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.
My dear reads – this chapter I present you with a little joy and breakthrough. Still not the one we could hope for, but oh well… Hope you'll like it.
I'm sorry I've kept you waiting, but you know.. sometimes life happens xD Unfortunately I probably won't be able to update during the weekend, since I have some work to do, so I promise not to leave you with a heavy cliffy this time ;)
Sele-chan – I know it's unfair. It was just a revelation when I was thinking how to end the chapter, really. Then I just found the explosion connection and went like 'oww… if I didn't see it, others probably didn't either…'. So don't hate Aoko too much ;) I'm pleased I've managed to make you feel so many emotions from reading my work. I think you might like this chapter.
Lady Paper – Oh don't worry about your English :D I'm glad you find my work good enough to want to review it :) I hope I will manage to keep up to your expectations *bow*
Madelita – My Gods… xD The 'Duck Team' comment made me laughing hard and I couldn't focus on writing xD I sooo love it – like I told you xD
JarayZ - Mm~ a silent reader you say? Kinda flattering too~ I'm glad you found the time to review thou, it's very nice to read them~ Yeah I know I'm being a bit cruel… But what can I say? I really do believe he wouldn't agree to get help unless he's on the edge xD
Kameo1 – boys do intend to work on him – no worries ;) And yeah – I felt Kaito's pain too…
Loyal DC Fan – Everything? No, no… he still didn't tell Hakuba about FBI or Haibara. But as for KID goes, well they are kinda on this case together – you think he should leave them looking for the connection instead on focusing on what's important? And I think he can learn his lessons, what point is there to discourage Hakuba to himself when he kinda needs him? And as for D1 situation – he's more sorry that it didn't occur to him sooner that it might be a bad idea, than he feels guilty.
Well… seeing how it goes – you're probably not going to like my vision of Conan, but what can I do? Hope you can bare with it ;)
Mists – I'm always glad to bring you joy *bow* And I do believe Ahoko is the kind of a girl to talk first, think later xD
So without further delay…
Please enjoy and review! :)
Chapter 11: Looking through the clouds
Waving off his face pieces of confetti, Hakuba cursed under his breath. Out of habit he dashed to the window, hoping to see fleeing Kuroba. The moment he reached it, he reminded himself, that now the magician was badly injured. Saguru wanted to avert his gaze and search elsewhere, but at then he saw movement from the corner of his eye. Detective leaned through the window to see Kuroba on the ground below, struggling to get back on his feet. Hakuba cursed once again and ignoring his classmates he ran out of the classroom, hoping to reach him before he managed to escape.
When the Brit got out of the building he caught a glimpse of the other teen casually passing the school gates. The blonde rushed after him and noticed him limping towards the path near a river. It was just for a moment that Hakuba saw his weakness, as just a few seconds later the magician was walking normally again. The detective narrowed his eyes and caught up with him. Hakuba evened his steps with his classmate's, walking beside him in silence. With a corner of his eyes he noticed that the teen was struggling to breath normally. His movement lacked the usual springiness and nimbleness. Suddenly the magician stopped, with his gaze still focused before him. Saguru stopped as well and turned to him, waiting calmly. Still without turning his eyes Kuroba spoke with a quiet, hoarse voice.
"Go away."
"I don't want to." Hakuba answered plainly, carefully searching his classmate's expression for a hint of true emotions breaking trough.
The magician clenched his teeth and turned to face him. There was anger blazing in those violet eyes, but underneath it there was also tiredness and sorrow. Saguru remained calm and waited.
"Leave me."
"I don't have any intention to."
"Gods!" Kaito huffed rolling his eyes in annoyance "Why do you have to be so persistent Hakuba? What am I supposed to do to you, so you would just give it up already?"
"Do you really want me to leave you alone?"
That confused Kaito, but he recovered fast grimacing "Didn't you listen?"
"I did. And I asked if this is what you really want me to do." He answered patiently with his eyes still locked in the magician's.
And in them, right before Kuroba averted his gaze, he saw a spark of understanding and something else, that he failed to recognize. As the magician didn't answer right away Hakuba continued with a soft voice.
"Then I want to stay."
Kuroba clucked, letting annoyance and the tiredness show on his face "Why are you doing this Hakuba? We're not friends or anything..." His voice was carrying a hint of pain.
"No... we're probably not." The detective answered with regret and added with a slight smile "But I would want to be."
That statement surprised the magician "Huh..? Why?"
"Because you helped me a lot."
Kuroba gave him a puzzled expression racing in his mind through all his interactions he had with the blonde. Quite a lot of colorful and fun memories for his part, but definitely no helping. He had to admit Tantei-san was far more reasonable and less suicidal than his other critics. After a moment of silence he raised his eyebrow looking back at the detective in search for answer.
"No... I didn't"
Detective's smile widened a bit "None the less I still want to be your friend."
Now wasn't that new? It was Kaito, who was supposed to be the one providing puzzles for his critics, not the other way around. But he was definitely not going to turn into a detective himself and start asking all those irritating questions they do. Not that he didn't appreciate the distraction Hakuba was providing him now. And he was so tired with how he had to act recently... So maybe he could let it go, just a little..?
"But you do know, that you're persistent and annoying, right?" He asked with exasperation in his voice, but a slight smirk crept on his lips.
"Yes, I am quite aware of that." Hakuba replied with a chuckle.
Kaito exhaled loudly "So I'm not getting rid of you..?"
Detective smirked in response "Not if I can help it."
"Riight…"
On any other occasion Kuroba would gladly pick up the challenge and vanish in front of the blonde, humiliating him in the process. But as things were now… Kuroba stiffened his Poker Face as waves of pain ran through his body. He was barely standing straight due to how he aggravated the wound on his leg. He could only hope that it hasn't reopened. He should have been in more control and refrain himself from doing a stunt like that.
Smile faded off Saguru's face replaced by worry, when he noticed the other teen's eyes darkening with a hint of pain. He forced himself not to express his thoughts through words and searched for a way to lend the magician a hand, without offending his pride. He moved his gaze to the river and spoke with a neutral tone.
"Do you mind if we sit here for a bit? I like the view…" And without waiting for an answer he stepped off the road and sat himself on the grass growing on the slope, hoping the magician would follow his example.
Kaito smiled wryly clearly understanding Hakuba's intention and promising himself more intense Poker Face training. None the less he followed the other's teen example, walking down the slope a bit further down. He carefully sat himself and laid his back on the grass turning his gaze to the sky.
"Yeah, sure." He exhaled with relief and closed his eyes.
They were relaxing like this for a while and Hakuba was wondering, if the peacefully breathing magician by his side didn't fall asleep. The detective watched his companion with worry. Magician's breath, although relaxed, was shallower than one would expect from a healthy person. Broken ribs? Probably cracked at least. Hakuba moved his gaze to magician's arm laying beside him, stretched on the grass. He remembered how Kuroba was refraining himself from moving it at all, or at the very least avoiding its sudden movement. Probably bone damage as well, but since there wasn't any suspicious shapes under the sleeve, he could rule out he had a plaster on it. So most probably it wasn't broken. Also cracked then? He moved his eyes to the teen's left leg also laying stretched on the grass. Hakuba grimaced remembering how the limb seemed to hinder the magician's movement. And how he saw him struggling on the ground, after he escaped from the classroom. The detective highly doubted any serious bone damage, it was most probably some severe muscle injury and considering the number of bullet holes at the heist scene, it was most probably a bullet wound… Hakuba worried, if it hasn't reopened because of the impact after the escape trick.
He looked at the whole magician wondering how many more injuries he was suffering from, but managed to conceal from detective's gaze. Just with what he did discover Saguru was wondering how Kuroba managed to move in a nearly natural way. Drugging himself with painkillers? Possible…
Watching him like that Hakuba noticed that Kuroba's skin tone on his face and hands was slightly different. Detective frowned, he didn't notice any difference back at school, but then again it was expected that Kuroba would turn pale, after a painful stunt and only skin on his hands turned paler. So the magician was wearing a mask or makeup to cover some face damage? Saguru could only hope that underneath the disguise were only bruises hidden.
Absent-mindedly Saguru was curiously wondering who patched up all of his wounds. And if the person was skilled enough to do it properly. Hakuba was struggling with an urge to check and confirm all his injuries, when Kaito took a deeper breath and spoke out with a lazy voice.
"You know… it's annoying and disturbing, when you stare at me with such intensity." He slowly opened his eyes and moved his gaze to the detective.
Slightly embarrassed Hakuba turned his gaze away "I apologize. I didn't intend to wake you up."
"No worries… I wasn't sleeping." Kuroba answered with a yawn "Can't fall asleep even if I want to, when somebody is watching me."
"Oh? You don't seem to have that problem at school."
"Napping and sleeping are two different things, jeeez…" Kaito rolled his eyes and moved their gaze to the sky.
Hakuba frowned a bit looking back at the magician and cleared his throat "Anyway, don't you think it would be wise, if you checked your injuries..? After a –"
"What injuries?" Kuroba cut in fast with a genuinely surprised tone.
Hakuba was not impressed and sighed heavily "Seriously..? We're still going to be playing like this?"
A wide grin that bloomed on the magician's face was enough for an answer. Hakuba closed his eyes and shook his head, well no point in pushing it, he guessed. The detective opened his eyes and asked with a careful tone.
"Are you still mad at Aoko..?"
The smile lessened to a sad one, as Kaito's eyes were following a cloud.
"I wasn't mad at her. Maybe a bit disappointed." He shrugged "But it's been ten years now. I don't expect people to remember about it all the time…" It sounded like he wanted to add something, but he refrained himself from it.
"But you do? In detail…" Hakuba always suspected KID for having a very detailed eidetic memory and he heard from Aoko, that Kuroba witnessed that accident.
"Yeah… very vivid detail…" His eyes darkened as he searched the sky for another cloud to gaze at "But I don't want to talk about it…"
"I'm sorry for bringing it up…" Hakuba was observing Kuroba's face as he shook his head slowly, showing that he didn't mind.
For a moment they were silent, both lost in their thoughts. At some point Saguru sighed and asked carefully, with a quiet voice.
"Maybe then you could tell me why did you try to push me away so much? Do you despise or fear me for some reason?"
„What?" Kaito threw him a puzzled look and laughed "Now why would I be afraid of you?" He asked with a mocking tone and waved off the matter "I mean come on, you couldn't make me do anything I wouldn't let you. I'm just that awesome and smart. And also it's not like you would willingly hurt me yourself. So, no fear here. And I don't despise you. You are persistent and annoying. Couple of times I may have wanted to prank you to death, or rather insanity for that. But you make me laugh far too often." a wide, sly grin split his face.
Hakuba face was deadpan, clearly showing that the taunt was not working "Then what was it Kuroba-kun? And did you decide to stop now? Or am I supposed to expect that this is merely a pause and you will continue this from tomorrow?"
The smile and laughter faded on Kaito's face. He sat back up and turned his gaze towards the river, placing his chin to rest on his folded right knee.
"Just 'Kuroba' is fine you know. I haven't been using any honorific at you anyway, so it's just fair."
Hakuba blinked a few times, puzzled with the thought if what his classmate just said had a deeper meaning, or not.
"Thank you. I'll gladly do that then." Or was it just a distraction? Hakuba narrowed his eyes at the sudden thought and added "But you haven't answered my question…"
Kaito smirked happily "Ah~! Always the sharp one~ That's what I like about you, you know~? I mean it's fun sometimes when I can just do what I want, but in the end it turns out just plain boring~"
"You're not going to manipulate this that easily Kuroba-k… Kuroba." He corrected himself with a slight soft smile.
"Manipulate? Me~? Why… I'd never~" But it seemed that Kaito's genuinely shocked expression did not impress his classmate, so he just snorted and rolled his eyes "Spoil sport… What's the point of being so serious anyway? That way you just grow old faster…" He gasped in awe "And if you grow old you get closer to death!" The magician straightened with wide eyes shooting at Hakuba and mortified expression "I don't wanna die yet! I'm too young!"
Saguru felt his eyebrow twitch. He wanted to strangle his classmate right now so bad… He started wondering, if the ignoring part was really that bad. He sighed heavily and rubbed his template. Yes, yes it was. Acting like a cheerful idiot was probably part of Kuroba's charm. Hakuba pondered with a serious face. But was it really his nature? Detective was ripped out of his thoughts with a sudden flick on his nose. He jerked his head towards the grinning magician with a shocked expression.
"Phew~! Thought I lost you there for a moment~"
Hakuba exhaled slowly, closing his eyes for a moment "Kuroba… Please, just tell me at least, if you plan on acting with like you have for the last few weeks, again?"
Kaito huffed tired, wondering if it wasn't a better idea to leave Tantei-san in his thoughts. He turned back to gazing at the river. He could play a bit more with the detective. He really did miss teasing with him like this. But the guy did look like he was at his limit and Kaito should return home and check his wounds. Probably a little honesty could be good also…
"Don't know."
Saguru looked shocked hearing a serious voice from the magician "And what does it depend on?"
"You."
Hakuba stayed silent for a moment recalling once again his last interactions with the thief, before it all changed. And he still didn't understand it. Neither did Kudo, if Saguru could believe his words. He sighed defeated.
"I don't know what have I done, to make you act the way you did. I would like you to tell me, so I won't insult you again like this. I sincerely want to be friends with you Kuroba and I have no ulterior motive to that. And I'd hate to wait until you get hurt again, so I can prove that to you."
Well… crap. Kaito sighed trying to form his thoughts as fast as he could. He was thinking just the other day, that he shouldn't allow anybody to get near him. But he didn't know how to explain it so the detective would finally give it up. Nor did he know if that was what he wanted to do. The Brit was somewhat likeable…ish, or something like that. But a kaitou shoul -… Ah to hell with it. He wasn't a kaitou right now and even when he was, he surely wasn't a regular one. If there even was such a thing as a 'regular kaitou', but that was a thought for later to ponder on. He gave himself a mental slap. No matter how appealing it might be, no distractions now. Kaito looked back at Hakuba with serious gaze.
"I might like being friends with you. At school and such." Before he continued, he stared at him long enough in silence, to be sure the blonde understood what he meant by that "Catch your murderers, while being surrounded by the police, pin down the culprit. It's important and you're good at it. Have fun chasing KID, trying to catch him. But refrain yourself from asking me your questions, that are not related to me. And most of all… Stop searching for questions."
"But I want to help y –" Hakuba started, but stopped as Kuroba placed a hand on his shoulder cutting in with a soft smile.
"You have. I needed a distraction and a laugh, and I'm grateful that you gave it to me." He stood up dusting off his trousers "I don't enjoy acting, like I have recently. So just think about it, alright?" Kaito gave him another smile and walked back at the path.
"Kuroba…" Hakuba called at him and the magician stopped turning to him "Where are you going? I could ask Baaya –"
"I'm fine, remember? And I could use a nice walk. So thanks, but there's no need for that." Seeing that detective wanted to protest he sighed and continued "I'm just going home. Aoko will be there soon to apologize to me. She'll be sorry for what she said, so I'll let her to make it up to me." He smirked amused "But before that… I have to prepare a special treatment for Togashi-kun, for tomorrow." His grin widened not promising anything good for said teen "So, see ya at school and thanks again for coming after me." And without waiting for an answer he left.
"See you tomorrow Kuroba." Hakuba answered quietly and sighed.
After considering everything that was said he took out his phone and texted a message to Kudo.
*Can't meet you today. We had a breakthrough, but it doesn't look too promising. Not sure if he wouldn't follow me, so better contact by phone. I'll call you around 16:30 if it's alright.*
Shinichi was slightly confused with the text he received. What could have KID done this time? Did he notice something about Hakuba? How did the Brit manage to provoke the breakthrough? Did something happen? He wanted to phone, or at least text those questions right away, but figured that the teen could not talk freely at the moment. Holding back his curiosity he wrote back agreeing to established time.
Aoko indeed came to meet with Kaito right after school. She was very sorry for what she spurt out back in the classroom and didn't want to accept it, when he told her that it was fine and he wasn't angry at her. To make it up to him she took him out to a café to buy him some tasty treats. Aoko promised herself to be nice to him for the whole evening. It took Kaito about two hours to get her yelling and arguing with him.
He really enjoyed this evening and thanks to their quarrel he managed to escape her. Looking forward to what he was planning on the next day, he went to see the butcher, who patched him up after the heist, so he could repair the stitches on his leg.
It was around 16:30, and Shinichi had no doubts, that it was precisely that hour according to the other teens watch, when his phone rang. This time they skipped their usual chit-chat they usually had over the phone, as both of them were eager to get to the main topic. So after a brief greeting Hakuba told him about his talk with the thief, leaving out any personal information. He sighed heavily, when he finished.
"I'm at a loss here Kudo-kun. I probably should take his offer and just keep on doing what we're doing behind his back. But it seems we're only running in circles this way and honestly it wouldn't feel right to do so anyway."
"Hm… 'Don't search for questions' huh? So most probably he doesn't know how much you already dug up and is trying to keep you away. Guess he thinks he's protecting you and odds are it's the same for us too. You don't think that given time he would reconsider and fill you in, do you?" Shinichi asked with little hope, rather to confirm his conjectures.
Hakuba sighed heavily "Not likely. I could be wrong, but I don't think acting secretive bothers him as much as acting cold does. And considering what happened last time, I don't think we have time to just wait and see…"
"Yeah, I don't think so either. Listen, I've been thinking a lot on how to make him talk. And with this deal it's impossible for you to achieve it alone. So now it would be the best if all three of us could approach him. Gods, one time I was so annoyed with it, that I even considered for a moment kidnapping him to make him listen." There was an displeased growl on the other line, so Conan quickly continued "It was more like a joke idea, don't worry. I know it would backfire hard on us. I thought of ways to try and manipulate him, but… There are so many unknowns that it could turn out in too many ways to predict, so I'd rather avoid it. In the end I came up with this… Just think about it for a while before you say 'no', ok?" As Hakuba gave an approval noise Shinichi explained to him his plan.
The Brit was quiet for a while thinking it over and started laughing "He's going to be so annoyed when you do it. You're right, he won't even try to escape if you do it that way. But you won't be able to talk about anything important that way either. And he is going to deny everything to you."
"Doesn't matter. It would be the start we need. And it's not like we need his confession to tell him later on what we know."
"Well, that part is going to be hard…"
„Yeah well.. We can always try and kidnap him and force into hearing us out…" Shinichi teased and Hakuba answered with a chuckle.
"Alright we can try it this way. Guess it would be best to do it as soon as we can? I would prefer to let him rest for now, but… no point in waiting. I'll give you a call when I can arrange what you need."
"Alright, I'll summon Hattori just in case. Learned anything new about his state that worries you?"
"Well, it's not like I know anything for sure, but most likely he is suffering from rib and forearm bone damage and severe thigh muscle damage. I'm not sure if there isn't more that he managed to conceal from me. Up until now I thought that he was sle… napping-" He corrected himself with slight amusement "-so much during class as an act, in order to avoid too much movement. But now I suspect he's genuinely sleepy due to painkiller drugs."
"I don't think he would take so much, that it would dull his mind." Kudo denied his assumptions and asked with worry "From your point of view… How long do you think it'll take him to recover?"
"It's hard to say. He might be merely careful with his injuries and because of that my diagnosis is exaggerated. But I honestly doubt it's the case. I don't believe he would be willingly showing any signs of weakness. On the other hand I don't know how resistant to pain he really is. Nor what he's willing to do to conceal his condition. For all I know he might have his forearm broken and be carrying other bone damage, than I've noticed and simply decided not to wear a plaster, as it is harder to hide it. Best case scenario I'd say that it could take around three weeks for most of his mobility to return. In worst case… months. Can't even say how long only his leg needs to recover, since I don't know how deep or wide the injury is."
"I understand. Damn… Probably the best would be to wait until he sends another heist note, but who knows if until that time he'll just stay put. Since you told us that he's always busy outside of school I started wondering what besides training he does in that time…"
"Well I won't try to force him to anything. And since he decided he can attend school it should be fine. Just remember to warn Hattori-kun to be careful."
"Sure. And Hakuba-kun? Sorry for putting so much on your shoulders."
"Not at all. I'm grateful for your assistance and I do hope it will work. Take care. Just to be safe don't call me on your own, better text."
"No problem. Bye."
Friday at Ekoda High started with a slight surprise when Kaito responded to Hakuba's greeting and smirked at him. But it was fast forgotten when Togashi sat on his chair and it exploded. The blast looked genuine enough to give everybody a scare, but it left the teen blackened with smoke, but completely unharmed. When he recovered from initial shock he yelled at the class prankster telling him that it wasn't funny, but the magician acted like he didn't know what happened. Later on each time Togashi opened anything (his backpack, notebook, doors and such) there was another explosion. He was trembling and on verge of falling to madness. When he went to toilet and his zipper exploded, he just burst to tears and begged kneeling before Kaito, so he would finish his torment. Finally a wide, mischievous grin bloomed on Kuroba's satisfied face, when his victim promised to never again in his life make remarks like the previous day and never, ever say a bad word about KID-sama. Of course he didn't admit it was his doing, but none the less the explosions stopped after this.
At first Hakuba wanted to help his classmate, but then again he decided not to. First of all he didn't want to annoy the magician when he was on a prank rampage and secondly… the guy probably deserved it anyway. So instead he focused his mind on their plan, wondering if he could manage to initiate it this weekend.
I do hope you had a laugh or two, like me x)
Doesn't look like our poor kaitou is gonna have much rest anytime soon, huh?
I know you guys hate me for not telling what they are planning but it'll be more fun that way for you I believe~
Probably the first chapter I had so many problems with naming xD I was just so blank with it – struggling whether give it a comforting one or maybe a bit disturbing, due to the plotting hounds xD
See you next chapter *bow* ;)
