Proof of life! Sorry for the long silence. Been hard to get things done, lately. Still I try.
Chapter 13
Nakamori sighed, settling himself at his desk. On the one hand, Kid was alive. The heist note and return of the book had been relieving, although seeing the ever-so-slight stiffness to some of the thief's movements and how simply said heist had been done, he was pretty sure he knew why the man had been quiet so long.
The rest of his officers had picked up on it, too, and Nakamori wasn't sure whether or not it was a good thing that they had automatically held back. He was pretty sure even with the skills they'd picked up from Kaito and Kudo-kun, Kid would have gotten away, but they could have made it harder for him.
On the one hand, they weren't supposed to hold back. On the other, if Kid had resorted to his usual style of getaway tactics, he could have negated what healing he'd already done, and Nakamori didn't like the idea of hurting Kid to catch him when he was so stubbornly nonviolent.
Especially not after what he'd found out from Kaito. Sure, the thief was a thief, but Toichi had been a friend. If that thief was so set on finding Toichi's killers as to risk his own life against those shadowy snipers, well…
He couldn't be all bad.
(As if he hadn't known that already. Every time the higher-ups started questioning Nakamori's abilities, something would happen that had them singing his praises all over again, and Nakamori was not stupid. But he refused to acknowledge what he'd noticed. He wouldn't risk it, could not, because with everything coming to light that only further confirmed some very dark suspicions he'd had growing for the past few years, he knew that if the wrong ears heard he'd gone soft on Kid, Kid wouldn't be the only one having to worry about snipers.)
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"So," Conan grinned brightly, offering Hakuba what looked like a homemade and extremely dark chocolate cookie as he blinked in mild startlement.
Hakuba accepted the cookie, "Hello, Conan," he hazarded, slightly wary.
"Welcome to the dark side! There's your cookie."
Kaito snickered, but Hakuba only looked puzzled.
Conan pouted, "How have you not come across that before?" Even he'd seen it as a true teen, even if he hadn't been particularly amused at the time. Living with Kaito for so long had definitely warped his sense of humor.
Hakuba did not suddenly show enlightenment, "… I'm sorry, what?"
Kaito hopped to sit on the back of the park-bench, "It's an internet thing. I don't know who started it, but there are variants of 'come to the dark side, we have cookies' floating around on a lot of social sites."
Conan huffed lightly, "It would have been a lot more entertaining if you'd known what I was referencing."
Hakuba groaned, "You," he informed less flatly than he once would have, "are a pair of menaces. And you have corrupted me."
Kaito offered an exaggerated cheer, complete with fist-pump. "Success!"
Hakuba didn't grace that with a verbal response, though he did take a bite out of the cookie. Conan grinned and produced two more, passing one up to Kaito before munching into his own, "Well, anyway, we don't have much planned for today beyond the usual. You?"
Hakuba shook his head, "Nothing in particular. I was hoping for a quiet afternoon."
Conan shrugged, "So go home. I can almost guarantee you won't get your quiet if you hang out with us. I haven't tripped over a body in a few days."
Hakuba grimaced, "Oh, lord. Thank you for that reminder, it was just what I needed to think about right now."
Kaito laughed outright, "We have corrupted you, haven't we?" he asked, clearly delighted. "Also, please don't leave. I hate fielding police at murder scenes. Megure's people listen to me well enough, but the others are a pain."
Hakuba stayed with them a few more hours, and Conan's prediction was (once again) proven correct. There was another body, but at least it was handled in a quick and easy manner. (Repeat, and all Conan had to do was point out the evidence for Hakuba to hand over to the police, and then they all went to do paperwork. The joy of being Conan again—an officer asked him questions and filled out the papers for him, since it wasn't like they knew he wasn't six. Also, the police in Tokyo were getting spoiled. They hardly ever had to do their own investigations!)
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She and Nee-san were starting to get used to being 'Haibara' instead of 'Miyano'. Nee-san had even started calling her 'Ai-chan' instead of 'Shi-chan' or 'Shiho'. And—it was starting to feel like they were safe. None of her former coworkers had so much as wandered by, except Gin and Vodka, once. Neither had given her so much as a second glance.
(The strange little boy had been right, that she and Nee-san could be safe like this. And since he'd been right about that… well, maybe taking his grandfatherly friend up on the offer of a place to stay wouldn't be so bad, either.)
Ai smiled to herself and climbed into a chair at the kitchen table, accepting a bowl of rice and fish from Nee-san with a soft 'thanks'. It was a truth that the only way to truly escape the Organization was death, but it rather seemed like she and Nee-san had both met that condition. Maybe they really were safe, now.
And if not—well, if not, the time they had together would still be worth it, even if it ended up being only temporary.
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Hattori Heiji wasn't given to needless worrying, really. And he was sure he'd have known if something too bad had happened—except that Kudo hadn't called in well over a month and neither had Kuroba. Kudo's disappearance was hardly a secret, and Heiji had initially expected to hear from one of the Kudo-Kuroba pair within a few days, saying it was fine.
Only that had never happened.
He'd had enough of waiting. It was time to go check things out with his own eyes.
(Kudo had better be all right. Heiji didn't want to find out anything else.)
"I'm coming too, ya ahou," Kazuha hit him with an overnight bag, "I want ta see wha' the big deal is about this 'Kudo' you keep goin' on about."
"Fine," he grumped. Maybe he could ditch her with Ran-san. They'd probably get along. Either way, he needed to know what had happened to Kudo—judging by the crazy that was already the Eastern Detective's life, it was probably nuts, whatever it was.
Kazuha paused, "This is really botherin' ya, ain't it?"
No point in lying. "Yeah. It ain't like Kudo to go quiet for so long, an' he's still listed as 'missin'. I don' like it, but maybe Kuroba'll have more." Hopefully Kuroba'd have more. The last thing Heiji wanted to do was find out that Kudo was dead.
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