magic tricks as his civilian identity as well, since Conan was sure the thief had to start young to get as good as he was and it would be strange to hide that hobby, since he must have trained a long time before he became Kaito Kid a few years prior. That meant he had to have contact with magicians at an early age, magicians willing to indulge and even show him some tricks. Likely someone close, like family or a family friend.

What he hadn't known was that Kid liked to tinker with stuff, thought he should have guessed it. Someone had to repair that hang glider and other stuff he broke on his heists. He could also handle chemicals quite well, but it seemed baking on his own caused explosions or something... unsightly. He wasn't quite sure but he had made a mental note to never let Kid bake something at his place. Just in case.

It were only a few little things he had managed to draw out of the thief, but it made him seem a lot more... real. And human. He was not sure he liked getting closer to Kid, but felt drawn at the same time. It was disconcerting, but in secret he had to admit that he had been struggling between being annoyed and fond of the thief for a long time.

He himself had been reluctant to part with information of himself too. For one: He was a private person. And for another: He didn't want to give Kid more information about himself, so that the thief could dress up as him even better. No need to help perfect Kid's Shinichi Kudo disguise.

But he had let slip a few facts. That he wasn't really a morning person and liked coffee, or that sometimes he just wanted some peace and quiet, away from the mayhem that usually seemed to follow him. Or that he liked to isolate himself for a weekend to read a new book of one of the detective series.

In a particularly morose mood he had even admitted that sometimes it was... tiring to act the child all the time.

He was surprised how easy it was to confess stuff, that he normally kept to himself, by writing. A lot easier than it was to tell someone in person. After he had revealed that to Kid, he had been more careful not to let even more past his barrier. And that was probably why the majority of his text after that day had been useless drivel about his day, and that nothing was going on, and how useless going to elementary school again it was.

Maybe his consistent complains of being bored to the gentleman thief were at least one of the reasons why there was another announcement for a heist, so soon after the last one. Well, actually the time had practically flown by, as it had been about a month since the last heist.

Right now Conan was sitting in front of the TV, having scrambled to get his notebook and pen to write the notice that had been sent down accurately. While he could have remembered it, sometimes it was good to write stuff down. Especially since Ran wouldn't get suspicious about a Kid heist notice, knowing that Conan enjoyed taking part in the hunt.

Or... he had. Right now he was a little... confused about how to handle that. Maybe not confused because if Kid thought that he wouldn't give his all just because they had been talking a little, he would get knocked over by his loyal black and white leather rather quickly. But he had gotten to know Kid a little better, it felt... strange to go to a heist, as if the line that had always separated them had become a little blurred. Kaito – Kid, he reminded himself because he had to keep those two apart (he had a new insight how Heiji must feel calling him Kudo or Conan now. It sucked.) - was actually really nice. It made Conan itch with curiosity why exactly he had begun to steal. When they were together, it didn't seem as if Kaito … Kid was inclined to steal anything from his surroundings, so he was at least not a kleptomaniac. So why had he taken up the 8 years previously abandoned phantom thief's job? He could have surly made a name of his own. That he hadn't done exactly that, indicated that he had somehow been connected to the first, maybe even learned under him and that was why he was able to even make Nakamori-keibu believe he was the same person.

Not that it was hard to deceive anyone of the Task-Force (safe maybe Hakuba, but even there he wasn't sure. Hakuba was just too focused on one idea and unwilling to mull over every possibility, allowing for more mistakes to happen).

But all that was only conjecture on his side.

Mulling over the new riddle he now held in his hand he rather quickly had the target and (because he knew where the target was) location. The time needed an extra minute to contemplate, but the riddle was rather straight forward in his opinion.

"Yosh!" looking up he saw Kogoro pumping a fist in the air "I, Kogoro Mouri will lend my aid to Nakamori-keibu once again!"

Looking at the display that Kogoro made while flexing muscles at … well air, he sighed. It seemed Kogoro was bored enough to try and get involved himself, that would allow Conan to get close to the Task-Force without having to invent a reason for himself. Weighing his options he decided to allow Kogoro to run rampant this time. It was a Kid heist and there was not much damage the older detective could do. He would probably stick to Nakamori, throw out a few ridiculous theories of his and allow Conan to do whatever he wanted to do. Perfect.

Hopping from the sofa he quickly slipped on his outdoor clothes, grabbing his phone and a pen and waited for the drunkard at the door.

"Tch. Brat. Where do you think you are going, hm?" Kogoro muttered unhappily in his direction while pulling on his own shoes.

Widening his eyes for effect he stared at him aghast for a moment before replying "But... Ran-nee-chan is not here..."

"So what?"

"She won't be here for dinner either because of her Karate-Club..." widening his eyes a bit more he added in a small voice "She said to get dinner together!"

"Tch." unhappily Kogoro waved Conan to follow him and the child grinned behind the adults back. Score. Not even Kogoro wanted to explain to his daughter why Conan had to go to bed hungry.

Happily he trailed after the older man, thought for a moment to text Kaito but refrained. If the thief didn't manage to gather enough intel about Conan being at the heist, he deserved whatever was coming for him. Conan had no intention of making this any easier on the thief, by giving him freebies. Keep private separate from work.

Looking at the Task force preparations he sometimes wondered how they managed to do anything at all. Nakamori-keibu's voice could be heard about everything else. People were rushing about with books or pulling their hair in front of computers.

So... maybe the riddle wasn't so straight forward for others.

Blinking he took in the whole scene with bemusement, gaze flickering from the male alpha posturing that Kogoro and Nakamori took part in, to the general chaos around the office.

Hurriedly he took a scared step back towards the wall, because otherwise he would have been mowed over by an overly enthusiastic Task Force member.

This... zone was a safely hazard.

Especially for kids half the size of an adult. He didn't even seem to register for some people here.

The door next to him opened with force, that slammed the door against the wall hard enough that there must have been some damage left behind.

"Yahoo!" a female voice greeted cheerfully, and Conan watched – and had to do a double take – as someone who closely resembled Ran entered the office with a stack of Bentos piled in her arms.

Suddenly half the office clamored around the gill, it was like it was feeding time in a zoo.

Conan barely escaped with his life intact. What was going on with this division?!

Suddenly the girl looked back, outside the door, "Kaito? Hey, Kaito, where are you?" looking left and right she frowned and picked up some more Bentos from the ground, but didn't seem to miss whatever person had apparently gone missing. If she was shrugging it off like that it was probably safe to assume it happened a lot and Conan put it out of his mind.

K-A-I-T-O

Around a corner Kaito was taking some deep breaths. That had been damn close. If possible he wanted to avoid meeting Conan with his real identity for now.

It had been somewhat of a shock to see the small child detective in Nakamori-keibu's territory.

Well, he had anticipated Conan coming to his heist. He had not thought Conan would come to Nakamori's office at once, just half an hour after the news spread word of his notice.

Maybe he had underestimated just how bored Conan really was right now.

The past few weeks had allowed him to see sides of Conan that not many got to know. His – admittedly reckless – offer of friendship had been a spontaneous idea, that he hadn't really thought through all that much (while he had plans, he just worked better on his feet, adapting to a situation).

He had actually not thought that Conan would honestly be interested in it, he had seen that the detective's agreement had more to do with his lack of sleep than his willingness to get to know Kaito. Even now, they were both very careful what to reveal to each other. Because their situation was not exactly ideal for a trusting relationship to form. They trusted each other... but only in certain situations, trusted that the other wouldn't want innocents to get in harms way, to do their best to help in a crisis. Trusting each other with personal details about their daily lifes? Not that much.

His offer had crossed the lines that had separated them as thief and detective. But the more he got to know Conan, the less he was inclined to break it off. He really liked the child-detective, and yes, he was worried about him. Some comments of Conan let him peek at the current mindset he was in, the pressure he had to act under. He had not thought about it much, but Conan had now – and had been for two years – acting as a child, without many people finding out about him.

Kaito was sure Tantei-han was in the know, but he was in Osaka and Kaito doubted he really understood Conans situation. He might sympathize, but he had not been in that situation and did not understand.

He himself was unsure what said situation was. All he knew was, that Conan was hiding. And there were some bad people after him. The situation reminded him a lot of his own, except that he could continue to live his civilian identity's life in peace, while Conan had to watch Shinichi Kudou's life slowly fall apart due to stagnation of not being there to live it.

Hattori probably knew about the whole situation. Conans parents probably too. But other than that? He suspected that the Professor that lived next door to Shinichi Kudou's house might be involved (no sane person would give a normal child shoes that would make anything placed in front of the detectives feet a missile with enough strength to kill people and keep going, not to mention all the other gadgets Conan had.)

And while he was curious, he had decided that for now he would wait, try to get Conan to trust him and be let in on the secret willingly, instead of digging for everything himself. He had probably set himself up for a wait of years, but as Conan had said: he had not gone around digging more about Kaito's civilian identity, and he wanted the same courtesy applied to him. That much Kaito was willing to do, because he did respect Conan, as an equal, a rival and eventual friend.

Still, there had been small things that Conan had revealed.

He had not been surprised that Conan was well read, loved detective novels and mysteries. Duh.

What he had almost not believed was that Conan had also read Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin. He had goggled at that bit of information for quite some time. Even more so when Conan had actually complimented the book.

Afterwards he was not that surprised, but still...

Another piece of information was, that Conan liked classical music. He didn't exactly have a favorite instrument, though he did say he quite liked the violin. One of his favorite pieces was Amazing grace, because of fond memories he had not further explained.

That was not to say he didn't like other music. He had admitted to like Two Mix, and a few other bands, but had also said that he was not really following the news actively and mostly got to know something new due to Ran.

Pushing himself off the wall, he put in an earpiece, that was connected to the microphone that Aoko had brought in with her Bentos.

Absentminded he listened to whatever was said in the room, while heading to a vending machine to get something to drink.

Since most of what was said was useless, because they hadn't yet managed to find out anything (but Kaito was now more straining to hear the voice of a child anyways), he continued his previous line of thought, while sipping on a soda can.

Sometimes, and Kaito thought that maybe Conan himself didn't quite realize it himself, the words the small child send him were dripping in sadness. Or loneliness. At those times, Kaito tried to distract the trouble-maker with jokes and riddles and sometimes just ridiculous stories, even if he actually felt the urge to go over and kidnap Conan and show him how beautiful the world still was. Because Conan seemed to forget that sometimes, between murders, blood and gore.

It was disturbing, but he felt... close to Conan. Closer than many others in his life, because while he could live rather peacefully during daytime, just like Conan he couldn't show his full character. Because, by now, being Kaitou Kid was as much him as being Kuroba Kaito. And not being able to tell his friends, lying to them... that put an invisible barrier between them. Sometimes it made him feel isolated. Like standing outside and looking through a window into a living room, seeing a family gathering.

It was rather strange, not only did Shinichi Kudou look rather similar to him, they could also relate to each others circumstances. Maybe that was why it was so easy to dress up as Shinichi Kudo (well... that and it was hilarious to see Conans reaction).

His attention was piqued when he heard the high tone of Conans voice in the middle of those gruff voices that he knew from the Task Force. Putting a hand to his ear he tried to shield it from the noise in his surroundings and press on the earphone to hear better.

"Ah-le-le~" Conans voice was weak, but to be heard at all he had to be near Nakamori-keibu, whose Bento he had bugged.

"Damn brat! Give that back!"

"That's Kid-sans notice, right?!" he sounded like an exited child. There was a crash and some loud cursing.

"Hey brat! Put that back!"

"Yeees." some low muttering could be heard, none of which should be said in the vicinity of a child. Kaito's lips twitched despite himself, but since no one was around it was all right.

"That's strange..." some minutes later the child-detective once again said, his only answer was a grumpy grunt, probably Nakamori again.

"Look at the title, Kid doesn't normally make statements like that just for fun, right? Join me for a wild goose-chase?"

"So what?"

This time Conan sounded a bit frustrated, probably because he had to lead someone around on the hand for something that was quite obvious to himself.

"Well... why a goose? Why not a pig? Or an elephant?"

"Because it's how the saying goes. That's why."

Kaito would love to see the detective's face right now. Sometimes you had to hit Nakamori literally in the face with the meaning of some of his riddles.

"Yes." this time he sounded a little impatient, though he covered it quickly by adding "Right. I knew that." the thief didn't know if he should pity Conan, or award him a medal. Because despite being waved off and more or less ignored, he stubbornly tried again some minutes later.

"Uncle Kogoro!" his voice was raised, so he probably wanted to be overheard.

"Say, say..." Kaito could imagine Conan pulling at Kogoro's sleeve to get his attention "Do you think we can go to the Haido Art Museum soon? Ran-nee-chan was talking with Sonoko-nee-chan that there is a new exhibition... they have some cool jewelry boxes, some even play music! And some have strange forms, like eggs. Oh, I think she said there was even a goose-egg with pretty jewels ..."

Okay, that was literally hitting them in the face with his target, but Kaito couldn't be annoyed about it because Conan had tried to be subtle about it. Right now Conans ramblings got drowned out as the Task Force's attention focused on the innocent words and the office descended in chaos. Nakamori shouted orders, his underlings rushed around, doors opened and closed. Wait... doors? There was only one door and it lead outside.

Taking a peek around the corner he saw Conan just gaining his balance after stepping out of the room. Wiping his bow and looking deeply traumatized by the action within the room.

But soon after, he whirled around, looking left and right, searching...

Kaito ducked back around the corner and cursed in his head. Right. Conan's freaky radar-like ability of knowing when he was watched or where a crime happened. Better to keep a distance and not raise unnecessary attention, because he just knew that Conan would know who he was the instant he saw him. If Conan could easily find him when he dressed up as a girl on a street, he would undoubtedly know it if he was Kaito Kuroba, who looked a lot like Shinichi Kudo. There were only so many people with nearly the same face after all.

Small, nearing steps made him freeze. Then in a fit of inspiration he plastered himself to the ceiling and pressed his eyes close. He was air. He was not even here. And he was definitely not watching Conan, so don't look up creepy little all-seeing detective. Weeell. If Conan looked up, it would be interesting to find an excuse for what he was doing right now. Meditation?

After some tense seconds he could hear the steps come around the corner, then the rattling of the vending machine as a soda can hit the ground, then the steps retreated.

Feeling dizzy, he allowed himself to breathe again. Close shave. Better get out of here and listen from afar, where he wouldn't run risk of being discovered.

A/N:

On good notes: Still getting ideas for this Story :D So don't worry, it will continue

On bad news:
I've reached the end of mypre written chapters now. Real life just got busy and I will have to switch to irregular chapters from now on, instead of posting it every two weeks :( Sorry about that. Annoyed at myself (｡ ︵ ಠ╬)
I've already written a lot of Scenes for later chapters, I just Need to connect them slowly to the beginning ^^

Chapter 11: A merry chase, update date still unknown, but I do hope you will enjoy it when it finally Comes out!