There was white noise rushing in Saguru's ears and he didn't know if it was a blood rush from his surge of fear and anger or if it was from the wind on the rooftop. It didn't matter. The roof didn't matter, his role as another pair of eyes didn't matter, the ache in his bad leg didn't matter, just the moment of realization passing between them. It was an instinctual reaction; Saguru dove at Takumi and tackled him to the ground. Not a moment too soon as he heard the ping of a bullet striking an air unit several feet to their left.
"Aoko! Sniper. Same building as before, rooftop, West corner!" he shouted into the headset as he covered as much of Takumi as he could manage. The angle—that could have been Takumi's shoulder, or if he hadn't turned, his neck. They were literal sitting targets where they were. "Move," Saguru snapped. He rolled a bit to the side so Takumi could scramble to all fours. His back remained to where the shot had come from, hypersensitive to the knowledge that any moment could lead to another bullet. He stayed between Takumi and the sniper's vantage point.
There wasn't much cover on the roof, just the shelter over the stairs and the air units. Saguru pushed them toward the door. That plan was scrapped when another bullet passed by close enough that Saguru felt several hairs tickle the back of his neck as they were cut. The bullet buried into the brick barely a foot in front of them. Shit. Not to the door then, to the side of the small shelter because that at least put a chunk of building between them and the sniper. Though it didn't guarantee that there was only the one sniper.
Saguru shoved and Takumi went, stumbling and pale enough to rival the suit, behind the building. One last bullet took off the corner of the brick at head level just as he passed behind it. Saguru dove after him. He could hear their panicked breathing and a buzzing sound. That was from the headset that had fallen off in the last lunge. Line of sight—no other buildings as high on this side, no guarantee to be enough, stay low to the ground. Beside him Takumi's breath got faster and faster—hyperventilating. Saguru picked up the headset, hand shaking. He could hear Aoko shouting orders and responses overlapping at times. The building had been left somewhat open to be the trap but... He hoped they caught them. "This is Saguru, in somewhat secure position for the moment with Kid double." He glanced at Takumi. "Aoko, it's Takumi." He didn't listen to the fallout of that, tossed the headset to one side for the moment. "Takumi-kun," Saguru said, crouching in front of him. Takumi's frantic gasps for air didn't slow; there was no sign he heard at all. "Takumi-kun," Saguru repeated, forcing his voice to be calm and level even though he felt anything but. "You need to breathe. Breathe with me. In. Out. In. Out. You can do that."
It took a moment of repeating this for Takumi to come out of it enough to focus on Saguru. When he did, his eyes locked onto Saguru with all the desperation a fourteen year old possessed. Saguru reached out, telegraphing his movements.
"It's okay. You're okay. You need to try to breathe slower or you're going to pass out." He touched Takumi's arm and in the next moment he found himself with an armful of shaking teenager as Takumi clung to him like he was the last pillar of sanity. Saguru rubbed his back around the glider mechanism as the rapid breaths against his chest slowed bit by bit. "You're okay."
"That." Takumi choked. "That was. How. Tou-san."
"Breathe."
"That was terrifying," Takumi finally got out. "I almost got shot."
Not the time to yell, Saguru reminded himself. Not the time. "You shouldn't have been out here. We didn't have plans to protect you."
"Had to." Takumi shuddered, one large breath choked in his lungs and breathed out in shaking bursts. "He wasn't going to go for Kudo. Didn't shoot til I was there."
"They are likely chasing the sniper now," Saguru said.
"They better catch him."
Saguru had to agree with that sentiment. If they all had to have this scare, they'd better at least gain something from it. Takumi's shaking was slowing down. He still clung to Saguru as his breathing slowed to a more reasonable rate. Below, Saguru could see flashing police lights and Kudo's absence, likely withdrawn on the off chance that he too would be aimed at. Takumi was right in the fact that no shots had gone Kudo's way though. Somewhere down there Aoko had to be furious and terrified. Saguru shifted so Takumi was closer to the safety of the wall no matter what happened from here on out.
"How did you find the suit?" Saguru asked, more to distract them both from the tense waiting game than anything else.
Takumi looked up. The top hat slid precariously on his head, a miracle it had stayed on this long. Saguru didn't think he'd ever seen Kuroba's face look that young or scared in all the time he knew him.
"I guessed," Takumi said. "Kid stuff had to either be in the apartment or Baa-chan's house, and the first Kid was my grandfather so... There's this big painting of him and I always thought it was weird where it was at because yeah, even if they loved him and wanted to remember him, who has a giant, life-sized portrait of themselves in a living room? And it was a hidden door." Takumi rubbed his face, dislodging the monocle. It landed in one gloved hand, clover charm dangling limply over his lap. "Hakuba-sensei, it was barely a challenge to get up in that building to get here."
"We're spread too thin," Saguru agreed. They'd had to pick and choose where to concentrate people and, well, that left holes no matter how much they hated it.
"I wouldn't make a very good Kid," Takumi said, still looking at the monocle. "I was terrified of using the glider and I couldn't even act confident let alone do sleight of hand in that state of mind."
"I don't think Kuroba ever intended to give you the skills to be Kid," Saguru said. Although that led to questions of Toichi's motives in some of what he taught Kuroba. Still. "You wouldn't make a half bad detective though," he said, patting Takumi's back. "You figured out the painting trap door and Kuroba's identity all on your own."
"I had Shiemi's help for some of that," Takumi said.
"She'd be pretty terrifying at this sort of thing too," Saguru said. He reached for his headset. It buzzed with sound. It took a moment of fiddling one handed to change the frequency to only Aoko's headset rather than the open channel; he didn't want to let go of Takumi yet. "Status update?" he asked in the same calm tone he'd been using since Takumi broke down. Amazingly, Saguru wasn't shaking at all.
"Hakuba! Takumi—he wasn't hurt was he? Are you okay?"
"We're both fine. Please do let us know when it is safe to move. We're taking shelter at the moment."
"The sniper is caught," Aoko said. "Bastard tried to slip out the back. Megure-keibu's group caught her. She was searched for suicide assists and put in a bulletproof car to transport. Hell of keeping her alive starts now."
"Understood." This would be where the police showed their sides. Even people who weren't working under the table might be upset because this hadn't been sanctioned by the highest up, even if there was theoretical paperwork among the trusted few. Or there would be paperwork now that there needed to be documentation for legal reasons. All the work from here out would be an uphill battle for the police. Saguru would keep playing his part outside that mess, feeding in Kuroba's documentation when needed and continuing on the research end of things.
It would be a lot like how some of his cases have gone for the last decade, helping the police on the side in smaller ways instead of legwork-filled direct action. The pin Saguru had in his pocket ever since his last visit to his parents' home felt conspicuous. Saguru was back to being a detective it seemed.
Takumi let go of Saguru and scooted back against the wall. "How did Tou-san do that over and over again?" he asked.
"I imagine in part what drove you; desperation." Sixteen year old Kuroba putting on a smile and walking out on a roof he had no idea what he'd find, all because he had questions and felt he had no other way to get answers. Sixteen year old Kuroba getting shot at and putting on a smile because that was how he compartmentalized, by acting and ego boosting, and pretending hard enough he was okay. Sixteen year old Kuroba learning his father was murdered and that no justice had been served. There were always other choices. But when you're in high school, when the adults in your life are unreliable or absent, when there is no one you feel you could turn to... Saguru could understand why Kuroba took the route he did and why Takumi put the suit on today. He could understand it, but he didn't like it. Saguru had once been fourteen, solving a murder because he had been there and no one else saw the clues that were plain as day in front of him. For the first time he wondered if Mum had ever wanted to discourage his detective work because he was too young. She had only been supportive and someone to talk to when things he saw affected his peace of mind but he wouldn't have blamed her if she ever put her foot down from the perspective of who he was now.
"Do you think he ever got scared?"
"Likely constantly. He's just better than most at pretending he isn't." Saguru sighed. "He probably worried for everyone else over himself more in the long run though." You couldn't throw yourself into things the way Kuroba did if you didn't have at least some bit of a self-destructive streak. "Of course he is also an adrenaline junkie." From riling up Aoko to coming up with death-defying magic tricks, not all of that was a side effect of being Kid. That was pure Kuroba that just transferred over.
"I could see how gliding could be addictive," Takumi murmured. He finally looked like he wasn't going to pass out from panic. "If there wasn't the risk of being shot, it would have been really fun."
There were more lights down below, a fleet of lights, police crawling out of the woodworks as the whole covert operation shed its secrecy. He could see them going into other buildings, probably searching them too just in case. "I'm almost there," Aoko said in his headset. They would be searching Saguru's building too.
Saguru let himself relax fractionally. Aches and pains he had been blocking out became known all at once. He had a scrape along his arm and hand from tackling Takumi and a wide range of smaller bruises, especially on his knee. He didn't have his cane, must have lost it once he hit the roof because he'd had it on the stairs.
"Hakuba-sensei," Takumi said.
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry for getting mad at you for keeping Tou-san's secret. It...it wasn't your secret to tell."
"It's all forgiven."
Takumi gave him a weak smile. "I don't like being angry," Takumi admitted. "It makes me feel out of control. And I do things I regret. I don't really like being the center of attention, not like Tou-san." He hugged his knees. "He doesn't mind all eyes on him and neither does Kaa-san. I've never wanted to be a performer like Tou-san or a police officer like Kaa-san. I don't know what I want to be yet, but it's not either of those, and it's definitely not being the next Kid. I'm not cut out to be a thief."
"You don't have to choose yet," Saguru said, "and what you choose doesn't have to be for forever."
"I know." He sighed. "I guess I kind of gave up any chance of sports being a career option. Kaa-san's going to ground me for the rest of my life."
"Only until you graduate, surely."
That got a tiny laugh out of him and Takumi relaxed a bit more. The hat slid low on his forehead, almost covering his eyebrows. "I hope they got what they needed," Takumi said. "I hope this works."
"So do I."
They listened to police sirens and watched the blur of lights below reflect off windows; the whole of Tokyo would know something big had happened by the end of the night. It could have been minutes or dozens of minutes before Aoko burst onto the roof, red faced from exertion and disheveled. She rounded the corner and threw herself at Takumi before Saguru or Takumi could do much more than flinch at the burst of noise.
"Takumi, what the fuck?" she said. Her voice was ragged, from shouting, stress, or emotion, perhaps all three.
"Kaa-san..."
"You're staying with me or your Jii-chan for the rest of break, I'm not letting you out of sight at all, for fuck's sake."
She wasn't yelling, and that seemed to alarm Takumi more than her crushing hug or the tears in her voice. His hands hovered at his sides, not sure if he should hug back or just let it happen.
"I'll be mad at you later," Aoko said. "Just. You almost died tonight. Don't. Don't ever do that to me again. It was bad enough with Kaito—just. Don't."
"I won't," Takumi said in a small voice. "I don't want to do it again."
Saguru scooted away, found his cane left just past the door to the stairwell. There was a bullet hole in the brick a foot up and to the right of it. The cane itself didn't appear to have taken any damage at least. He ached as he levered himself to his feet.
"Hakuba," Aoko said. She looked at him over Takumi's head. "Thank you."
"I'd do it again in a heartbeat," he said gravely.
She nodded. "Go get that looked at," Aoko said, nodding at his hands. "You're bleeding."
The scrapes were bleeding, sluggish and mostly halfway to scabbing over. They would need cleaned out though. "I will." Saguru waited for them to leave though. He didn't feel safe leaving Takumi out of sight yet.
*o*o*
It was raining again, not a storm but the soft patter of raindrops against the tree out by Saguru's window, its leaves blocking out the worst of the street light glow. The clock on the desk read two forty-six in the morning. The ceiling looked no different from usual and it was a sad thought that he could trace where its cracks and stains were even in the dark. Saguru's eyes ached as much as his body did, but for all that he'd laid there for several hours, he didn't dare try to sleep. After a night like this one, he could only have nightmares. If he tried closing his eyes he knew he'd see Takumi dying or Kuroba's fall bold behind his eyelids. Or perhaps his psyche would pull a bit deeper and throw Mel's death at him again in all its agonizing detail. His brain certainly had more than enough memories of corpses to work from in building a maximum horror scenario to leave him scarred.
Perhaps he shouldn't have gone home. Perhaps he should have taken Kudo up on his offer to spend the night. Perhaps he should have skipped trying to sleep entirely and joined Aoko in tacking the monstrous amount of paperwork that was racking up already.
Saguru blinked hard as if that would ease the ache behind his eye sockets.
In the dark, his phone lit up with a text, its blue light giving the apartment room an unearthly glow. Two forty-nine, one text from Kuroba's Kid phone, three words. Are you awake?
Yes. He half fumbled to answer, fingers clumsy with exhaustion and stiff with bandages forced on him by an EMT who had shown up just in case. You as well?
Who can sleep? Kuroba sent back. I can't. Can I call you?
Yes. Saguru's phone lit up with an incoming call bare seconds after sending his reply. "Kuroba?" he said. His voice came out as a croak.
"Hakuba." Kuroba sounded like he'd been awake at least as long as Saguru had, a bit hoarse and slow. "Getting pretty sick of staring at the same ceiling," Kuroba said. "It's a little weird to know where all the flaws are in someone else's home."
"It's unfortunate to experience it in your own home," Saguru said. "I believe I am getting closer to estimating the exact date the water damage in the corner occurred."
"If you ever get bored of trying to figure that out, I could tell you."
"I appreciate the offer," Saguru said drily.
"You went home today," Kuroba said, diverting from architectural small talk.
"I felt like I should. Kudo-san had enough to deal with without me invading more space. It feels like an abuse of hospitality with how often I've been over there."
"Imagine how I feel," Kuroba grumbled. He'd been doing his best to be positive, but it wasn't much of a surprise to hear that positivity erode. They had all been through too much lately. "I want to go home so bad. I don't care that this bedroom is half the size of my apartment, I need my space back and some freedom to test my body's limits without being glared at by well-meaning pseudo doctors." Haibara must have caught him stretching, Saguru thought. He could almost see Kuroba's frustrated grimace. "If I have to suffer being here, you could at least be uncomfortable with me."
"Friends suffer together?" Saguru asked.
"Yes. You're too far away to properly share it."
"Are you asking me to come there?" Saguru said.
There was a pause and Saguru realized that, yes, that was what Kuroba was doing.
"Oh."
"It is kind of lonely at the moment," Kuroba said, "and it's not like either of us is going to get a good night's sleep."
Stare at the ceiling alone, or go across town...? It wasn't really a question. "I'll be there in a bit."
"I'll pay cab fee."
Kuroba had to be feeling truly bleak for all that he was going for a light tone at the moment.
It felt a bit wrong to sneak in through Kudo's front door in the early hours of the morning, even though he'd been given a spare key to use for the foreseeable future that they were working together. Still, Saguru crept down the dark hallways toward Kuroba's room with less guilt than he'd have felt if Kuroba hadn't asked him to be there. There was a light on in the study. Kudo was passed out on top of a pile of paperwork, pen still loosely grasped in his hand and the Kid costume from before thrown haphazardly over a chair.
Saguru let him be, turning out the light as he went. Kuroba's room was open too, a soft glow from a bed lamp lighting the way. He tapped on the doorframe. Kuroba glanced up from staring out the dark window, awkwardly perched on the windowsill. His hands played with a deck of cards, working to regain his dexterity and following the meditative motions of muscle memory.
"Hakuba," he said a tiny, sincere smile coming and going on his face. He looked exhausted. It hadn't been a restful few days for anyone.
Saguru smiled back and held up books he'd grabbed on his way out. "You're cleared for reading correct? I thought you might like something to occupy your time."
"Yep. Have been for a while, but there's mostly mystery novels here." Kuroba sighed. "So many mystery novels. I like a good detective novel every now and again and Kudo Yusaku's Night Baron series is good, but there are times when you just need something less suspenseful." He waved a hand at Saguru's books. "Please tell me those aren't mystery novels."
"They're not mystery novels," Saguru said faithfully. "They're a few of the novels the literature club has read this year. One of which," he held a book apart from the others, "is one I was supposed to be reading this summer break and have been neglecting."
"For shame," Kuroba said, straight faced. He reached out for a book and Saguru passed him the few he'd chosen, the most cheerful of what they'd read and as far from anything resembling their current lives as possible. "Ooh, fantasy. That sounds fun."
"I thought it might."
Kuroba smiled again and it lingered as he moved back to his bed. The cards went on the bedtable. "Sit," he said, patting the stretch of empty mattress beside him. It could be intimate sitting that close. Honestly, nothing sounded nicer than curling up with a book at Kuroba's side at the moment. He settled carefully next to him; Kuroba's warmth spread through his right side, present, grounding. Pleasant.
Kuroba made no move to read though, rubbing the cover back and forth in his hands. "Thanks for coming."
"Of course," Saguru said. "I could use the company as well."
"And thank you." Kuroba held his gaze, serious and intent. "For helping Takumi."
Saguru couldn't look away. He could make out every tiny pink scar that covered Kuroba's right side, see the lines in his face, where stress lines warred with smile lines, both equally worn. The same deep blue he remembered from high school staring back at him; Kuroba's eyes hadn't changed much, just held deeper emotions than before. Kuroba's lips were chapped. Saguru cursed his brain for noticing. "Of course," Saguru repeated, a beat too slow. "I could never sit back and let him be hurt, you know that."
"Still. Thanks."
Kuroba's hand on his, a slight squeeze that went straight to Saguru's chest where it ached and built, like Kuroba has squeezed his heart, not his hand. He still hadn't looked away and maybe...maybe if it were some other topic, Saguru might have the courage to say any of the words building in his throat, clogging behind his lips. That Takumi felt like family, that Kuroba felt like family. That Saguru wanted to keep them both. That Saguru would do whatever he could for Kuroba and those he cared for because Saguru cared for him.
Saguru said nothing.
He squeezed Kuroba's hand back, once, and pulled his gaze down onto the paperback novel in his lap before he crossed any lines he couldn't go back on. Now was not the time. "I'm glad I got there in time," he said, voice soft.
"Yeah," Kuroba said with a sigh. "Me too." He picked up his book, pulling his hand away. Its warmth was missed. Saguru took that as his cue to open his own book.
The words on the pages blurred together after a while, Kuroba's warmth draining away tension Saguru had only half noticed until his eyes felt heavy and his book drooped in his hands. He didn't remember when he fell asleep. He couldn't be sure if Kuroba was still awake beside him either.
o*O*O*o
AN: you know I realize that I never explicitly stated that there were extras for this story. But there's extras and they tie into the main story and some of them expand on things and give other perspectives for characters. So if that's to anyone's interest, go check out the secondary story with the extras ^_^;; I hopefully will update that this week for extras that tie into this chapter.
