Ladies and gentlemen! I humbly welcome you to the next chapter of this story.
And now for a chapter showing why it's a bad idea to first poke a kaitou and leave him to his own schemes for too long…
It's been rather a long time since I last gave you a chapter focusing on Kaito, so I decided to give you just that this time ;) Previously I planned to describe two days with Detective Boys, which would be fun and games, but… I think this might be a bit more interesting to show you some interesting background~ I hope you'll enjoy~
But first, as usual, my beloved reviews~
Eve Of The Stars - Haha~ True that ;) Still I like to explain some skills when they weren't mentioned in the series :) This is a wonderful song for a heist :D I'm glad you like it so much~ I'm wondering about adding a few other side characters, but we will see what the future will bring ;)
Kensy Echo - Should I apologize for bringing you to tears? ;) I'm glad you can so clearly see what I've been trying to show here~ Thank you - it means a lot to me to have it pointed out :) He is a good guy... just breaking down slowly (he didn't quite reveal his identity, but he neglected using his masks, feeling for the tragedy of his fellow performer). The main problem is that he doesn't see himself as a good person anymore and hopes to redeem himself at least a little with those good deeds, diminishing their importance in his own eyes. Yeah I thought this way might be a bit blunt, but like you noticed - it was for the greater good. And there still is a little mystery~ But I'll reveal it in a few chapters (maybe the next one even). But no - the murder case was just Heiji's jinx - completely random xD
Oh yes - madelita-chan is a wonderful friend~ She helps me a lot and not only with the chapters :)
Mists - Sorry - in the end I decided to neglect the tournament xD It would only serve to humiliate Conan (but I do intend to mention it next chapter, where I'll return to the detectives' point of view~) and honestly speaking I didn't have any big idea for the meeting with Hakuba. Even then I hope this chapter won't disappoint you~ I loved the hawk scene too - shows nicely how the boys are getting drawn together to their worlds finally.
Hannah Palindromes Rock - I'm happy you liked it~ And yes - he is such a sweetheart and a showoff that there was no way he wouldn't do it ;)
PickleWitch - Thank you for pointing me out this neglect~ Well this chapter should satisfy you I believe~
Cerlinfia - Oh don't worry about it (I am lately always late with my updates anyway ^^") I'm glad that you managed to find some time to post this review~ Ah - this is the big question that will be answered in the near future, but for now I'll remain silent (but you are ofc welcome to make your guess - I'll add a little hint in this chapter~). Well - I believe it is hard for the new blood to get used to KID and constant failures ;) I do think also that the whole point in dragging the police into the heists is for Kaito to have some kind of protection, if anything would go wrong. I can tell you in a secret that those who followed the kaitou for a long time already love him, so they would most likely try to protect him, when things would start getting hot. But it's not easy when somebody is pulling the strings somewhere higher.
So without further delay…
Please enjoy and review! :)
Chapter 24: The stray fox
After the heist, Kaito went straight back to his house. He felt extremely tired, and this time it wasn't because of all the jumping around the stage and getting dogpiled. Which, anyway, made him sometimes wonder if those guys had any idea how heavy they were and how come they never got injured because of it? Maybe they had some after work training of dogpiling in a safe way? And people say that he's the crazy one... Kaito chuckled at the image of his officers constantly jumping each other until Nakamori felt pleased with the result. He sighed heavily. No, this heist wasn't physically very demanding, this time it was simply stressful. He didn't want to fail Chizo-chan, but it was very risky for him. There were far too many people he didn't know knew who he was disguised as and they had more than a few opportunities to catch him. And he wouldn't blame them, if they tried. Also he felt bad for using an event like this for his own shady schemes, although he didn't have a choice. At least after this weekend he would finally settle the score that weighted him so heavily. He only hoped his detectives wouldn't wind this up.
Freed from his disguise, he went to the bathroom and hissed at the sight in the mirror. The area under his left eye was darkening already, from where his arm hit him as he deflected the hellish soccer ball. He was fairly sure it would knock him out if he got a direct hit. Kaito started placing ointment on all of his bruises to keep them from spreading too fast, wondering if the imp really didn't try to turn him in. The little guy was definitely puzzling, but at least kept the game fun enough. Same as the other two… He didn't expect the actor to be released so fast. Good thing they were prepared for it. He washed himself up and went to his mother to inform her that he didn't wish for any intruders in the morning. He kept drying his hair with a towel while talking, so either that or his bangs that obstructed her view of his blackening eye. He went to his room, idly wondering at what time his detectives would come to bother him and figured he could try and beat them to it. Grinning mischievously, he set the alarm clock and went to bed, glad about finding a distraction from his previous grim thoughts.
As usual, he moaned at the restless alarm clock and grumbled under his breath, rubbing his sore muscles. He should have stretched a bit more before going to bed and now his neglect was taking vengeance on him. He checked his arm, but thankfully the ball didn't do much damage there. After that he listened at the door for a few moments and didn't note any suspicious noises. He slipped to the bathroom, and after brushing his teeth, he put on some make up to cover his black eye. It took him a while to get a result he was happy enough with, and afterwards he fed his birds hastily, took a toast, gave his mother a wave (idly wondering why she didn't fly off somewhere yet), and he left the house. He directed his steps towards Hakuba's manor, fairly sure about his deduction to find his detectives there, if they didn't leave already. When they met Kaito at the park earlier this week, they were all tired and frustrated. Tantei-kun had his mind clearly only on the records, so he doubted the little guy managed to hold up his façade in school. And Mouri-chan wouldn't allow him to skip in order to sit in front of a computer. So he had to do it somewhere else. Of course, they could have been at the crazed professor's, but that wouldn't make much sense. He knew Tantei-han was slacking off at school more than he did, so unless he was on an official case (which he wasn't, taking into account how they were sneaking around the mall last weekend), it was doubtful he would be sleeping at Mouri's and the old guy's house didn't provide that much privacy. In comparison, Tantei-san's house had more than enough room, computers and everything they needed. Even if they were discovered, Kaito doubted anyone would mind Hakuba having his friends sleeping over. So it would be the perfect solution.
While walking, he started sorting out his plans for the upcoming days. From what the manager told him, Chizo-chan would have her operation on Wednesday, so he could drop in for a visit on Tuesday evening. She would surely appreciate it. Absently, he made a few small tricks and wondered how she would manage afterwards. Living on without her voice would probably be the same as if somebody took away his hands. And he couldn't really imagine a life like that. He shifted his thoughts back to the present, wondering how he should proceed.
Kaito stopped in his tracks suddenly, when the realization of what he was doing hit him. He had tones of distractions, if he wished for them. There was no valid reason for him to struggle with those noisy detectives and probably encourage them to keep in contact with his civil persona. He grimaced, unwilling to admit that he simply wanted to have some fun around them. By all means he should leave them alone… Eventually he stuffed his hands in his pockets and continued walking anyway. He didn't necessarily have to let them see him in the end. He could simply creep around them to figure out their plans to avoid getting surprised again and leave around a few traps, which would provide some amusement, but wouldn't necessarily look like his work. It would be a nice training of his skills. And also he wanted to take a slight revenge on Tantei-kun for attacking the innocent him in the park earlier on that week. Afterwards he could get back to with his own schemes with little worry of bumping into them. And he was going to stick to that explanation, focusing his mind on how to sneak around the manor without getting spotted.
It was nice of Hakuba that he didn't tend to change the layout of his security cameras too often. Kaito leveled a tree to take a peek inside Tantei-san's room. The Brit wasn't in there, so the magician frowned, wondering where he could have gone. He saw the car on the driveway, so at the very least they didn't go anywhere far. Shrugging off the risk, he slipped inside through the window, closing it silently afterwards. Moving as quietly as he could, he sneaked to the door and took a careful look around the corridor. The downside of the manors was the fact that they usually didn't have conveniently large enough air shafts to crawl through. He grinned, hearing water splashing from the bathroom. It wasn't a definite proof that it was either of the detectives, but there was the chance. But if it was one of them, then the next step for them would be the kitchen. While sneaking in there, he wondered in which room they would be discussing their plan for that day, if they didn't do it already. He suppressed a yelp as he heard the door behind him open, and rushed down the stairs, hastily hiding behind the corner. Without stopping, he silently rushed towards the kitchen, hearing another set of footsteps on this level. He hastily looked around, not noticing any obvious hiding places, but hearing the other person coming towards him. He settled his gaze on narrow doors, near another entrance and jumped towards them. It turned out to be some kind of closet for brushes and such and he somehow managed to stuff himself in there. He turned motionless, holding anything that might want to fall over and started silently praying to Lady Luck that nobody would want to check out this particular closet before he managed to leave it.
Conan entered the kitchen and greeted politely the old housekeeper, who's been so nice to them this whole week. She smiled towards him from over the frying pan, on which she was currently preparing some eggs.
"Why good morning, have you slept well? I haven't expected you to be up so early after a heist."
He glanced at the frying pan, slightly surprised. "We got kind of used to getting up through this week. Although I guess Hattori might not be getting up too soon." He added with a smirk. "Hakuba-kun should be down soon. Sorry to have you up so early." He apologized sincerely.
"Don't worry about it, dear. I have a few things to look into, so I decided to prepare food before, in case you boys got up and felt hungry."
That certainly explained everything. He sat on the chair at the isle. "Thank you. It must be a bother to cook for so many people…"
"You are most welcome. And it's not a problem at all." She assured him with a soft chuckle. "I'm actually happy to see Saguru-bocchama having his friends over."
Shinichi frowned at that. It wasn't the first time he noticed that she wasn't treating him like a child, at least not more than his fellow detectives. The Brit assured him that he didn't tell his housekeeper about his situation and Conan saw no reason for him to do it, but Hakuba did seem to sometimes neglect her presence while talking about delicate matters. He wondered if the old lady may have overheard something. He found it somewhat worrying. Especially that he couldn't really confirm his suspicions without mentioning something strange. So instead he smiled and continued the polite and pointless conversation.
After a while she encouraged him to grab a bite and before Hakuba managed to join them, Conan was eating a full breakfast in the kitchen. The Brit greeted them politely and joined the boy. The woman soon left them alone, explaining she would be found in the basement if they needed her.
Kaito felt the urge to moan or slam his head into the wall behind him from boredom. He hoped they would leave soon, but it didn't seem so. This way he was trapped and unable to prepare any traps for them. He silently cursed this whole idea, while Shinichi broke the silence that has fallen between the detectives once Baaya left them.
"Hakuba-kun, you're sure she doesn't know about… you know - me?" He asked carefully.
"Hm? Why would you think so?" The Brit replied with surprise.
"Well, she doesn't treat me exactly like a child. Not that I complain, but it's not common with how I look, you know." He answered bitterly.
Saguru hummed in response, while munching on his sandwich before answering. "I suppose she simply noticed how we're treating you and she decided to act accordingly. Besides, she never did treat me like a child. I believe she is used to treating children like small adults, instead of some immature creatures."
Shinichi hummed in response. He never thought of it like that, but Hakuba had a point. Even during his first childhood, he never did like being treated as a child. He swallowed a bite. "Well, but there is a chance she overheard something about the poison and I would prefer it to stay a secret, you know."
Kaito raised an eyebrow at that, wondering how a poison could be connected to Tantei-kun's… tiny problem.
"I don't think you have to worry too much. I doubt that she did, but even if so, she's more trustworthy than a certain somebody." He added with a smirk.
'Hey!' The hidden magician took offence at those words. He may have been mischievous, but he'd never spurt anybody's secrets.
Conan chuckled grimly at that. "Yeah… Hattori will be the death of me someday with his slips…"
'Oh, so they meant Tantei-han? That would make more sense…' Kaito agreed silently, noting the new information with a grin.
"But anyway…" Shinichi continued, as they stopped laughing. "I would be still grateful if you tried to make sure she doesn't know anything."
Hakuba sighed. "Well, if you insist…" He hummed, wondering about it "I can't promise you anything, but I will try."
"Thanks." He replied and went silent again.
Kaito felt mildly annoyed. He never wanted to pry into Tantei-kun's secret, because there was a slight chance that he might want to get tangled in it, if he knew. And now they did stir up his curiosity. With the lack of any amusements or more information about the matter, he was left with his own deductions. Like a detective… Damn… Well, this was his only choice, since he wouldn't be able to casually ask about it, without causing any suspicions. Till now Kaito preferred to believe that the shrimpie state was some kind of a disguise, prepared by the crazy professor. But he doubted the good-hearted old guy would invent a poison… Which left the scary Organization Tantei-kun was so fixed on as the most probable culprit. Anyway, what kind of poison returned your youth? It should be rather seen as a marvelous drug, if it did. The whole idea of a poison was that it wasn't beneficial to the body, so maybe it had some dreadful side-effects? But Tantei-kun seemed healthy. He sure could run and kick… his aim wasn't off either. So maybe the returned childhood was an unexpected result instead of a harmful one? That would make more sense… What's more, Meitantei always seemed bitter about his state, so it was most likely forced onto him, or he was tricked into taking it. Was he a victim of an experiment? No, that felt wrong. The shrimp didn't work hard on his disguise, the glasses only slightly distinguished him from his former self. So most likely it was aimed at those who knew Shinichi previously and had no suspicions of him being a child again. So not an experiment, but still an unexpected result, after which either Tantei-kun was expected to not survive or escaped, before his new state was noticed. Interesting…
He suppressed a sigh. Those two were silent again and he was still trapped in this dammed closet, while his limbs were beginning to feel stiff. He never did like to stay perfectly still for too long… And he couldn't do anything really amusing to distract himself.
Finally the two detectives wanted to leave the room, but changed their mind as Tantei-han joined them and decided to satisfy his hunger. The magician wanted to moan in his torment. Fortunately the Osakan wasn't the silent type, so at least Kaito had something to listen to. And he didn't mind in the least as they decided that the latest heist was a good topic~ He did like to hear their excitement that his tricks brought to them. Also it was interesting to notice that Tantei-han and Tantei-san seemed to be getting along better. He was slightly disappointed to discover that he failed to fool them into thinking that he actually sang on opera singer level, but it seemed they were still stuck with what trick he used to be able to mimic it. Although he would admit that they were close enough. And much as expected they did discover everything else.
Later he found out that Hattori would be going back to Osaka on that day and after seeing him off the other two had their own plans, towards which Tantei-han was somewhat sarcastic. That made Kaito believe he was part of this plan, but he would disappoint them. He already did waste more time than he wanted to, so there was no way he would be hanging around them anymore today. Maybe on the next day. He still wondered about the mysterious poison which they never mentioned again. It was bound to be a bother to figure it out, but he already set his mind to it. Although it disturbingly might lead him to sniffing more around the Organization… Well, he already was doing it anyway, so probably there was no harm in having a side goal.
By the time the detectives decided to leave the kitchen, Kaito had abandoned his plans to trap them. He didn't want them to have any suspicions of him ever being there. Also, while they were at the station, it was the best time for him to pry into what they have found on the records. So instead of leaving the house he found a better hideout and waited for them to leave first. Afterwards he raided Hakuba's archive, with only mild remorse about stealing the effects of their hard work. He might later add in his own findings, if he had any after watching his own record, so it would be fair enough. And it's not like he made them work on it so hard. It didn't take him long to find the notes he was looking for and copy them. He was mostly glad to find the timeframes he should cover, instead of watching the whole thing. He mentally congratulated his detectives on the neat notes and with a rough idea of what he should be looking for, he left the manor, promising himself to get to it on the next day. He already wasted enough of this day and had a few things to take care of, before his evening visit.
When Kaito returned to home at night, he was surprised to hear that the detectives didn't appear looking for him. During the day only Aoko tried to reach him through his phone, and in the end he promised her to spend some time with her on the next day. Was it possible that his critics gave up on him already? Well… that was possible, but more likely they were scheming something. Or got into trouble. Again… Kaito facepalmed, hoping that neither of them had a corpse falling on their heads. There wasn't much he could do now anyway, so after suppressing his urge to send out his doves and confirm that both of his detectives were safe at homes, he went to bed. Kaito's mind circulated around the mysterious poison Tantei-kun mentioned earlier that day, before he finally managed to fall asleep.
He started his next day early with a jog and mild training while watching the record. Which was too boring to be legal. No wonder Tantei-kun was so twitchy after watching a few of those. And he doubted the stiff detectives done anything fun to amuse themselves like Kaito was. In the end, the record allowed the kaitou to deduce how and when the valuable data was concealed, but that was it. He yawned sleepily, doubting that watching it would do any good to his detectives. However tempting, this lead was a dead end. The only chance was if he followed the black Porsche back then, but now there was nothing that could be done about it, so he discarded the thought and prepared to go out with Aoko.
Surprisingly they didn't meet his detectives there either. The girl seemed to be planning something, but Kaito was too distracted, focused on trying to spot the duo, that he failed to find out what it was. But since nothing significant happened, she didn't reach her goal anyway. He started worrying more about the two boys. Convincing himself that he had other things to attend to, he sent out his doves to find them and tried to get his mind off the topic. He failed miserably, so when Aya-chan finally stopped around the crazy professor's house, while Haru-chan was still searching, he rushed there, abandoning what he was currently doing.
He felt mildly annoyed to find both of them in the house, playing video games with Tantei-kun's little friends. At least they were safe. So in the end they did simply give up on him? Well, as surprising as it was that it happened so fast, it was his goal, so he could congratulate himself. He ignored the slight stung of remorse and walked away, before anybody noticed him. He sighed heavily while walking to one of his safe houses, where he kept his grey pigeons, figuring that it would make everything simpler at least. Just like it used to be. He didn't allow his mind to gravitate to the little fun he had with them as himself. It was better for everybody that way. In the evening, glad that it would be the last time, he went to that torturous woman again and returned home at night, already having his plan on how to get more information about the poison.
It was Monday afternoon and Hattori was on his way back from school when his phone rang. To his surprise, he noted that it was Hakuba calling. He apologized to Kazuha and picked up, walking away from the girl.
"Something happened?" He asked with a perplexed tone, skipping the greeting.
"Nice to hear you too." The Brit answered with a sigh. "Not really, but I… just wanted to talk a bit…"
Hattori raised an eyebrow, surprised that Hakuba didn't contact Shinichi instead. "Alright..." He replied warily.
"Thanks... I'm... well, slightly worried about Kudo-kun-"
"Why? What's going on there?" Heiji cut in hastily.
The Brit sighed again in annoyance. "I won't be able to tell you anything, if you keep interrupting me."
He clicked with his tongue in distaste. "Sorry. Just get to the point then."
"That was my intention. Well anyway, like I said – nothing really happened. I'm just worried, because he still seems to be shaken up from last week."
Heiji rolled his eyes and spoke with annoyance. "Can you blame him really? He had high hopes for it and all was for nothing."
"Yes... he is rather fixed on them..." Hakuba noted absently.
"How could he not?!" Heiji snapped "I mean, they did this to him and are more slippery than snakes..." He added with a growl and shot a glance towards Kazuha to make sure she didn't hear him, but she was no longer anywhere in sight.
"Yes, but there is still hope to fix it." The Brit stressed, like he was looking for confirmation.
"As if it was so easy... From what that... erm..." He paused, recalling that Kudo still kept the little scientist's role hidden from the Brit. "I mean... You know, they still need the original sample to make the antidote. And time is running. People won't be waiting for eternity for him..." He added grimly, leaning on a building wall. He was somewhat glad to get it off his chest.
Hakuba hummed sadly on the other side. "And it has been nearly two years now..."
"Yeah... And Ran-chan is getting impatient..." Heiji agreed grimly.
"Understandable, since she's being kept in the dark..."
"And it's still unfair to her. I did try to talk Kudo into telling her the truth, but he never wanted to." He explained with a grimace, not agreeing with his friend's decision.
Saguru sighed heavily. "Well, he probably wants to make it easy for both of them, in case he wouldn't be able to return."
Heiji blinked in slight shock, never considering it like that. "Oi... you can't be serious about it. He said he's keeping this up only to keep her safe!"
"That might have been the initial reason." Saguru agreed easily. "But look at it from another angle. It's been long already and there's no guarantee we'll ever get our hands on... erm..." He paused, clearly having trouble recalling the name.
"The hell?! Don't give me that attitude, Yarouba!" Hattori growled to the phone. "We will get that APTX thing and soon! There is no other option!"
Hakuba let out a short chuckle. "Yes, you're right. Thanks."
Heiji smirked, appeased. "It's alright. So you need something else?"
"No, not really. I think I just needed to hear this... Thank you."
"No problem. But don't scare me like that anymore, you hear?"
"Of course, sorry about that."
"It's fine. Anyway, I won't be coming this weekend, so do me a favor and find something to get Kudo's mind out of this, alright?"
"Don't worry about it, I'll think of something to distract him~."
"Great, take care then."
"You too, bye."
Hattori disconnected the call and smirked, pocketing the phone. It seemed Hakuba wasn't that bad once he loosened up a bit. The Osakan was starting to be glad they teamed up with him, at least he didn't have to worry too much about Kudo. It was also nice to know that the Brit cared so much about his friend. Not bothered about the conversation he continued walking towards his house.
So… the name of the poison was APTX? Strange one, but whatever.
The dark-haired teen deleted the traces of the conversation from the phone and pocketed it. He hummed to himself, wondering if he shouldn't go to Osaka to borrow Tantei-han's cell to send a message to Tantei-san, informing that the dark-skinned teen wouldn't come this weekend, but decided against it. It was doubtful that they would talk about it and he did promise to take care of Tantei-kun~ It didn't matter that the detective wasn't aware who made the promise. A kaitou always kept his word.
Kaito started humming a cheerful melody, heading towards Hakuba's manor to return the phone before its owner started suspecting something. Having his suspicions confirmed and finding out a bit more, satisfied his curiosity. Now he could carefully think about his next step.
Considering how the boys were poking Kaito it was bound to happen that he would discover a bit more x)
Next chapter I'll give a brief summary of the weekend from Hakuba's view, so don't worry about it~
See you next chapter *grins*
