Disclaimer: I don't own MK or DC, or any other manga/anime to be exact. I just like to let my imagination run loose :D

Ladies and gentlemen! I humbly welcome you to the next chapter of this story.

This chapter I'll present you - as promised - some inner thoughts and a bit of building relations and how they managed with all that happend last time.

After the last chapter I ended with a writing frenzy and gone writing this (it's hellish hot here and I'm stuck at home to survive somehow! I can tell you it's no fun being as heat-sensitive as I am :/).

Kameo1 – did I already say I love your comments? I totally do xD
Haha – yeah maybe you're right xD Just watching Heiji in the anime made me see him as such a caring guy for those who he considers his friends xD Then I figured that he probably had the chance to see the damage full-powered boots can cause, so… yeah – he would totally protect the defenseless KID xD He's actually somewhat like Kaito – prefers to get hurt himself than allow others get it ;) I mean come on – in one episode he gave Conan his lucky charm in which he fully believes that is protecting him, because he had a bad dream about his friend and he got shot in the process? He's totally overprotective. But I personally love him for that xD

So without further delay – Please enjoy and review! :)


Chapter 6: Under the dove's cover

Conan and Heiji sneaked out on a stroll to be able to freely talk about their encounter with KID the other night. And the first thing Heiji asked slightly perplexed was…

"KID is a guy, right?"

Kudo threw him a suspicious and unsure gaze "Yeah… why?"

"And you're sure about that..?"

"Hattori… why exactly are you asking me a question like that?" Conan stopped and looked straight at his friend.

"Well… when we met he was a convincing woman. So I just wanted to be sure you know… It's disturbing how convincing his disguise can be." He felt a shiver run down his spine.

Conan snorted and continued walking "Yeah, I'm positive about it. And you don't have to tell me about it. One time he disguised himself as Ran and I honestly couldn't tell the difference… And he was wearing a short dress back then. Definitely disturbing. Let's not go with that trail of thought…" he proposed and Heiji agreed easily.

After that the dark-skinned detective summed up for his friend briefly his talk with the thief. Conan snorted at the idea of giving KID a tour around Osaka but wasn't personally against it. If the thief actually agreed it could be an opportunity to observe him without the need to chase him around. Assuming of course that he wouldn't drive them crazy. Which was alarmingly likely. Maybe not such a good idea after all? Heiji laughed off his concerns but visually started to wonder about the matter.

"Anyway, just before you guys showed up he assured me that at the warehouse it was just a chance meeting. I think he might have an idea on who we stumbled upon there, but didn't have a chance to get a clear answer out of him. Talking with him is sometimes a pain…" he sighed heavily "He sure knows how to change a topic."

"Oh yeah. You gotta hate him sometimes for that and his distractions. Understand now why I sometimes want to put a soccer ball in his face?" Conan asked with amusement carefully watching his friend's reaction.

Heiji grimaced clearly not fully content with the idea yet "Yeah, maybe. Think you just somehow surprised me with that. Haven't seen you going so fierce with anybody who isn't a direct threat before."

"He is a threat…" Conan cut in with a tired expression "He's a threat for my sanity."

Hattori laughed at that "So we're cool about that?"

The boy smiled relieved at his friend "Couldn't have it the other way."

"Glad to hear that." The Osakan smiled and sighed "So, you think he knows something about THOSE guys? He does claim to know a whole lot about various stuff…" the way he stressed that word didn't leave any doubts on who he meant.

Conan frowned "No idea." The boy admitted easily "I'm sure he isn't one of them. And I'm positive he didn't know anything when I first made him cross his paths with them, but now?" he shrugged "I was actually wondering about it myself the other day. But I'm not sure if I want him sniffing around them if he didn't already. You've seen how wild and crazy he is. He is a menace but I don't want him to end up dead. He's…" the boy wavered searching for the right word.

"Too cheerful? Fun?" He suggested and Conan gave him a nod with a soft smile "Yeah… the reports don't cover it. Got the feeling he's like a runaway from a fairy tale after that 'dance-heist' and he confirmed that just yesterday. Hard to imagine that on every other day he's just a regular guy…"

"I doubt it." The shrunken detective chuckled "He's probably driving everybody at his school crazy on daily basis."

"School? Don't tell me you know who he is?" Heiji looked at his friend surprised.

"Nah… Not even sure honestly if I want to know anymore. I just know that he is more or less our age and roughly resembles me."

"He looks like you? Freaky… But you don't want to know who he is? Didn't you want him caught?" he tilt his head looking at his friend.

"Not sure. He did help me numerous times now, a couple of times saving my life. And apart from that, I'm not sure if there is a prison that could contain him…" He chuckled "I've witnessed him open an impenetrable vault within minutes Hattori… To be more ridiculous he did that to save Jirokichi-ojisan's dog." He sighed with a smile and continued "I don't honestly think that, unless kept in a coma, he would stay locked for long against his will. And after escaping he could just as easily discard his identity and even his own face. In the end he would probably end up more untraceable than he is now that way. But I'm not sure if he wouldn't… you know – loose the 'fairy' part about him in the process. Hiding all the time would probably would make him take some compromises. It would be just… so unnatural and kind of sad…" He shook his head after giving his words a short thought "So actually no, I don't want him caught. He's not a bad guy after all, so I only want to chase him and ruin his plans." He grinned at his friend to counteract then grim atmosphere his words caused.

Heiji smiled in return giving some thought to his friend's words. Afterwards they talked some more about the thief. They wondered what information on him could have Hakuba dug out, but they didn't have any way to contact the blonde and ask him that. Then they continued on wondering about who were the guys they tailed a while ago and decided to use Hattori's influence to get a full access the reports covering that. Unfortunately before they could go with that plan they received and angry call from the girls and had to return to the agency, deciding on spending the day with them and postponing the visit to the station on the next day.


He could only be grateful to Akako for making her stupid premonition. Not that he would tell her that. Only thanks to remembering it he avoided nearly falling for Hakuba's trap. And Tantei-han's, when he thought about it. Happily jumping in for a tour invitation? Excellent idea, maybe they add stylish bracelets to it? Not that he would get caught that easily, but allowing 'the demons to enclose' on him like that? He shook his head remembering how he came for a visit to Tantei-san. And what? Maybe next time he would actually agree to the tea? He must have been getting really tired lately to act like that. He reminded himself about the idea to chase his Task Force. Yeah, definitely he had quite a few stupid ideas going on lately. Probably high time to take matters more seriously. He sighed heavily. Only it wasn't his style to act too serious.

He was watching a record from the heist made by a camera attached to his dove to cheer himself up. Kaito enjoyed the amazed looks on his fans faces. He loved the amusement and joy he brought to them and hoped he could do it someday as Kuroba Kaito, the son of magnificent Kuroba Toichi. But as for now he couldn't risk officially being more than an aspiring magician or he would probably end up dead as his dad. He turned off a site with an official invitation to the magic's championships to all illusionists in the world. It would be held in half year from now. He knew his dad won it when he was 20 years old. Kaito could probably best him and win it now… But the thing was he couldn't attend it as long as he was a thief. He turned on a KID-fan forum and read some new posts on his latest heist to avert his thoughts.


Hakuba wondered if he could visit Kuroba, but as he had no official reason he decided against it in order to wait until he saw him at school. That at least gave him the time to think how to approach his classmate. He was pondering on how his talk with the thief would reflect on his relationship with the magician. Recalling KID's reactions and his sudden departure made him worry about it. Worst thing was that he didn't know what caused it. All seemed going in the right direction, until the thief reminded himself of something 'unpleasant' and backed out. Was it somehow related to Hakuba? As it was their first conversation like this he doubted it. Whatever it was, it must have been something big, as it seemed to spook out the fearless KID.

Hakuba roamed his room like a caged animal considering again the possibility of meeting Kuroba. Maybe he could use Aoko for it? That would be rather low, but should work. And at least he would be able to see how the magician was acting now. With that thought he picked up the phone and dialed the girls number.


It wasn't easy for Aoko to convince Kaito to meet with her. He tried hard to excuse himself about being busy. She actually had to blackmail him to finally receive an agreement from his side. She didn't like doing so, but Hakuba-kun sounded somewhat distressed about it. Aoko bit her lip wondering if something bad happened between those two. And when they finally started to enjoy themselves together! She was irritated. She liked them both and wanted to be able to spend time together. Kaito was like the most important person, after her father, in her life and Hakuba-kun helped her dearly to deal with and accept her childhood friend's recent lack of time for her. He turned out to be a wonderful support and her second best friend, so she didn't want to be forced to choose between them. Moreover she feared that if it came to that Kaito would willingly back out and she couldn't have that. That's why she was determined to help them overcome whatever trouble they were dealing with.


He didn't want to act today as a cheerful and carefree magician. It clearly stood in opposition to his resolve. Moreover he wanted to sulk a bit. He had every right to, right? And he couldn't. He was considering calling Chat Noir for some tips (haha, oh yeah he could imagine it "Rose-sempai~! Teach me how to act as a serious kaitou~ - pleeeease!" Ha… ha… Yeah... so not happening. But still amusing). And then Ahoko called and blackmailed him into going to a mall together. If he didn't come she would blurt out his weakness to their whole class. He totally had to learn how to deal with... with f... finny things... Yeah, let's stick with that phrase. He could only imagine himself in full KID regalia running for his life, screaming like a girl from his detectives chasing him with scaly monsters in their hands… Not an amusing picture at all. He's father would roll in his grave if that ever happened. So he had no choice and had to go with her. Although that way he would probably contribute in world's sales on sea monsters as every police station in the world and every decent criminal would want to be armed in those in case they would have to face him. That was terrifying, yet somehow amusing thought… He could cry at the image of Snake and other assassins coming after him throwing finny monsters at him.

Alright – so he had to admit it – the serious kaitou idea? That won't be working with him anytime soon. He was a prankster and a humorous guy at heart and he loved it about himself. In the end it helped him so far with any trouble he faced, so it will somehow workout in the future. He just had to keep stupid thoughts in his mind and refrain himself from putting them into action. Easy… probably. He only had to identify them fast enough. With that resolve he finished his training and went to prepare for the evening with Aoko. Kaito felt like pranking her some as a revenge for blackmailing him and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Or not… Kaito was staring with annoyance at Hakuba standing beside Aoko on his doorstep. He felt tempted to shut the door in their faces and head back to his room. But Kuroba Kaito had no reason to act like that, heck – not even Kaitou KID had any official reason to act like that (aside from the usual thief-detective issue of course). So he settled with a heavy sigh and stepped outside closing door behind him. He didn't decide how to act around the detective from now on, figuring he'd just start ignoring him more, but that wouldn't be working now, so he had to improvise.

"What is he doing here?" he asked with tired annoyance in his voice.

"Aoko asked him to come." She cut in fast before Hakuba could say a word and she smiled at her friend "We had fun the last few weeks together, didn't we?"

"Maybe you had, I just went with the flow." He mumbled crossing his arms on his chest.

"Oh come on, don't be like that. The whole class noticed by now that you stopped pranking Hakuba-kun so much. I know you started to like him. So what happened? You looked fine just yesterday…"

Kaito huffed rolling his eyes "I stopped pranking him because he's boring. Mister stick-in-the-butt is so unamusing it makes me wanna cry. I was only happy because he stopped with his idiotic accusations and stalking me finally. Doesn't mean I like him or want to squeeze my tight timetable to meet him. If that's what you want, be my guest. Just don't try to make me do it. He should be content enough that I didn't report his actions to the police for all that he had done. But his daddy would probably cover it all up, so there was no point in it." As he talked he let all his frustrations and anger run loose and overwhelm him.

Kaito remembered all negative feelings he had for the blonds' actions, slipping also the grief of being KID in. He wanted to make the detective angry and hurt him to be able to push him away as strongly and as fast as he could, so he didn't stop his tongue from splatting harsh words at people before him.

Aoko's eyes widened at those words. She was shocked and didn't want to believe what she heard. Hakuba was also stunned to hear what he had and see the magician snap like that. But he frowned as he saw the girl's reaction and decided to cut in.

"Kuroba watch your words. I'm sorry for all the wrong that I made. But if you have a problem with me, you should talk about it with me, and me only, not take it out in front of Aoko." His tone was strict and face serious.

Kaito threw him a gaze that made the detective step back with fear. "Don't even try and order me around." The magician growled madly at the blonde.

Hakuba didn't dare to blink as he stared in those gleaming, predatory eyes suddenly aware how fast KID could move if he wanted to. He remembered the recent video of his fight with Hattori and how he managed to precisely cut thin threads on a moving target. He realized how easy it would be for him to hit a larger target like a vein and turn a dance into a massacre. And what if he had a larger blade? The thief dealt with assassins and dodged bullets on daily basis. It hit him to understand how dangerous the man before him was. The heists were like toying with a tiger, until he chose to finally turn it into a slaughter. He wanted to run under this fearful gaze but didn't dare to move his body. And just like that the terrifying predator was hit on the back of its head and the spell was broken.

"Ahoko! What did you hit me for?!" The harmless magician whined with annoyance.

"Bakaito! Why did you glare like that on Hakuba-kun after insulting him?!" she yelled at him angrily.

Saguru took a deep breath, not noticing he was holding it till now. He looked at the moaning magician not feeling any of the dread that just took over him. He was confused. What was that all about? He knew that the magician was annoying but harmless. Or was he? He certainly had the ability to be not only unstoppable but also deadly. Hakuba grimly wondered why it had never occurred to him before. He was suddenly shook to reality by frowning Aoko shaking his arm.

"Mouu, Hakuba-kun are you alright? What happened? Did Bakaito really hypnotize you or something?" she sounded worried.

"Ahoko I told you I don't hypnotize people. That would be cheating. I prefer to trick them when they are fully aware." Kaito snorted amused.

"Bakaito! Tricking people and cheating is the same thing!"

"No it's not! It's two different things! Oi Hakuba! Tell her it's different and that I didn't hypnotize you or anything." The magician looked at him with his usual half amused half annoyed stare.

Hakuba snorted laughing off in his mind his recent fright "It's quite fine Aoko-kun. I just…" he turned his gaze back at Kuroba showing a light smile "…'remembered something unpleasant'."

She huffed showing and annoyed face but they both saw she was glad "Alright, but as apology you're buying us both ice-cream!" she pointed her finger at the magician.

"Whaa? Oh come on! I have my expenses… I'm not some millionaire to be treating everybody like that…" Kaito moaned walking beside his two classmates away from his home.

"I quite agree that you do owe us that at least." Hakuba snorted amused by the situation.

"Sheshhh… Fine, but only one scoop each…" the magician surrendered stashing his hands in his pockets with an unamused look and after a while he added looking at the road before him "Oi, Hakuba… Sorry for snapping at you like that…"

"It's quite alright… I probably deserved it for some time now." He answered with a comforting smile to the abashed magician.


Kaito was honestly shocked. Who thought that all it would take to scare off the annoying detective was to stare at him madly? It all would have been so easy if he figured it out sooner… But he probably shouldn't overuse it. He figured it was some kind of a phobia for Hakuba and he could sympathize with him. Besides if the detective ever figured his scaly creature problem he could want to take revenge… Yep, he would keep the stare thing as a last resolve weapon. Definitely.

And why did he quote him? Kaito frowned. He didn't see any similarities in those situations… Or did he give a scared look on his face while quoting Akako… That wasn't good if he broke his poker face like that as KID. He should keep it under more control. He couldn't have people seeing a dread expression on KID. So unprofessional of him to go so much out of character. Back to poker face training? Seems so.

Anyway it wasn't going to serve any good for his cause to apologize to the detective, but it would be too awkward without it. Worse was that Aoko decided to get herself involved. It was going to be a pain to shove the blonde away. Especially that despite everything he wasn't sure he wanted. But he had to… And a kaitou should always put what he needed before what he wanted. He had to keep his desires and emotions in check or it would turn out bad.


And in the end he did prank Aoko at the mall and Hakuba as well. There was a visible distance between them that worried the girl, but in the end all three of them had lots of fun and laughs, so she believed it's going to be fine. It was probably just some boy-stuff she didn't understand. The staring contest they had at the beginning proved that to her. She was relieved when the magician apologized and most of the tension was gone. Who knows? Maybe he just needed to let it all out?

It wasn't often for Aoko to see Kaito as fierce like he did. But she wasn't scared of him. The few times before she has seen him like that was when he was protecting her. She knew he would never look at her like that and the thought that he could act like that was somehow making her feel somewhat more secure with him. She smiled softly at the back of her childhood friend who just walked her home and now was just going back to his own.


Hakuba was heading home alone after he parted with his classmates. That meeting was definitely fruitful with information. Apparently Kuroba did decide to distant himself from the detective for some reason strong enough to throw him off balance. It was the first time that he had seen the magician snap like he did. Hakuba pondered more about the dread feeling he received then. Maybe it was just his imagination? Aoko didn't seem worried or shocked by anything Kuroba showed. Detective had to admit that lately he was concerning himself maybe a bit too much with the thief and he wasn't sleeping well. He wasn't sure anymore of what he saw. I must have been only his imagination. KID could be dangerous, had all the ability to be, true. But the thing was he wasn't, and wouldn't be. Ever. And with the strong resolve he pushed away the quiet, persistent thought saying otherwise.


I love writing Kaito's inner thoughts and trolling himself in the process xD

So how does the premonition sound like to you now?

And the clock ticks quietly as the time grows near…

*evil chuckle* See you next chapter *bow* ;)