Disclaimer: None of the recognizable characters in this chapter belong to me.
Chapter 10: Black Knight to F6; Check
The next afternoon, Riku paused in his reading as familiar voices drifted into earshot.
"Oh, c'mon! Please?"
"I don't know…"
"We're going to have to leave again soon, and it's not that far away…"
"But what about homework?"
"There's not that much for tomorrow, and we can do it together on the train. Come on, it's been a long time since we've gone there, and I'm sure he'd be glad to have you along, too!"
"I suppose…"
"You too, Hakuba-kun! Right, Aoko?"
"Uh? Oh, yes! Please, Saguru-kun?"
"I really don't think—"
"Have you even been there yet?"
"Well, no, but-"
"So come on, then!"
"We'll have to call home and tell them we'll be out…"
"That's easy enough. You have your cell phone, don't you?"
"How would we even get there?"
"Oh, that's easy! We know the train route!"
Riku blinked and pushed his sunglasses up his nose as Kaito fairly bounced over to the bus stop bench, once more pulling Aoko and Hakuba with him.
"We," the young magician announced, "are going on a little trip right now." Riku looked at the other two for an explanation, but Kaito promptly clapped a hand over their mouths. "Ah, ah, ah… No spoiling it!" He grinned at Riku, but looked between Aoko and Hakuba authoritatively. "It's a surprise."
"So I gathered. You three don't need to study for tomorrow?"
"Nothing that can't wait. All we've got left is English, and we all need a break for a while, anyway."
"…All right."
"Then come on! You're gonna like it, Riku-kun. Promise."
Following Kaito's lead, they notified the relevant parental figures of their day out, although in such a way that gave no hints to their destination. Throughout the entire train ride, Kaito monopolized Hakuba and Aoko's attention by arguing about the various answers to their homework. They left Riku to continue reading his book, smiling occasionally at their antics. Kaito was in rare form, filling the discussion with word games and puns, much to the others' resigned amusement.
Finally, they reached the right station and Kaito ushered them outside. The walked a few blocks, and then turned the corner. Riku stopped dead at the sight of the horizon, and the sheer amount of blue leading out to it. Kaito grinned proudly.
"I remembered you looking the other day, and thought you'd like to see it a bit closer up."
Riku couldn't say anything at first, his thoughts too full of memories of an island that should have been breaking the smooth line of the horizon. But even without it… this was home. He hadn't realized how much he hated always being so closed in by the city until now, how much he missed the open sky and sea. Aoko stepped up beside them, now smiling as well, all of her earlier reservations evidently gone. Even Hakuba looked reassured that they'd done the right thing, so his thunderstruck expression must have been interpreted as a good sign.
All Riku could do was smile at the three of them. "…Thanks."
Had Riku been any shorter, he suspected Kaito would have slung an arm over his shoulders. The boy settled for companionably clapping a hand on Riku's shoulder blade and guiding him across the last few streets to where concrete yielded to sand. Then, abruptly, he dropped his schoolbag and took off running, calling behind him:
"Race you!"
"Cheater!" Riku ran after him, long legs eating up the gap between them as they dodged around other beachgoers in their path. It was a short beach, however, and they skidded to a halt at the water's edge almost simultaneously, laughing.
"I won!" Kaito cheered exuberantly, ignoring Riku's protests to the contrary. After a moment a faintly reminiscent smile appeared on Riku's face.
"I guess that makes the score zero to one, doesn't it?" he said slowly.
Kaito gave him a questioning look, then seemed connect some of Riku's other comments to this one, and smirked. "You bet it is. I'm sorry the water's not that great for swimming," he added apologetically as Riku bent to dip his hand in the water. If the islands were anything to go by, the temperature wouldn't warm up until the middle of summer.
Riku looked up, even though Kaito had turned to watch Hakuba and Aoko rather than meet his eyes. Kaito didn't seem to want to talk about it, but it looked like he really had been thinking about what Riku had said about his friendships earlier.
"It's great."
Saguru and Aoko crossed the beach at a more sedate pace, carrying the three schoolbags and Riku's book with them.
"You'd think with his personality, he'd be more restrained." He nodded at the water's edge, where Yuushi had just flung a handful of surf in Kuroba's direction, earning a shout.
"I guess the ocean brings out the kid in Riku-san," she replied.
Watching them, Saguru briefly wondered why he and Aoko had been invited along. The trip was obviously for Yuushi's sake, and he didn't really know anyone but Kuroba very well… Saguru nearly stumbled. Kuroba was doing to Yuushi what both Aoko and Kuroba had been doing to him ever since he moved to Japan: dragging him into social contact, and to have fun. Kuroba really was a sneak.
The beautiful spring day was unusually warm, and quite a lot of people seemed to have also decided to take advantage of it. A significant portion of the beach had already been claimed by bags, towels, and various sunbathers. Setting the bags down well above the tide line, near one of the collections of large rocks scattered along the beach, Aoko quickly ran barefoot to join the other boys. Saguru methodically took off his shoes and socks and cuffed his pants before approaching the water's edge. They spent a while bantering and wading in the shallow water. At Aoko's request, Yuushi told them a few stories about growing up by the ocean and some of the mischief he and his friends had gotten up to when they were kids.
Soon, Yuushi somehow convinced the other three to help him hunt for shells while it was still mostly low tide. Saguru suspected the culprit was Yuushi's current unusual enthusiasm. After Yuushi and Kuroba dropped their shoes with their other things, the four of them wandered around the beach in a loosely connected group, splitting and meeting up several times. Saguru picked up one or two shells that caught his attention, since he'd been telling the truth when he'd said that he hadn't visited any of Japan's beaches before. However, he quickly became far more interested in watching Kuroba and Yuushi. Both of them were being extremely annoying enigmas.
Whenever Yuushi went too long without seeing Kuroba, he would tense up and look around, relaxing only when he located the younger boy. Kuroba, for his part, exhibited more subtle seeking behavior, but still casually scanned the area every few minutes to confirm where Yuushi was, and to lesser extent Aoko and Saguru. Then, although his previous behavior had shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that he felt comfortable around Yuushi, whenever the three of them met up again to compare finds, Kuroba would hang back slightly. After a while Saguru realized that Kuroba had been avoiding making eye contact with Yuushi since school let out.
It was all rather bewildering. He'd never known anyone who could affect Kuroba's behavior and Yuushi was, simply by his presence. And he didn't think either of them were even aware of what they were doing.
The next time they met up he approached Kuroba, who was watching the water, as Aoko showed off her latest find to Yuushi.
"Having a staring contest with the fish? Any threatening to wriggle their little fishy selves up the beach to terrorize you?"
Kuroba paused, giving him a considering look. He'd been doing that a lot lately, too. There was an odd new undercurrent to their dynamic that didn't seem related to the heist tomorrow, a tension that focused somehow on Aoko and himself. All of it combined was enough to give Saguru a headache.
"Oh, no, just imagining what it would be like to dunk you in the surf."
Saguru smirked. "Unlikely."
"I don't know," Yuushi began, catching Saguru's eye with a glint of mischief, "it could be… interesting."
Kuroba started to grin, having missed the exchange occurring behind him. Saguru took a split-second to contemplate how odd it was for him to actually be considering this... and then nodded. If Yuushi and Kuroba were picking today to act out of the ordinary, then so could he.
Realizing their plan, Aoko clapped her hands over her mouth as Yuushi silently counted to three with his fingers. Then they each grabbed an arm and a leg, Yuushi compensating for Saguru's shorter stature, and picked Kuroba completely off the damp sand. He had no time for more than a squawk of surprise as they ran a few steps forward and heaved him into the next incoming wave, retreating to avoid getting wet themselves.
Kuroba broke the surface of the water, sputtering, and surged toward shore. Shoving his limp hair out of his eyes, he stopped at the edge of the waves and stared openmouthed at Saguru, realizing exactly what had happened. Aoko's laughter augmented the other boys' satisfied expressions.
"I think we broke his brain," Yuushi commented with amusement, when Kuroba remained frozen.
"Well, if I'd known this was all it took, I'd have done it much sooner," Saguru shot back, not taking his eyes from Kuroba in case retaliation was forthcoming. The magician had a wicked prankster streak, and never took being a target lying down.
Kuroba's eyes narrowed, darting back and forth between them. He moved without warning, and Saguru suddenly found himself trapped in a cold, soaking wet hug. In only a few seconds his school uniform absorbed an excessive amount of salt water, and with an evil little chuckle Kuroba thoroughly mussed his hair before releasing him to chase after Yuushi. The man had taken advantage of Saguru's plight to gain a head start, but Kuroba was a fast runner.
Observing the brief chase, Saguru realized that whatever was making Kuroba more twitchy than usual couldn't be Yuushi. They acted like normal friends, provided you took into account that Kuroba was a part of the equation. Kuroba obviously trusted him and relaxed around him, to the point where Yuushi could sneak up on him, of all things.
Saguru very carefully buried the thought, along with any implications thereof, that Kuroba had just treated him exactly the same way.
Aoko, of course, got off scot-free. She was Aoko.
After Kuroba managed to catch Yuushi, things settled down for a while. Saguru pulled out one of the extra-curricular books in his briefcase and perched on a flat rock by their belongings, hoping to dry out quickly beneath the sun. Luckily, there was very little breeze even when he was facing the ocean, so being wet wasn't too much of an inconvenience. Kuroba went in search of a towel, or barring that, a snack, and Aoko took it upon herself to show Riku the tide pools located down the beach in the direction they hadn't been yet. The pools were close enough that Saguru could still keep an eye on them both, and he glanced up occasionally from his book to see them happily engrossed in exploring among the rocky shore.
When he looked up again a while later, one of the many large rocks near the tide pools hid the pair from view. Although it normally wouldn't have mattered to him much, something about the way Kuroba had been acting made him feel vaguely uneasy about it now, and before he realized it he was moving to catch sight of them again. Climbing around a few rocks to find a better position, he was startled to discover Kuroba had been sitting nearby, on a rock slightly above and behind him. The dark-haired boy sat with one leg drawn up, leaning his shoulder against another rock beside him. Though partially obscured by the rocks, he was angled so that he could still keep an eye on Riku and Aoko, and, Saguru realized, himself.
Kuroba hadn't acknowledged his presence, face still turned towards the tide pools, where Saguru could now see the other two kneeling down to get a closer look. In that moment, he was struck by how weary Kuroba looked, quiet and drawn in on himself but still watching out for them. And something more, too, that same odd undertone he'd been unable to quite identify.
At one time, he would have been highly tempted to try and wring some answers out of the magician while his guard was down. Now, almost to his own surprise, he went back for his other book and walked over to sit next to Kuroba.
"Yuushi-san and Aoko-kun seem to be having a lot of fun at the tide pools," he began, keeping his voice casual. "It's not my sort of thing, though, so I brought a couple of books. Would you like to borrow one?"
He hadn't really expected much of an answer, not with their mutual dance of caution and suspicion revolving around his unanswered accusations about Kid. But Kuroba looked like he could use some company.
"…Okay."
Saguru paused, unable to believe he'd actually heard what he thought he had.
"Really?"
Kuroba turned his head to face him, and while behind the faint shadows there was still an odd glint in his eyes, there was a sliver of genuine warmth in his smile. "Of course. That's what friends do, isn't it?"
Saguru's had to stop his jaw from dropping, and he bit down on the demand 'Who are you and what have you done with Kuroba?' that automatically sprang to mind. Instead, he silently held out his reading choices.
"The Hound of the Baskervilles?" Kuroba raised an eyebrow, but his voice held no edge. "How original."
Hakuba shrugged. "Unless you'd prefer Forensic Entomology: Maggots and You, by Dr. Grissom, or Robert Goren's dissertation on the criminal mind, but I'd planned on getting through that one today. Not that I think they'll have any really comparable case studies…" he added, and then smirked internally when Kuroba perked up. He held out the spiral bound dissertation without comment, and when Kuroba took it from him picked up the Holmes mystery for himself.
Kuroba drew up his other leg to support the open book and avidly began to read, glancing up every few pages in the direction of the tide pools. Assured that Kuroba had a handle on things, Saguru allowed himself to become engrossed in Watson's narrative and lost track of time. The next time he looked around, Kuroba's head rested against the rock with his hand laying slack beside him.
Kuroba was asleep.
Kuroba acting friendly was one thing. Letting his guard down enough to fall asleep in his rival's company was something else entirely. His borrowed book was starting to slip off his lap, and Saguru instinctively reached to re-stabilize it. Only after he pulled his hand away did Saguru realize that Kuroba had barely even twitched at the close proximity to his person.
He swallowed. If he wanted, he could take a DNA sample from Kuroba to test against the sample he'd gotten from Kid months ago, and Kuroba'd be none the wiser. Kuroba had to have known that. And he'd fallen asleep beside him anyway.
Not only that… Saguru blinked, turning his head back toward the tide pools, where Riku and Aoko were still exploring. Given how on-edge Kuroba had been all afternoon, this amounted to his not only trusting Saguru with himself while his defenses were down, but also entrusting him to watch over two of the most important people in his life.
The entire situation was mind-boggling.
Watching him, Saguru was further struck by how unbelievably innocent Kuroba looked while sleeping. The innocent mask that tended to frame his eyes was so good that if Saguru didn't know it wasn't true, there were times he would almost believe it… but this was in an entirely different league.
Saguru stiffened as what he was seeing really sank in. This was Kuroba without a mask.
The magician seemed to make a hobby of turning his world upside down. Ruefully but not unfondly, he whispered under his breath: "What am I going to do with you…?"
Kuroba didn't answer.
Since Kuroba looked so exhausted, Saguru simply let him sleep, honoring the implicit transfer of responsibility by checking on Riku and Aoko every few pages. He finished the mystery and began the book on forensic entomology, wishing he could continue the criminology dissertation but not wanting to risk disturbing Kuroba. The magician didn't wake up until quite some time later, when Aoko ran toward them, calling his name excitedly. Saguru pretended not to notice as the other boy performed a quick inventory of who, where, why, how, and 'what's going on?!'. By the time Aoko reached them Kuroba had re-oriented himself, and Saguru couldn't help but notice that while still tired, he looked far better than before.
"Come see, come see!" Aoko exclaimed, beckoning. Saguru stood, brushing sand off his clothes and tucking his books under his arm. Kuroba closed his book and hauled himself upright, slinging an arm around Aoko's shoulders. The smile he gave her seemed much more genuine than it had been earlier in the day.
"All right, what's this amazing sight you don't want us to miss?"
Aoko didn't reply, but grabbed Saguru's free hand as well before he could avoid her. Saguru suppressed a sigh as she dragged them both towards the tide pools. Kuroba and Aoko had both known him long enough to recognize his discomfort at being touched, but they seemed to ignore the fact with such suspiciously cheerful abandon, he sometimes felt they went out of their way to do so. Especially Kuroba.
His thoughts were interrupted by said annoyance exclaiming, "Ooh, takoyaki on the hoof!"
Following Kuroba's gaze, Saguru realized they were watching a small octopus wander through the pools. He smirked. "I think it looks like you, Kuroba. Have any relatives you never told us about? A distant cousin, perhaps?"
"There are worse things to be related to," Kuroba replied with a shameless grin.
"Like fish?"
"Hey it's getting away! After it, Aoko!"
The octopus had darted beneath some rocks, evidently a natural tunnel between two of the pools. Laughing, Kuroba and Aoko climbed over them to follow the creature's progress. Saguru watched them with a growing sense of satisfaction. Maybe for just a little while, Kuroba could bury his worries and act like a normal teenager. As normal as Kuroba ever got, anyway.
A hand touched his shoulder and he turned to find Yuushi standing behind him. Did neither of them know how to make noise when they moved? The man smiled softly, knowingly, and then gave an acknowledging nod of thanks.
In that instant, something seemed to shift. Saguru could have sworn he almost saw something else… someone else… but then Yuushi turned away, and the sensation vanished as if it had never been.
Saguru tried to figure out what the smile and nod were for, then remembered that even at the tide pools, he'd seen Yuushi look around to confirm Kuroba's location every once in a while. In fact, he'd probably made sure he and Aoko stayed in line of sight for the entire time. He would have noticed Kuroba sleeping, and if the man knew half as much about the magician as Saguru suspected he did, he would have recognized the significance.
By the time the octopus disappeared and showed no signs of coming out again, it was almost sunset. Picking their way back along the rocks carefully, the quartet returned to their things and sat together on the sand, watching the sky change.
"Hey, Kaito," Aoko said after a while, once the palette of colors had begun darkening towards the purple-black of night.
"Hm?" Stretched out with his hands behind his head, Kuroba turned his head slightly towards her.
"Daddy was wondering if you could come to the museum tomorrow and look over the security system from a magician's point of view, because Kid's a magician, too. I'd ask you, Riku-san—" she added quickly, but Yuushi interjected:
"But I'm not even a proper magician."
"Right. People are professionally recognizing Kaito now, but he's not well-known enough that anyone from the International Police would recognize him."
"He doesn't want to advertise that he's consulting with a magician, then?"
She shook her head. "No. He doesn't want them to look down on the Task Force. It's already bad enough that Kid humiliates them every heist," she said with a flash of anger, then calmed. "You can just come as my friend when I take him an early dinner tomorrow night."
"Sure, I can do that."
Saguru pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ward off a headache. Letting Kuroba anywhere near the museum was a bad idea, but it wasn't like he had any influence. Especially not with having international allies interfere. He was lucky Nakamori acquiesced to his father's wishes and allowed Saguru relatively free access to Kid heists, otherwise he probably would have been banned from the heist tomorrow. He still couldn't believe Kuroba was getting a free pass into the museum and straight to the jewel, though.
"I'll probably be there around then, too," he declared, eyeing Kuroba. The other boy just grinned.
"Well, if we're all going to be there, can I bring Riku-kun?"
"That's right, talk about me like I'm a piece of luggage again, why don't you."
Aoko laughed. "I guess that would probably be all right. I can't promise Daddy'll be very friendly—bears have nicer growls than he does on a heist night—but I doubt you'll be in the way."
"Sounds fine, then. Meet you at the museum?"
"Yeah." She stretched her arms. "Time to go home, I think. He might burn dinner without me."
As they gathered their things, Kuroba handed Saguru the dissertation. "Thanks. I think I'd like to borrow and finish it sometime."
Saguru eyed him, unsure what to think of the other boy anymore. That tentative trust had been astounding, even a bit humbling… but he'd been uncomfortably aware the entire trip how unusual everything was being. Was the day just a momentary impulse from Kuroba, with the walls destined to go up again as if it had never happened?
Did Kuroba believe that their cautious de-armament was real?
The conversational games between them made up too much of their history to just set aside, and to be honest he found them too much fun to really want to try. But would Kuroba notice if for once they really were no more than a game? He'd held back his reflexive taunt at the rocks, too surprised and then reluctant to risk shattering the fragile peace between them earlier, but now he suddenly wanted to know if it was true. Whether the magician got defensive, or if he saw that the teasing, for once, held no hidden, probing edge…
"Are you proofreading it?"
The words slipped out lightly before he could think better of it. To his relief, Kuroba's mildly surprised expression wasn't accompanied by immediate withdrawal or slamming up of masks. The dark-haired teen gave him a mock dirty look, but it seemed they both recognized he'd left himself wide open for it. Then Kuroba grinned.
"Yes, actually. He misspelled 'propriety' on page 214."
Aoko and Yuushi both sniggered. The traitors.
They parted ways after the return train ride. Kuroba claimed his mother had asked him to do some shopping before going home, so he and Yuushi went off together the same way they'd been doing all week. Saguru walked Aoko home again, even though Kuroba used to be the one who'd done so after they'd done something together. Aoko's house was far closer to Kuroba's than to his own, after all. Perhaps that was why she seemed unusually subdued.
"What do you think of Yuushi-san?" he asked on a whim, wanting to compare her opinion to his own. She'd spend much of the afternoon alone in the man's company, after all, and may have seen something he had not. Aoko was silent for a few minutes, swinging her schoolbag thoughtfully.
"He's not what I thought he'd be like. I kept forgetting he's older than we are, for one thing. There's no question why he and Kaito get along so well." She chuckled, then looked down at her feet. "Kaito changed while he was gone, you know? And I think it's because he met Riku-san. Kaito's… comfortable around him. And now Kaito's getting more comfortable around you, too."
She smiled at Saguru, almost cheerfully. "It's good to see you getting along better. It would be nice if he'd be that way with me, too, but… at least he's opening up to someone. It's important that he can have someone to rely on."
She turned back to face forward, and Saguru shook his head, unnoticed.
"To be honest, Aoko-kun… I'm not even entirely sure why we're getting along. And you don't have to fake your smile just for me."
She looked up at him, wide-eyed. "I mean—That is…"
"Detective, remember?" He smirked. "And trust me, you do matter to him. You probably didn't notice this, but at school, since Kuroba-kun came back… the only time I've seen the tightness around his eyes really go away is when you chase him with your mop."
She paused, then gained a shy little pleased smile. "Really?"
He nodded, glad to see some spring come back into her step. He still wondered sometimes about Kuroba and Aoko's unusual relationship. They both obviously cared about each other, had been close friends almost their entire lives… and yet Kuroba kept a wall between them that she couldn't breach. To protect himself. To protect her.
"Now, if only he'd figure out that Kid is a jerk!"
Saguru succumbed to a short choking fit at the unexpected declaration. Once recovered, he wondered briefly if Aoko would have a heart attack if he said the Kid seemed to have a reason for what he did.
"I'm afraid Kuroba-kun is a lost cause with that one, Aoko-kun."
She sighed. "I wish he wasn't leaving again so soon. But I guess a week off all at once is a lot, isn't it? Even if he has to be working a lot to be gone all the time…"
Saguru didn't answer. That was odd. Kuroba's behavior had distracted him from the fact that the magician was going to leave again. But that didn't make any sense. He didn't believe Kuroba's story about magicians, so why did he leave in the first place? Where did he go, and now that he had returned, why was he leaving again?
…What could possibly be more important to Kuroba than whatever he was trying to accomplish as Kid?
And where did Yuushi fit into it all?
Because Kaito planned to return directly after school, Riku stayed home on Friday and took an unofficial driving test from Mizuki. Their initial plan to delay Hakuba seemed to have been thwarted, but it certainly couldn't hurt to have access to a car if they wanted. Driving was a far more legitimate mode of speedy transportation than the corridors, after all, and involved no awkward questions.
She complemented him on his hard work over the past week (it was amazing what hours of practice every day could do for competency), gave him a long quiz on road safety, and admonished him to be careful. He more than most didn't want to get pulled over — no matter how good the forgery, a driver's license wouldn't be much help when his identity didn't exist anywhere but on that card.
"Thank you for your understanding," Riku offered when they had finished. She smiled at him from the passenger seat.
"If I didn't understand that sometimes breaking a few rules is necessary, I would never have allowed Toichi to become the Kid."
"You what?" Riku asked, startled.
"You didn't think Toichi was always the Kid, did you?" she laughed.
"Even though we talked about him before, I suppose I never really thought about it. You knew him before he was Kid, then?"
"Oh, yes. It's a bit of a long story, though. Would you indulge an old woman?"
"Hardly old," he pointed out. "But if you would like to tell me, I'd be honored to hear more about Toichi-san."
"Memories can make you old. And these memories," she added decisively, opening the car door, "are best shared over a cup of tea."
A short while later they sat together in the den with cups of tea, Mizuki curled up at one end of the couch and Riku slightly sprawled at the other.
"Do you know, I've never told these things to Kaito?" she confessed. "I supposed I've never quite known how to."
"You've never talked together about the Kid, have you?"
"No. At first I thought it might be easier on him, somehow. And then there never seemed to be the right opportunity."
"I think, after this is over, Kaito-kun would like to hear about it."
"Yes. I've told him so much about Toichi in some ways… and so little, in others. He knows what Toichi — died chasing, now, but he never knew why Kid was created in the first place."
"You mean that the Kid wasn't originally created to find Pandora?" Riku sat up and leaned forward, intrigued.
She took a sip of her tea and shook her head. "No. It was… oh, but I should start at the beginning, for it to make any sense.
"I met Toichi almost 20 years ago, at the hospital where I was volunteering. His friend, Ginzo-kun—that's Aoko-chan's father, who I don't think you've met—had gotten a concussion playing baseball. Toichi teased him to no end, but when I told them what to do and watch for during the next few days, he became perfectly attentive. After they left, I thought no more about it until a few weeks later, when he reappeared with a bloody right hand and requested my assistance by name. He seemed oddly hopeful and embarrassed at the same time, when I showed up. His reasons for embarrassment quickly became clear; not many people are ever savaged by a dove!"
A brief chuckle, which Riku couldn't help but join, and she continued.
"He was sweet, and charming, and once I first agreed to dinner, remarkably faithful. Even when he agreed to give my younger, exotically beautiful sister lessons in role-playing, his attention never wandered once. We were married almost a year later, just before his international debut as a magician. I don't know if anything could have prepared me for the level of fame Toichi attained, but there was something satisfying in knowing that while I had to share him with thousands of fans on a regular basis, I was always the one he came home to every night.
"What I didn't know was that the night before our wedding, Toichi and Ginzo-kun spent the evening discussing their futures. Ginzo-kun was entering the Police Academy to fight murderers and thieves, and that made Toichi think long and hard about thieves who keep what they steal."
She sighed, taking another drink of her tea. Riku silently waited for her to continue.
"You see, Toichi's father was a professional thief. Toichi could pick a pocket by the time he was four. His mother found out about his father after Toichi was born, and only stayed for her son's sake. She taught him that stealing to keep was wrong, and encouraged him to use what his father taught him to entertain people. In other words, sleight-of-hand. He was a genius at it, and already well off by the time we met. Ginzo-kun's words made him want to show people the need to protect their precious possessions from men who had his skills, but not his honor. As a way to honor both his mother and his father, he came up with the idea of a thief who gave back what he stole."
"The Kid?"
"Yes, although he had no such name for many years. A few months into our marriage, he broached the idea. He'd seen how his father's secret had torn his own parents apart, and would not allow the same to happen to us. He promised me that if I didn't agree, he would find some other way."
She smiled, now, eyes sparkling at the memory. "I can still hear his voice as he told me about it. I wasn't hard to convince, I admit; for him to be able to prove his point, for a theft to be truly authentic, he couldn't work under a contract. And the way he planned everything out, it was just like another show, designed to help people as well as entertain them."
"I'm home!" Startled, Riku froze momentarily. "Mom? Riku-kun?"
"In the den, Kaito," Mizuki called. She looked at Riku. "That's how it began. There's more, but there are some things Kaito deserves to be the first to hear. It's strange, the way life's paths diverge in ways you never expected them to."
Riku nodded, thinking of storms and keys and a raft that never set sail.
"But, Riku-kun…" she paused, eyes soft. "I want to thank you for helping Kaito, for being someone he can trust. He's still only a boy, and I can do so little. Thank you for no longer letting him be alone. When what you're doing together is over… please know that you'll always be welcome in our home."
Riku swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, using all his willpower to meet her gaze. She couldn't know what she had just given him. She didn't know who he'd been, or anything about him, and didn't ask. She had no preconceptions, no expectations from his name, and deliberately extended him the offer just because of who he was now and what he was doing. A loose, ragged part of his heart that hadn't dared call anywhere home since he threw home away anchored as the lingering fear of what would happen if he ever returned to the islands dissolved into insignificance. He had somewhere real, solid, tangible, that he could always come back to if there was nowhere else to go.
"Thank you, Mizuki-san," he whispered.
"There you are," Kaito interrupted, his delayed entrance explained by his wearing casual clothes instead of his school uniform. "Do we have a car?"
Riku wordlessly pulled out the keys from his pocket and held them up with a satisfied smile.
"Perfect," Kaito proclaimed. "Then we can leave in a little while rather than right now, and still be in time to meet Aoko."
"Will you be gone until after the heist, then?" Mizuki asked.
"Yeah. I still need to finish packing my bag of tricks, but I can't pass up this opportunity of a free pass in." He grinned. "I'm probably driving Hakuba-kun nuts right now."
"Well, we'll probably leave close to the same time, since I have the night shift again. Why don't you go finish getting ready, Kaito, and I'll make an early dinner?"
"Thanks, Mom!" Kaito grinned, and vanished into the Kid's hideaway. Mizuki spared Riku another smile before heading off to the kitchen, leaving Riku alone with his thoughts until dinner.
Before they left, Mizuki captured Kaito in a long hug and ruffled his hair fondly.
"Stay safe?"
"It's a hundred years too early for them to catch me," Kaito boasted, mischief dancing in his eyes. "We'll see you tomorrow, Mom."
The drive to the museum was mostly silent. Riku concentrated on navigating early evening traffic, and Kaito stared out the window with an expression of distant concentration. He only came back to the here-and-now when they pulled into the nearest free parking space to the museum, on the outskirts of the crowd gathered around the police cordons.
"Hey, Riku-kun…"
Riku cut the car's engine and waited expectantly.
"Since we can't keep Hakuba-kun out of this heist… can you keep an eye on him, instead? What he really needs is a full-time bodyguard, but you're the next best thing. Keep him out of trouble, and out of Nightmare's way?"
"If I can. I just wish we could get you out of Nightmare's way too."
"Wishing for the impossible won't make it any more true. I'll find some way to get out of this. Everyone has some kind of weak spot, even Nightmare. I just have to find it, and use it to get him off my back."
"Hm." Riku felt considerably less optimistic. Nightmare seemed to have a lot more experience than Kaito, and he worried that things were going to be a lot more complicated than Kaito hoped for.
"I don't see Aoko anywhere," Kaito said, opening the car door and scanning the surrounding area. "Hey, there's Hakuba-kun. Hakuba-kun!" Kaito called, getting out of the car. Grabbing his bag, he hurried to meet up with the blond boy, who was talking to one of the men keeping the police department's entrance clear of the crowd.
Riku joined them in time to hear Hakuba say, "…No, he's not police force, yes, he has a reason to be here, no, he doesn't have a pass to justify his presence."
The policeman, young and inexperienced and probably working his first heist, glanced nervously between Kaito and Hakuba, including Riku at the last minute. "I can let you in, Hakuba-kun, but we're under strict orders not to let civilians get in the way. Inspector Nakamori is too busy to be interrupted with questions right now…"
"Look," Hakuba interrupted, exasperated, "if it'll make you feel better, I'll take responsibility for him. Him, too," he jerked a thumb in Riku's direction. "And I won't tell Inspector Nakamori about this either."
"I…" The man looked wretched, torn between enforcing his duties and letting his quandary become someone else's problem. "All right, just go ahead."
Kaito was practically skipping ahead of the other two as they headed toward the building entrance, grinning in counterpoint to Hakuba's vaguely disturbed expression. The detective fell in step with Riku, nodding towards Kaito.
"Did I really just say I'd be responsible for his actions?"
Riku chuckled. "Yes, Hakuba-san, I'm afraid you did."
"I must be crazy."
"Probably," Riku agreed amiably.
Hakuba just shook his head.
The door guards seemed to be from the Kid task force, and after a cursory cheek pinch to ensure none of them were the Kid in disguise—you couldn't be too careful, after all, although Riku suspected Kaito's grin held an extra glimmer of triumph when they were waved through—they made it inside. The scene they entered held a more frantic air than Riku had expected, but listening to Nakamori yell to his forces about not being looked down upon by their international brethren, Riku realized the Inspector was probably feeling out of his depth and trying not to show it. The footage of other heists Riku'd seen had felt more like a game, a challenge. Tonight held a far more sober air.
"Inspector Nakamori!" Hakuba waved, getting the man's attention. He turned, an almost manic brightness on his face, which deflated the moment he saw them.
"Oh, it's just you, Hakuba-kun, Kaito-kun." He paused at Riku. "Who're you?"
Riku bowed. "Yuushi Riku, Inspector Nakamori."
"He's a friend of mine from the troupe, Inspector," Kaito added. "I was running late, and asked him to give me a ride here. I wouldn't want to be too late and miss the heist, after all." The sheer wattage of Kaito's innocent grin was hard to look at.
"Che, fine, let him stick around. Aoko said she'd talked to you about lending us your unique perspective, Kaito-kun?"
"That's why I'm here," he responded brightly.
"All right, I'll take you to look at it later. Stay out of trouble in the meantime, all right?" He left to attend to another pressing matter. Hakuba looked briefly torn between following the inspector and keeping an eye on the still-grinning Kaito. Kaito won.
"What's so funny… Kaitou Kid?"
Kaito twitched, and Riku figured the dark-haired boy had just stomped hard on the instinct to spin around and filet the startling newcomer with his card gun. Sneaking up on Kaito these days was a bad idea. Hakuba's presence insured that Kaito was on high alert, however, and extremely conscious of his actions and reactions. No instinctive answering to the title of Kaitou Kid, or succumbing to battle-ingrained defensive habits.
Riku looked behind them, where a diminutive figure in riot gear regarded them happily.
"Just kidding!" Aoko declared, giggling at the trio.
"Aoko!?" Kaito exclaimed. "What's with the outfit?"
"Shh!" She countered quickly. "I always wanted to wear one of these at least once, so I borrowed it from a guy I know who isn't working tonight. I was going to meet you in front of the museum, but you got here too early. Don't tell Daddy, okay?" She peered around. "I can't seem to find him, though, and I still have his bentou."
Hakuba pointed towards the doorway Nakamori had gone through. "He went that way. I'd suggest you change your clothes before you try to find him."
Aoko looked ready to retort, but a young voice interrupted them. "Are you also going to fight the bad guys, lady?"
A little boy with messy brown hair, freckles and a backpack regarded them with a curious expression. Aoko visibly melted, and leaned down to better match his height.
"That's right! I'm going to help catch them both, so that evil can't flourish!"
"Oh, then you're helping Papa! Good luck!"
"Your dad?" Kaito asked. "Who are you?"
"I'm Connery Kenta," the boy replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "My papa is Connery Jack. He chases the bad guy called Nightmare at a place called Interpol. He's famous, too." At that moment, Nakamori entered with a tall blond man. "Ah!" Kenta darted towards the men, waving. "Papa!"
The men turned, and Aoko immediately ran the other way before Nakamori could recognize her. Riku suspected that Connery had realized she was a girl, though, even as the man knelt down to ask how his son had arrived. A man in his profession was unlikely to miss anything, even little details. Nakamori was many things, but given his lack of reaction to Aoko, not a detective.
Riku faded into the background, knowing Nakamori would prefer not needing to explain his presence. Aoko reappeared quickly, just in time to overhear Connery mention how he had no time to take Kenta back to the nursing facility the boy had managed to escape from to find his father.
"Then why don't we go together?" She said with a smile. Connery appeared temporarily at a loss.
"I'm sorry, this girl is…?"
"My daughter, Aoko!" Nakamori said, and hurriedly added, "She came to give me a bentou."
"Then I leave Kenta to your daughter." Connery appeared unmoved by Kenta's disappointed expression, and turned his attention to an officer hurrying toward them.
"Connery-san, your subordinates need you outside."
"Certainly. Well, I'm counting on you for Nightmare," he told Nakamori.
"We'll get Kid as well!" The Inspector agreed. They shook hands. "Ah, one last thing," he added as an afterthought, when Connery was walking away. "What kind of a person is Nightmare, frankly speaking?
Connery glanced over his shoulder, a particularly forbidding expression on his face. "Nightmare penetrates into people's hearts, and then freely manipulates them. He's a sly devil…"
Nakamori looked less than reassured after Connery left and he turned to the three boys. "Hakuba-kun, I have a favor to ask."
The blond look surprised. "Yes, Inspector?"
"You heard what Connery-san said about Nightmare. Now, I know that the ICPO says that they're going to handle the Nightmare side of this heist, including the exchange of goods if the Kid somehow circumvents the security system, but I'd feel better if you would help us keep our hands in. Kid can't go too far, anyway. Could you scout the surrounding area for likely meeting places?"
Hakuba glanced at Kaito unhappily, but Riku knew the blond had no reason to refuse. Nakamori made a lot of concessions just to let a teenage civilian hang around a normal heist, let alone something of this magnitude. You did not contradict 'orders' from the man in charge.
But if Hakuba was going to be leaving…
"Since your officers all seem so busy, Inspector Nakamori," Riku offered respectfully, "I could give him a ride to likely places."
With the added bonus of being able to watch him the way Kaito had asked.
"Fine with me, I can take the bus home," Kaito volunteered.
"What? Oh. Yes, fine." Nakamori's attention had already moved beyond them. "You have my number if you find anything. Now, Kaito-kun, if you could come this way…."
Kaito waved and followed after Nakamori. Hakuba turned toward Riku.
"Awfully convenient of you to have a car."
"Isn't it?" Riku merely smiled.
"I feel conspired against."
"Completely unintentional, I assure you." This time, at least.
They drove around for a while, Riku following Hakuba's directions. The blond boy became progressively disgruntled until roughly an hour later, when he threw up his hands in exasperation as they waited for a red light to change again.
"I give up. I wanted to believe Inspector Nakamori had a good reason for this, but this is impossible. Connery-san should already have plotted out Nightmare's possible movements in detail. He can't have any good reason to send me out here, except to get me out of the way. Wouldn't want the teen detective showing up the Japanese police force in front of Interpol, would we? Send him on a wild goose chase instead."
He pressed his spread fingertips together, setting his elbows on the armrests and watching the road ahead. "Head back to the museum."
When Riku hesitated, the blond put his hand on the door handle. "I'll get out and walk if I have to."
He moved to open the door, but Riku grabbed his arm in a paralyzing grip. Had Riku been paying more attention, he might have realized that he'd augmented his strength with a whisper of power in order to ensure he kept hold of Hakuba.
"Stay in the damn car," he growled, letting his voice temporarily deepen to Ansem's gravelly bass. Kaito wouldn't forgive him if he let Hakuba out of his sight, and consequently outside of his protection. Startled, Hakuba met his gaze and froze, eyes widening. Riku realized belatedly that since the sun had gone down, he wasn't wearing his sunglasses anymore so as not to draw attention to his eyes. The blond hadn't been looking earlier, but in the darkness Ansem's amber eyes glowed faintly.
Riku sighed, letting him go and facing forward. "You realize the Inspector could also be looking out for your well being? Being out here means you're nearly guaranteed to not run into Nightmare, which is, I'm sure, his first choice. If I'm right about the Kid's disposition, he'd rather you stay out of harm's way too."
"And what about Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba challenged immediately. "If he's really so obsessed with Kid, do you think he really took that bus home?"
"…I'll drive you back." If Hakuba was being kind enough to give Riku plausible deniability for going back to be around if Kaito needed help, he'd be a fool not to take advantage of it. He hadn't particularly wanted to be driving too much in the first place.
Unfortunately, even following Hakuba's directions, they managed to become entangled in a maze of one-way streets. Since the blond detective was trying to navigate from memory, and neither one was familiar with the area, they were inevitably delayed. The unease radiating from the blond boy affected Riku as well, and after the third time they traveled through the same intersection, the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Or a card gun.
Riku's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I didn't want to let him be there tonight, you know," he murmured with forced casualness. "Not with Nightmare."
Hakuba gave him a considering look. "I believe you. Turn left!" He added sharply, pointing. "The museum is down this road."
In the distance, the high level of activity surrounding the building suggested that events had already been set in motion. Hakuba hurriedly pulled out his phone, tapping his fingers impatiently against the armrest as he waited to ring through.
"Hello, Inspector? This is Hakuba. What's the situation there?" Hakuba's perfectly calm voice surprised Riku, given his earlier reaction. The blond boy seemed to have buried his annoyance in favor of answers.
Riku couldn't hear the Inspector's side of the conversation, and tuned out Hakuba's voice as much as possible to focus on the surrounding traffic. The last thing he wanted was to be involved in a car accident tonight.
"Please, wait! Don't touch anything until I get there!" Riku risked a glimpse at the passenger seat. Hakuba jerked the phone away from his ear and ended the call, gazing anxiously through the windshield at the swiftly approaching museum.
"Is it over?"
"Something's wrong, but I won't know anything until we arrive." Hakuba scowled. "Inspector Nakamori can't wait two minutes, apparently."
Watching the police cordons near the car, Riku reached a decision. He pulled into a no-parking zone on the curb just outside the police area, turning on the car's flashers.
"I'll wait here for you."
Hakuba nodded quickly, exiting the car and dashing towards the museum. Riku waited with the engine running, hoping no one would either notice or care that he hadn't moved in the past ten minutes. A passing desire for a mobile phone entered his mind as he wondered whether Hakuba had figured out whatever Kaito's trick had been, and if Kaito'd managed to escape first. Nothing was worse than uncertainty.
Movement in front of the museum attracted his attention. Looking beyond the edges of the crowd, Riku realized that a caravan of police cars was loading up. The building entrance was a decent distance away, illuminated almost solely by helicopter spotlights, but Riku's excellent vision allowed him to recognize Hakuba's distinctive blond head as the detective made a beeline for Riku's position. He threw the door open and clambered inside as the police cars began to depart. Riku noted absently that despite the amount of running he'd been doing, Hakuba wasn't even breathing hard.
"Follow them!" He commanded. Shrugging, Riku obeyed, sparing a portion of his attention to figure out the current situation.
"What happened?"
"I figured out Kid's trick. Absurdly simple, when you get right down to it. Some basic mineralogical knowledge, transparent acrylic, a disguise as the museum curator, and he circumvents the system invented for the single purpose of thwarting him. You'd think by now they would have learned to check a person every time he or she enters the room, no matter how important the person is," he added wryly, then continued.
"Connery-san called us with Nightmare's projected meeting place, and Inspector Nakamori ordered half the Task Force to join Interpol there. And I will not be left behind. Not on this case."
"Why this one?"
"Everything about this heist rubs me the wrong way. I don't care much for hunches, Yuushi-san… but I have a bad feeling about tonight."
The squad cars turned into the lot of an older abandoned warehouse some distance from the museum. Pulling in behind them, Riku and Hakuba joined the milling police. As they approached, a familiar young voice cut through the murmur of the policemen waiting quietly for instructions.
"Papa!" A pause. "It's him! I heard his voice just now!"
Nakamori turned in shock. "Wait, what are you doing here?" he demanded, bewildered by the unexpected company. Riku looked over the crowd of much shorter policemen to where Aoko was watching Kenta with a worried expression. The boy was looking around wildly, searching for a repeat of whatever he's heard before.
"This kid… We were leaving the restaurant where we'd eaten together, when Kenta-kun saw Connery-san drive by," she explained to Nakamori. "He told the taxi driver to follow his car and I couldn't really stop them."
Riku decided then that Aoko had a dangerous susceptibility to cute. If Kaito knew that, and made use of his innocent face often, it was no wonder he could get away with so much around Aoko. Of course, it meant she would have an almost impossible time saying no to anyone under the age of ten.
"I saw Papa's car come in here," Kenta piped up, still looking around. "I don't know where it went, but I know it was here!" Without warning, an ominous thud sounded from within the warehouse, and he darted towards the nearest entrance.
"Stay!" Nakamori barked at Aoko when she started after the boy, and ran in pursuit. Riku and Hakuba didn't even exchange glances, simply followed without thinking. For his small size, the boy was extremely fast.
"Papa!"
The warehouse was old and empty except for some scattered crates and random detritus, not much more than concrete floor and several catwalks crisscrossing the upper level of the two-story building. With nothing to block their view, the prone figure on the floor stood out in sharp relief.
"P—Papa!" Before they could catch him, Kenta knelt beside his father's body, heedless of the blood pooled around the man's head.
Riku automatically paused and tilted his head up, letting Nakamori and Hakuba hurry past him. He'd never seen a dead body like that before, and he wanted to stay as far away from it as possible. Instead he considered his own preferences for heights, and Kaito's similar tastes… There was a hint of white at the edge of the catwalk directly above Jack Connery's corpse, which quickly vanished upon the others' arrival by the body. Sometimes he really hated being right. Kaito had been there.
Looking back down, he realized Hakuba had come back to stand beside him with an eyebrow raised inquiringly. Since he couldn't deny something had attracted his attention, he admitted to seeing white among the catwalks.
Hakuba pinched the bridge of his nose. "Judging by the angle of the Ace of Spades imbedded in the facemask by Connery-san's head," he whispered too quietly for Kenta to hear, in a tone of clinical detachment, "he was Nightmare. Kuroba-kun must have delayed his departure, probably at hearing Kenta's voice, to preserve the honor of the boy's father."
Letting his eyes brush briefly along the grisly scene, Riku gulped against a sharp rebellion from his stomach and turned away. Hakuba gave him a look of grim sympathy.
"First dead body?"
Riku nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He'd never seen the absolute stillness of death before, not even when he'd been among the darkness. It was… highly disturbing.
As he looked at the boy and the body again, Hakuba paled. He clenched a fist and turned to Riku. "Yuushi-san. Go home." He looked back at Connery's body. "I'll get a squad car to drive me home, or call a taxi or my grandmother. Just… go."
Riku stared at him for a moment, mind working furiously. He knew Hakuba believed Kaito was the Kid, but there had been something more in the inflection of that command to get home. He followed the blond's gaze back at the warehouse floor, where Kenta was bent over his father's chest, crying brokenly.
A son.
Crying for his father.
Mizuki would still be at work, so Kaito was going home to any empty house.
Go home and be there for him.
He looked up sharply, meeting Hakuba's grimly impassive gaze. Riku hated the thought of acknowledging the detective's request, because it felt like a passive admission of Kaito's identity. On the other hand, even if Riku didn't know all the details of how and why… Kaito had just seen a man die. Considering his own reaction, the thief was going to be shaken, to say the least.
The threat of Nightmare was gone, then… but the price for that to have happened felt too high. He nodded slowly at Hakuba, and went home.
Every time he ran into a red light along the way, he was highly tempted to create a darkness corridor and simply drive through. Only the need to be inconspicuous and not knowing what would happen to the car if he tried it deterred him. As it turned out, he managed to reach the Kuroba home, park the car, and get into the den five minutes before the portrait turned. Kaito stumbled through in his civilian clothes, nearly falling before Riku reached out and caught him by the arms.
A sickly smile wavered on Kaito's face as he met Riku's concerned gaze, and he trembled slightly within the taller man's grip. Riku dragged him over to the couch and sat him down before he could collapse.
"Told you I wouldn't have to worry about Nightmare by the time the heist was over," the dark-haired boy rasped, and then shuddered.
Riku sat on the coffee table to stay across from him, waiting. Kaito looked utterly drained, still shaking slightly, but he also seemed to need to share some of his more pressing thoughts.
"Kenta-kun didn't need to know something like that. Did the Inspector or Hakuba-kun figure it out?"
"Hakuba-san knew. Inspector Nakamori thought Connery-san fell trying to protect the earrings."
"Of course he knew. I saw him looking at Connery-san's body before I left." Kaito fell silent briefly, pained. "He slipped when he heard Kenta-kun's voice, and when I grabbed him, he wouldn't let go of the earrings. He fell right out of my hand. I couldn't save him."
"It's a miracle he didn't pull you over with him, given his size."
"I was pretty well anchored. I could feel it. But I couldn't pull him up, and I couldn't hold onto him. He was… he was only trying to save his son," he murmured, closing his eyes. "But what kind of man swears to uphold the law, and then uses thieves as his tools? Wants to save his son but is willing to kill for it?"
He paused.
"He said—he was going to retire after he reached his goal." Kaito shuddered. "I don't know if he could have. But looking at him tonight, there was almost nothing of himself left. Nightmare, that obsession… it ate him."
He looked at Riku, eyes haunted. "How can you be sure you're not consumed by a mission?"
Riku couldn't help but feel like Kaito was probably asking the wrong person. He glanced around the room, trying to think of what to say. Kaito nestled further into the couch, watching him. As the seconds stretched on the dark-haired boy looked more and more drained, only awake because he needed an answer. Any answer.
"I think… by remembering that other things are important, too."
"Then how do you know… when you're doing…" he trailed off, eyes closing involuntarily. Riku waited a few minutes for him to finish his train of thought, but Kaito appeared to be too exhausted to wake back up.
Resignedly, Riku picked up the sleeping magician and carried him to bed. He seemed to be picking Kaito up a lot, lately. Kaito barely even stirred at being moved, and settled beneath his blankets without any sign of consciousness.
Riku watched him for a while, not quite comfortable with leaving Kaito alone. In the end, he dragged the spare futon from the den into Kaito's room—quietly, because while Kaito subconsciously accepted his presence, any unexpected noise would still be likely to knock the teen back into a state of high alert. Riku stretched out on his bed and at stared at the ceiling, waiting and listening, until he finally began to doze.
Terms:
ICPO: International Crime Police Organization (Interpol)
6/07