Heya !

Time to wrap up that case with Akako and go back to the main story ! : )

Ps : I'll do my best to keep up with my usual planning but my health is a bit tricky nowadays, so I may sometimes be a bit late or a bit early in my updates (+ / - 1 day max I think). Please be indulgent ! ; )

o.O.o

emmahoshi : Ah, he tries at least, but doesn't succeed : ) Haha, yes, sorry for your mysteries' sense, a few readers guessed it so it wasn't that hidden, you may be a desperate cause xD Ah, I liked the idea... Hakuba needs to let go from time to time (and Heiji should take his time a bit more instead of rushing... both need to learn from the other !ˆˆ). Nope, there isn't such hints, I updated the chapter because I forgot to put it : it was just me having fun with Akako's background : ) Aaaah that vision... You'll see in a few chapters :p A spoiler? Naah, I don't spoil, you should know that : ) Ok, minor spoilers for this chapter shouldn't hurt... It's ending with a cliff and Snake will appear, that's all you'll have ! :p

Laury Rose : Ah, I published it pretty early, around 1am Sunday morning so I guess a few missed it ˆˆ; But I get 2 reviews then ! xD Nah, I didn't want her to be traumatized... But I wanted a mad guy, so sadist seemed a good idea xD Haha, yea, I announced I'd be touching some occult thingies :) But it's fun to see you stutter just like hakuba xD Ah, that you'll see... ˆˆ Oh, MKO is Magic Kaitou Organization, in opposition with BO, Black Organization, Conan' , grats for guessing the culprit ! ; ) Let's say it's the cold, how could a story force you to shiver... ? XD Yup, minor wounds.. can't promise I'll be that nice next time ~

Anilover : That was me having fun : ) Won't be mentioned anymore ^^ Hmm thinks I don't think he likes the idea of 'magic', I think, on the contrary, he'll avoid her xD But they'll both have the same goal, so they'll have to work a bit together, yes... Hmm this question, despite the fact it looks like an easy one, isn't... So I won't be able to answer to it here : )

JarayZ : Oh ? How would you use both ? :O Yup, I'm wondering xD Haha, well, we'll still have a bit to go through before ending this story, I need some more bad guys... may they be mad or not ^^ Yes : ) Since Akako has 'red' in Japanese in her name, I wanted her mentor to have also that colour in her name. I thought about french first but it was hard to make it look like a japanese name... So I went for English : ) Yup, you'll see in this chapter ; ) Our friends will be facing Snake now ! Oh, and another spoiler, this story won't be 28 chapters long... That's quite new to me xD

Chap 10 : Threats

"- Hey, lovebirds, time to have lunch !" said Shinichi's voice through the Osakans' door after he knocked at it.

"- Give us a sec..." Heiji's answered with a muffled voice, still half buried under the covers as he woke up from the noise.

"- Meet you at the morning room then !"

The dark-skinned stretched and turned his head to the girl laying near him, her eyes fluttering as she also started to awake.

"- Want ta get up ?" He asked, gently stroking her cheek so she could feel she was safe before the memories of the previous night came back to her mind.

"- First..." She started, finding her way under the covers to cuddle herself up against her lover's chest. "Yea, that's better...

- Ya're alright ? " Heiji dared to ask after a moment, holding the girl in his arms.

"- ... I can't say I haven't been scared..." Kazuha admitted with a low voice, trying to be even closer to him, as to forget the icy cold induced by the fear she had felt when the man threw her on that stone table.

"- Ya've been strong, Kazuha... " He said, gently patting her head, careful to avoid the bandage around it. "I'm sorry I couldn' stop him... I can' imagine what he could've done if ya didn' escape..."

Feeling he was shaking, the girl moved a bit away, to look at him, seeing a mix of anger and guilt on his face. "Hey, Heiji, I'm good, ok ?

- Good ? Look at ya… Yer arms are covered with bandages an' ya almost got killed, how can this be good ? I should have never brought ya here, ya got hurt by my fault again..." The Osakan concluded, putting his hand in front of his face, his head filled with dark 'what if's' he couldn't get rid of.

"- Heiji... I'm old enough ta care of myself, I'm here because I wanted ta.

- Ya're here because ya followed me... Nothin' would have happened ta ya if ya stayed home." He finished, getting up and taking a few clothes. "Ya'd be far better without me...

- That's fer me ta decide." Kazuha retorted with a hard voice, using her arms to sit on the bed and look at him as he had already his fingers on the door's handle.

Ignoring the pain that move induced, she locked her eyes in his with a face full of determination as he turned one last time to look at her.

"- ... Meet ya in the mornin' room then." Heiji gave up with an annoyed sigh, unable to fight her stare.

And then he left.

"- Ahou..." The girl whispered, letting herself fall back in the bed, holding her wounded arm against her.

o.O.o

It was with a gloomy face the Osakan entered the morning room, to see that, apart from Kaito and Aoko, everyone was already here.

"- 'mornin'...

- Oh, I know someone who got off the wrong foot..." Shinichi smirked as he saw his best friend's face, getting an annoyed grunt as an answer.

"- Kazuha will be joining us ?" Ran wondered as she saw he was alone.

"- Yea, she's comin'..." He confirmed, throwing himself in a couch and brining his knees to him, in a "don't disturb me I'm not in the mood" pose.

"- OK... I bet they fought again..." The long-haired girl deplored with a low voice, as she turned back to Shinichi and Hakuba who was near him.

"- Clearly..." The half brit agreed, before looking of the corner of the eye at Akako.

The girl was sitting in an armchair, head on the hand, and was looking at the window. Her outfit was clearly tamer than the one he last saw her in, and he couldn't stop himself to detail her, as to look for any proof of what happened the previous night, still wondering if all that had just been a mad dream...

Saguru was taken out of his observation when Aoko and Kaito arrived in the room.

"- 'Morning, guys !" Kaito said, finishing on a yawn he wasn't fast enough to hide behind his hand.

"- Manners, Kaito..." His wife taunted with a smirk, before turning to the others. "Good morning !"

A chorus of "hello" answered to them, after what the blond-haired stepped suddenly towards the Kid, though careful not to put too much weight on his wounded thigh. "Kaito-kun, could I have a word ?

- Of course..." The Thief accepted with an interrogative look. "Outside ?

- Yes..."

Noticing his friend was limping, even if it was discreet, the magician held him the door with a concern look.

"- You sure you should walk so soon on that leg?

- It's ok, it's just a flesh wound." Hakuba shrugged, ignoring the faint stinging of his leg as he leaned against a nearby wall. He then looked around him, checking they were alone."More importantly... What's... What's Koizumi-san ?

- Uhhh... You mean who maybe?

- No. What. She told me you knew about her... abilities. I saw her last night, I still can't believe..."

Kaito laughed at his friend's panicked face, understanding what he was speaking about. "You saw her in her... fancy costume ? With the lil' snakes ?"

Saguru blushed a bit at the memory, fact that the Thief didn't miss. "I'll take that as a yes... Well, Saguru, I don't think you should look too much into that..." He said, patting his friend with a sympathetic smile."That girl is even more trouble than me...

- It seems... But are those things she does... More than illusions ?"

The magician looked at the blond-haired, knowing that accepting something extraordinary that wasn't a magic trick could be a bit hard to him. "Everything hasn't a logic explanation you know... What she does is more than just some tricks. And her premonitions saved me once or twice, though I will never admit it in front of her. If she told you to be cautious, look out...

- Good morning, boys ! " Kazuha saluted as she saw them in front of the morning room's door where she was heading to. "Am I interrupting something ? " She wondered at their conspiratorial faces.

"- Hello ! Nah, it's ok, we were going back in.

- How are you doing ?" Saguru asked after once last look at Kaito.

"- It's ok, ya did a great work !" She assured him with a smile.

"- Remember me to check those after the lunch...

- Ok ! Shall we ?"

The three of them went in, under Akako amused look when she saw Hakuba's face and noticed the fact he was still avoiding to look at her eyes.

She smirked at him and focused her look at Shinichi, who was now just near her, as they all got up to welcome Kazuha, and he suddenly stuttered, eyes a bit lost, unable to have his attention to somewhere else than on the witch.

"I told her to go easy on him...Just because he looks like me..." Kaito sighed in his mind, knowing the girl was doing it only to impress the blond-haired detective and that Shinichi, already amending for that "I kissed Aoko" thing, would have it hard if the girl played too much with her skills.

Before the magician could even interfere, Ran noticed the blank look of her lover, staring at a certain part of the long-haired witch's anatomy, not far away from drooling in front of her.

"- Ouch !" The Tokyoite complained, bringing his hand to his head after she gave him a slap.

"- You're not even listening... Stop embarrassing yourself, what's your problem with girls nowadays ? I feel like I'm going out with a teenager..." She grumbled with a hard look.

"- Sorry, I don't know what..."

Proud of herself, Akako winked at Hakuba who facepalmed, starting to worry if he already acted as stupid as Shinichi had under her powers' influence, above all when they were in high school together.

He still didn't want to accept it, even if the proves were starting to be overwhelming.

But this vision she shared with him... If there was any risk for it to happen...

His eyes fell on his best friend. "Believe her or not... I'll be on my guard..."

o.O.o

With a sigh, Hakuba remembered his decision as he saw the white glider fly over his head in the night's sky.

"How am I supposed to watch over him when he's at 100 feet of the ground ?" He thought with an annoyed expression.

Two days had passed since they helped Akako to get rid of her unwanted inhabitant and here they were again, at a Kaitou Kid's heist. They had decided, after that second wounded passer-by that all of them would come in support for Kaito. This wasn't that surprising for the police as the three detectives had, at one point or another, been known to hunt the Kid and had been helpful once or twice to Nakamori-keibu so it was plausible enough for them not to stand out. They however decided Aoko should stay away from the heists as often as possible : her father would have started to be suspicious if he saw her here all the time when Kaito wasn't around. She had been also trying to catch the Kid, and made that "alliance" with Hakuba and Kuroba in that goal but the absence of the magician would stand out too much if two were here out of three. And very probably, the Thief had probably done his best to discourage her, not at ease with the idea of her being here when the Organization was going wild.

So here they were, hidden detectives in black clothes and flashy thief in white ones, Detectives Boys' badges pinned on their tops, the first three trying to look out for the villains while the last was trying to put his hand on a jewel, each time hoping harder it could be Pandora.

"- Careful, guys, I spotted Snake in there..."The blond-haired heard Kaito's voice through the badge on his vest." He was leaving the roof of the East wing, that's for you, Tantei-kun.

- I'm on it." The Tokyoite confirmed.

"- We should also head this way, Heiji-kun.

- I was goin' ta propose that ta ya." The Osakan agreed to Hakuba's suggestion, starting to run to reach the East wing, as he was the furthest from it. "Go back ta yer hunt, Kid, we're on the watch."

Kaito tilted the side of his glider with a smile, happy to have such efficient guardian angels for his critics.

"Though the game is far less interesting without them on my heels..." He grinned as he broke the glass roof of the gallery, landing exactly on the glass cage of the jewel he was after.

"- The Kaitou Kid ! Send the nets !" Nakamori-keibu ordered as he saw the Thief near the jewel, yelling to cover the alarm that had activated when he fell on the stand.

"- Tsk, dear inspector, I'm not some kind of wild animal..." Kaito grinned, sending some cards to cut the net that was menacing to fall on him.

"- Oh, I know that... That's why it's a net of steel !"

"Uh uh..." The magician sweat-dropped as he saw his cards weren't able to cut through the trap falling on him.

Throwing a smoke bomb, he quickly picked the glass case and took the jewel before changing in a policeman outfit but was nevertheless trapped under the net.

"- Catch him, don't let him escape, he got the stone !" The inspector ordered, guessing as he heard the broken glass noise the criminal had already managed his mischief.

"Exactly what I needed..." Kaito smirked as he started to feel some men trying to catch an invisible thief, moving their arms in front of them as they couldn't see a thing.

"- I see him !" He yelled, with a different voice than his. "Damn, he trapped me under the net ! Catch him, he's going up ! "

The policemen all looked up to contemplate what the boy knew was a dummy but they, of course, couldn't guess.

"- Let's move outside, we can't have him escape !

- Yes sir !" Various very motivated voices answered.

"- Could anyone free me first ?" The Thief asked with a smile of embarrassment at his 'colleagues'.

"All wrapped up..." The Thief smiled a few minutes later, bringing his hand to his pocket to feel the shape of the big jewel, glad everything went as planned - or almost - and apparently without the previous aggressiveness from the Organization.

Hiding in the last floor after he followed the policemen, as if he was joining them in their Kid's hunt, he used the moonlight from a window to look at the shiny stone in his hands, to let his arm fell along his body when he saw it wasn't the good one...

Kaito was starting to wonder if Pandora really existed. Or if someone already discovered it, waiting for the good night, next week, to use his fabulous power. Or even if it hadn't been destroyed.

He pocketed the jewel again and slightly slapped his cheeks. "One week left..." He said to encourage himself.

"- No luck, once again..." The magician stated in his badge to inform his friends. "How are you doing, Shinichi ?

- Had a visual of him but he managed to flee..." The Tokyoite panted, using a low voice in case the man wasn't far away.

"- Are you soon there, boys ?" He asked to the other detectives.

"- Not that far... Sorry, with that leg, I cannot..." Saguru apologized, sorry of being so slow as he didn't want to run at full speed, trying to preserve his leg, the wound having just closed up.

"- I'm almost there..." The Osakan informed, his heavy breathing echoing in the others' badges.

"- I'll be joining you then..." Kaito said, back in a quick move to his white costume, opening the window to jump and open his glider, trying to stay high in the skies not to be spotted.

But apparently someone did, and that someone was clearly expecting him as he barely avoided a bullet well-aimed at him only a dozen of seconds later. Squinting, he recognized Snake's fedora and black clothes on the roof of a small 2-floored annex, just near the East wing.

"- Got him... He's gotten out of the building, he's in the annex facing the East wing, meet you there...

- Be careful... " Hakuba advised, heading to the door and pushing it to go outside.

He was still a bit far away but distinguished Heiji's green vest and Shinichi's deep blue blazer a bit further in front of him, both heading to the annex.

Both men were suddenly knocked to the ground when the building they were heading to decided to explode, sending rocks everywhere in an ear-stinging noise.

"- ... What the... Kaito-kun ! " Saguru yelled, rushing to what was now ruins, ignoring his leg, struck by fear at the thought his best friend was probably buried under that mess of rocks. "No way !"

Oops, a cliffy ... ; )