Ladies and gentlemen! After a too long of a wait, I humbly welcome you to the next chapter of this story.

So it would seem it's been over a year since I last updated, huh? … I'm really sorry about that. Honestly… I really wanted to write sooner but my life just turned itself upside down. I ended up in a hospital a few times, lost my job, moved out and well stuff like that. Not all was bad though – lately it's been turning for the better (probably why I was finally able to sit down and write it too!), so don't worry for me :)

Sadly, I also parted ways with my lovely beta, so this chapter was corrected only by yours truly (and I was overly eager to finally post it, so I didn't take as much time looking it over as I probably should – hope you'll forgive me that!).

Anyway – that's enough about me, let me get real quick to the review reply section!

LaDyShadow26 - It was very nice to read from you - my apologies for neglecting to show up in your notifications for so long.
Haha - you got me here~ I definitely love Heiji. It just feels like he would have a similar sense of humor to Kaito, so I figured they would get along the best. Especially with how much of a teddy bear Heiji is when he decides that somebody is his friend xD Though I must agree with you that Shinichi would probably make for a better pupil with magic tricks (but then there would be nobody left to comfort Saguru xD ).
As for Saguru... I must admit that I probably don't have the best grasp of his character and initially I didn't plan on using him in this story for that very reason but... whelp - we all saw how it went xD I just believe he is too important for this story and I can't imagine a scenario where he would want to leave Kaito alone (even if he decided not to befriend him).
As for Kaito, I doubt he is even fully able to bare his soul anymore. He had some nasty backstory and it really doesn't seem he had anyone to help him get through it, so he learned to bury it. And topping it all off with his 'worship' for the Poker Face doesn't do him any favors. I honestly believe it would have been better for him if he could just break down and cry his heart out but as tempting as it is, don't expect it from this story (I mean - he didn't even break after Connery's death or seeing Corbeau's face, so I have no clue what would do the trick).
Haha... and as for steering me off goal - Kaito did it again xD I managed to have boys make some discoveries here that I never expected to make but... no spoils~

Meitantei-Clark - oh does it? I'd expect that more from Saper games, Solitaire get actually quite boring after you figure it out but thank you for the tip!

lupsss1412 - I'm very sorry I made you wait so, so long. But - better late than never?
If you'd let him show off - there probably isn't an activity Kaito wouldn't love (exception, of course, being anything to do with scaly monsters xD). On one hand, Hakuba and Kudo are being left out, but on the other, they don't have to deal with the madness that is an amused Kuroba xD

Kensy Echo - Haha... guess you'll be surprised now even more, huh? I love you too :) Heiji just strikes me as such a 'bro' person xD With how fast he decided Shinichi was his best friend I couldn't imagine him treating Kaito differently xD I was wondering if I'm not going a bit overboard with the pampering but... oh well xD Kaito has been through so much and they just want to give him a little peace he deserves (hopefully it's not too OOC xD) :)

Nelly - Honestly before reading some fanfics I wasn't sure myself how to read the tilde and eventually figured it is either teasing or a sing-song (happy) tone (so yeah - mostly Kaito xD) I'm sorry for throwing you off though ;)

Cerlinfia - I'm glad you liked it~ Hope you weren't too disappointed by the lack of updates!

Mel72000 - Haha... you should know better - with Kaito as my muse the chapters just can't get too serious - even when they should! But I believe that is part of the charm ;)

Lillr Kayla - Whelp... can't say I love Snake that much is true xD I might write someday his death in 'Small favors' but yeah - don't think it would be that interesting, aside from maybe an angst session for Kaito (will have to think about it someday). And thank you for reading my other stories~ I really appreciate it!
Haha - it's not just you really - the idea only struck me as I wrecked my brain about what Kaito and Heiji could be doing alone (outside of teasing but that gets boring in time and wanted to get a bit innovative). Like... it should be so obvious, right?! Oh well... As for the growing kit - it's not like Kaito could manage to make a believable crystal out of it - but he could make a similar one and tease Conan that he would use it as a double xD I should probably do a story like that someday... xD Thanks for the idea!
I imagine Kaito could hold it out even longer if he wanted to - and Heiji's fiery personality and his obsession over food would only fuel it further xD Too bad I could only come up with so many arguments (not that Shinichi and Saguru wanted to listen, so we could just back away from the mess xD)
What I meant by the chapter not being much is that it didn't give much substance - just fun times for the most part. I'm glad you liked it though! That was the whole point after all ;) Hopefully, your patience lasted this year-long break :o

MazerMooso - Ah! No need to be sorry - I have to admit that I preferred the first 30 chapters myself. The poison arc is just plain troublesome and there is too little action but thankfully we'll be leaving that behind very soon and entering a 'working together' phase. Hope it will turn out more fun.

Mists - It's not like we could have expected those two to stay quiet for very long, neh? ;)

winxander - And I'm ashamed of myself for making you guys wait even longer. Just.. ugh... I really do hope this won't happen again...
I have to admit that I missed writing Kai's antics~ Though they are hard on the creative part of my brain xD It is the main problem with Hakuba that he stresses out too much, especially since I made Kaito into an empath here. But yeah - he has Shinichi now, who he does have more common ground~ Ah! Thank you for all the praises! I'm not sure I deserve them but it's very nice to read somebody saying something like this!

Astrido - Thank you for your praise~ And yeah... I probably should go over them myself (fortunately, I managed to improve quite significantly over the months spend on writing this) but I never really can seem to find the time for it...

Nado-chan - Thank you for your concearn~ It took me a while (far longer than I would have liked) but I'm pretty fine now! Just need to find a job and I'll be perfect!

meladi1 - Ah~ It's always nice to see a new face in the review section~ Allow me to reply to all of your posts here:
For chapter 29: Well, to be frank, it's neither. He shrunk but technically is still (now) 18 years old. You could probably say that he pretty much stopped growing but only because his growth spur has ended (people don't get much height after that age). The problem is that it's not natural for kids his (apparent) age not to grow anymore. He could be probably taken for a person with dwarfism but as far as I managed to read on the topic, people with this condition have certain disfigurments signs of which neither Conan nor Ai show, which in time would raise questions and attention (and that is the last thing they want or need!)
For chapter 30: Ah thank you for the praise! I'm actually very proud about 'my' heists too~ It's very tempting to go with just glitter bombs and such but yeah... that just doesn't scream 'KID' to me. He isn't about just making fun of people (that's more Kaito than KID if anything) and although it does end up like that sometimes - his goal is to marvel people (and show off). In the end, KID is Toichi's creation and persona, so Kaito has to play the part or he would feel as if he is ridiculing his own dad! As for the dude at the end - that was the idea~ (though I blew it a little in the next chapter - oh well...).
For chapter 34: yep - she cured him (though in retrospect I'm wondering whether I should have really kept the secret for so long xD) and then forced payment out of Kaito (damn witch! xD).

So without further delay…

Please enjoy and review! :)


Chapter 38: Shedding light


As he walked along with Saguru up the stairs, Shinichi wondered idly what view they would encounter after opening the door. Admittedly, seeing Heiji sitting on a chair and covering his face wasn't anything surprising. Neither was Kaito shuffling his cards and beaming at them, as he informed them cheerfully:

"I think Hattori is having a mental breakdown~"

Both of them snorted and Shinichi was about to tell him not to sound so happy and proud about it, when suddenly Heiji shot up to his feet, pointing and accusatory finger at the grinning menace.

"This ahou just send a heist notice!"

All Shinichi could do was gap at that and mumble a short: "What..?"

"Aw… did you really have to tell them now?" Kaito looked at Heiji with a pout, who glared back at him. "Imagine how surprised they would have been if they learned about it from the news~!" he added with a huge grin.

"Ahou! This is serious-!" Heiji growled but was interrupted by Saguru, who seemed to care little for their exchange and opted to glare at the Osakan instead.

"And why didn't you stop him, Hattori?"

"Hah?!" Heiji turned to him lashing out while gesturing vigorously "And how am I responsible for this?! What was I supposed to do anyway?! A dove flew in, this ahou distracted me with talking and before I realized what had he done the bird left!"

Kaito sighed and shook his head with a disappointed frown. "Tsk, Tantei-han... you're not going to make a very good magician if you sell out all of the secrets like that..."

"Will you shut it?! As if I would care about being a magician!" Heiji snapped at him.

Shinichi covered his face, pushing up his glasses and groaned. "I don't believe this…" Although to be fair, he probably should have expected something exactly like this to happen. He lowered his hands and squinted at the laughing menace while trying to ignore the ruckus around him and figure out what it was all really about.

"Ability like that would make you a better detective too, you know. But I guess not everybody had a gift for the job~" Kaito shot back at Heiji, without missing a beat.

"Oi-!"

Saguru groaned with annoyance. "Would you two stop that?! Hattori, you should know that he is just riling you up, so could you stop falling for that like an idiot?" Heiji growled something unpleasant but Saguru ignored him. "Kuroba, did you happen to forget what state you are in? Why would you send a heist notice now?"

Kaito snorted, obviously amused by the whole situation and made his cards flutter in the air and back to the deck he was holding. "Unless it slipped your attention, this is basically what I do. Send a heist notice, hold a heist, marvel millions and escape intact~ "

"Yeah, only that you screwed up that last part previously…" Heiji grumbled glaring at him.

But that didn't seem to faze the magician. "Actually, no. I did manage to get my target and escaped the building fairly easily~ You caught me only after the heist was over..." He stopped shuffling for a moment and frowned at him. "Which reminds me – you never told me how you actually manage to find me."

Heiji smirked and was about to open his mouth but Saguru hastily cut him off. "Could you stop changing the topic? You can't be holding a heist now! You have to cancel it!"

The cards fluttered again as Kaito started shuffling them with grace. He looked at the blonde narrowing his eyes and his smile gained a more KID-like edge as he replied in a smooth and teasing tone. "Oh~? Why don't you try and make me, Tantei-san~?"

"You could also just give it up on pulling our strings and explain what it is really about." Shinichi cut in angrily and continued when he had everybody's attention. "You even started that fight with Hattori, so we wouldn't be in the room when your dove came. I'm only unsure whether you send out the heist notice because you want to avoid us asking inconvenient questions or genuinely need to hold this heist." He sighed noticing KID's well-studied smirk and steely gaze. "Listen… I don't want to be accusing you of things but that's really not cool for you to be playing us while we're trying to help you here."

Kaito's smile softened and he shifted his gaze at the cards fluttering between his hands. "You're overestimating me a little, Meitantei. I wasn't trying to distract you from anything, as I had no idea when Haru-chan would come." He stopped shuffling for a moment and locked his gaze with Shinichi. "If I wanted to stop you from asking questions there would have been better ways for me to do it."

Shinichi nodded, accepting the answer. "Meaning this heist is something you need. You could have told us that beforehand you know," he added with a flat glare.

Kaito laughed at that and the cards fluttered over his head again. "And where would be the fun in that~? Besides… you're detectives – I'd expect only a firm 'no' if I asked you whether I could pull a heist. And your reactions to me sending a notice did pretty much confirm it."

The boys winced and Saguru cleared his throat. "Well, I see your point but-"

"If you do see then stop it with those 'buts'." Heiji interrupted him with an unimpressed tone and turned to Kaito. "So the gist is that you need to pull this heist, right? Why is that?"

One of the cards fluttering in the air got hit by another and flew to Heiji the moment he asked the question. The detective instinctively grabbed it and looked at it, noticing that it wasn't a playing card but a note. He gave Kaito a heavy glare.

"Seriously..?" He passed the heist notice to Saguru who was craning his neck to see what was on it. "You expect us to decipher your riddle now..?"

"Why not~? I know you guys like it and this way it's far more fun than just me telling you everything."

Heiji exchanged glances with Shinichi and the latter sighed. "Fine… as long as you won't-" he didn't manage to finish because Saguru cut him off with an angry growl.

"Kuroba! Why is this heist notice written in English?!"

Kaito's expression was the perfect image of innocence and confusion. "Hum? Is that a problem? I could translate it for you if you need~" he added with a sly smirk.

Saguru snorted with annoyance. "Just admit it – you did it on purpose to get Nakamori-keibu to call for me and thus you could get rid of me from here." He used the card to point at Kaito accusingly and earned himself an annoyed 'Oi' from Heiji who was trying to read the notice from over his shoulder.

Kaito grinned shamelessly. "A little bonus for me~?"

Hakuba attempted to cross his arms and glare at him but was disturbed by Heiji, who snatched the notice out of his hand and crouched next to Conan to read it with him. Grumbling, Saguru leaned over to them and focused on it as well.

*When the second Sun and Moon change their places,
And the latter climbs to its peak,
Try finding me,
While I challenge the nightingale guardians,

At the thousand-year-old heart,
Before I become one with the night again.*

Shinichi frowned at the notice and read it again in his mind. He glanced up at Kaito but he wasn't seemingly paying any attention to the detectives, focused on his card tricks instead.

"Is it just me, or does this riddle lack a description of the heists target?" Heiji mussed out loud bringing Shinichi's attention back to the note.

"It might be the last line. It does say become with the night again, hinting that it might be something he had already once stolen."

Saguru pursed his lips and shook his head. "I doubt it. It doesn't feel right and although I might need to give it a closer look I can't recall anything that one could describe as 'night'. Personally, I'd say that the target could be hidden underneath the riddle. It could be an 'egg' of sorts, seeing how the note mentions nightingale guardians. I mean, what else could birds like that be guarding?"

Shinichi let out a wry chuckle while casting a glance at Kaito. "Probably a song, if you go by KID notices standards." The thief in question flashed him a grin. "Though it doesn't really fit here…" He hummed wondering about it. On the other hand, an egg sounded like a too obvious answer.

Heiji snapped his fingers. "A building!" He grinned at his fellow detectives. "Nightingales guard a building, or to be exact, nightingale or singing floors used to. And since the notice mentions a thousand-year-old heart it must be about Nijo castle." His grin only widened, as the other two still didn't seem to get it. "Ah~? Too fast for you~? I'll explain then~" He ignored the annoyed glares. "Kyoto was the Japan capital for over one thousand years, so it's traditionally referred to as a thousand-year-old capital, which would already fit the riddle but if you continue that line of thought-"

"Then the heart of Kyoto could be Nijo castle..?" Shinichi mussed.

Saguru shook his head. "I understand what you mean but wouldn't the Imperial Palace suit the position better?"

"Maybe, but the current Imperial Palace is just a reconstruction build around 1855 and never really inhabited by anyone. On the other hand, Nijo castle was built and inhabited by shogun in 1679. What's more, the castle was built with an innovative, at the time, intruder alarm system, meant as a countermeasure against spies, thieves, assassins and the like. You see, the floors were built with clamps positioned so that they would rub against nails attached to the beams, creating a shrill chirping noise. Hence they were called 'nightingale' or 'singing floors'." He took a deep breath and continued presenting the castle's history, with pride in his tone.

Shinichi sweatdropped as Heiji talked. Just leave it to him to get overexcited by anything about Kansai region history. Still, what he said made sense. He tuned Heiji out and looked back at the notice, focusing on the other lines.

"If what you say is true…" he mumbled interrupting his friend's rant about Tokugawa history.

"What do you mean by 'if', ahou?!"

Shinichi ignored his accusing tone and continued. "Then we know the place and the first two lines would be describing the time."

"Oi!"

Saguru made an agreeing hum and frowned, obviously also tuning Heiji out. "So it would seem… When the second Sun and Moon change places should mean that the heist will take place in one and half weeks, on the night between Sunday and Monday, exactly on the moon's zenith. What I do not understand is why would you give the police this much time to prepare? It's far too generous for you." He raised his gaze at Kaito who smirked at him and replied with a slight tease in his tone.

"I wonder… any guesses?"

Shinichi hummed thoughtfully. That was an awful lot of time and on top of it, why did Kaito choose Kyoto of all places? He took out his phone to make a quick search for any new gemstone displays, though he seriously doubts one would be held in Nijo castle. He looked up the date and grinned. Turns out he didn't need to search for any gemstones. He looked up at Kaito who was smiling back at him as if silently confirming his guess.

"You're really crazy, you know that~?"

Heiji blinked at him. "Huh? You figured it out, Kudo?"

Shinichi smirked at him. "Yeah, and it should have been you to first get it, barou."

"Haah?!" Heiji exclaimed with anger.

"It's about your birthday that is on Tuesday, right after the heist."

Heiji gapped and turned to Kaito who grinned at him, explaining. "You once pretty much asked me to stop neglecting my Kansai fans~ I wasn't sure if you would want to play tag and obviously lose on your birthday, so I figured to do it a bit early~"

Heiji grinned widely. "Ha! You wish! I'm totally going to beat the crap out of you~!"

"You can always dream~"

Shinichi sweatdropped but decided not to remind him that they shouldn't really interfere with the heist anyway. Right now they couldn't even be sure whether Kaito would be in his top condition during the time after all.

Saguru glared at the two. "Seriously? That's your idea of a birthday gift?"

Kaito snickered at that. "You're just jealous that I've never held a heist for your birthday~"

"H-hardly…"

Shinichi chuckled at the stammered response but couldn't help wondering about the whole situation. He wouldn't really be surprised if KID organized a heist just as a birthday gift but there was something nagging at him, telling him that there was more to it. And then it clicked. The riddle was missing a vital point.

"Alright, so we have a description of time and place, but it leaves us with nothing to describe the target or the trick he'll use to steal it. The last line seems to only be describing how he'll leave. It sure doesn't sound like anything else…"

"So maybe the notice doesn't mention a target at all?" Saguru offered, making all of them pause and turn to Kaito, who flashed a mysterious smile but didn't say a word.

Heiji looked at the card again and said slowly. "Maybe it's not a heist notice at all… He does say 'try finding me' which would make this an announcement about where and when he will show up…" He pursed his lips without finishing the thought, any signs of previous amusement vanishing without a trace.

Shinichi continued for him. "Which means he intends to make himself a target for any pursuers would be willing to come..."

"But why..?" Saguru directed his question towards his classmate, who stopped playing with the cards and smiled, waiting.

"Because he wants them to find him. He wants to meet them." Shinichi voiced the only possible answer with his gaze locked on Kaito. "It's not just a birthday gift, is it?"

Kaito spread his arms in a helpless gesture. "What can I say? I love to multitask~"

"But that doesn't make any sense. You could accomplish that during a regular heist as well," Saguru argued.

"Meaning, he doesn't want people to think that he is interested in stealing anymore," Heiji replied with his eyes widening. "You want them to believe that you already found what you were looking for, don't you?"

"And you still haven't returned the Crimson Dagger. It's not a heist notice – it's a trap and you're the bait!" Saguru said with awe with his gaze glued to Kaito who was grinning back at him.

Heiji shook his head, confused. "But it can't be true – he said that he only didn't return the dagger because he wanted to piss off the old man."

"It doesn't have to be true. Remember? KID isn't supposed to be petty, he wouldn't hold onto one item while returning another just because he got pissed. Meaning people would start wondering why he had given back the Dresden Green while keeping the dagger. Nobody knows we were the ones to return it."

Kaito clapped his hands over the deck, making it vanish and grinned at Conan. "I knew you would understand, Meitantei~"

Shinichi glared at him. "I didn't say I approve of this…"

Saguru looked terrified. "Are you literally insane, Kuroba?! You can't even begin hoping to be able to dodge the police the way you usually do and you're intentionally aggravating people gunning at you? This is suicide!"

Kaito gave him an unimpressed stare. "First of all, there is a good chance I'll be fine by then. According to Ai, the edema should be gone in a couple of days-"

"But you don't know that for sure!"

"There's a lot of things I cannot be sure of, Tantei-san," he replied with a steady voice as if he would be explaining something elementary.

"He doesn't have a choice, Hakuba…" Shinichi explained quietly. "It should be obvious for anyone who knows KID that the last heist wasn't prepared with as much attention like usual. Meaning his attention was elsewhere. And if you add to that the Crimson Dagger has yet to be returned… We created him an opportunity to lay the trap on his enemies but at the same time we made it so perfect that it's 'now or never'. It just won't be believable if he ever would want to try it in a more convenient time."

"You guys don't have to look so grim you know~" Kaito offered cheerfully. "I know I might not be in shape for anything overly serious, so I won't let anything big to happen. It'll be only a 'hide and seek' game and a tiny announcement at the end. Nakamori-keibu should make sure that there won't be any assassination attempts on me."

Saguru's eyes widened as he finally understood. "This is why you announced it so early and why you wrote it in English. You want the police to consult me so that I can help them solve it nearly fast and give them more than enough time to prepare."

Kaito grinned at him. "You might be an annoying prick, but you are smart enough to figure out yourself that it won't be just a regular heist so nobody will find it suspicious."

The tension on Saguru's shoulders eased as a relaxed smile crept onto his lips. "So you weren't trying to get rid of me."

"Mhm~ As I said – it is a little bonus for me, but not the main goal."

"You could have given me a heads up you know. What if I don't want to do it?"

"Aren't I doing it just now? Besides, I'm pretty sure you are capable of figuring out an excuse if you don't want to go. And Nakamori-keibu will understand the message by himself eventually."

Shinichi couldn't help but smile hearing them. It seemed that Saguru should have been worrying so much about getting his classmate's trust. He already had it. Unfortunately, however, somebody had to continue with the main topic. He cleared his throat, "So what's the plan?" He waited until Kaito turned to him to continue, "You said that you were going to make an announcement. I thought you were going to lure your enemies out during the heist, but it seems you have other plans?"

A nod. "It's not like I would be expecting anyone important gunning for me during my performance and I don't intend to try and get some small fry caught. It doesn't really yield any good results anyway…" he added quieter and Shinichi swallowed thickly, as he recalled what Saguru told him about the last time Kaito tried it. "So instead I decided to stir them a little. I intend to make an announcement that I got very interested in the Crimson Dagger and might not be returning it at all."

"You mean…" Saguru started quietly but Heiji was faster to say it.

"You're going to announce KID's retirement?"

Kaito raised a finger. "Possible retirement," he corrected. "In the end, it might not work out the way I hope it to and I do want to return the Crimson Dagger. Besides…" he made a pause and sighed, seemingly unsure how to continue.

"You want to find the right gem?" Shinichi asked and Kaito turned to him with an apologetic smile. "Could you explain what is it that you're looking for?"

Kaito made a tired chuckle and looked down at his hands, starting to toy with his cards again. "To be honest, I never planned on telling you about it. I'm not even sure if you guys will believe me~"

Saguru frowned. "Don't tell me it's about magic again?"

Heiji raised an eyebrow. "Again?"

Hakuba cast a questioning glance at his classmate but he only smirked in response. "Well… Earlier, I asked Kuroba about his lack of scars and his injuries from the bombing. He explained to me that it was a work of a magic caster he knows."

Shinichi gave him a flat glare. "A magic caster..?"

"It's not like I asked for it or anything…" Kaito grumbled with a sour face.

"What do you mean? You didn't want to get healed?" Heiji asked confused, apparently unsure what to think about it. Shinichi didn't blame him.

"Not by them. We have a little history and… it's complicated. There was also a matter of payment that didn't sit well with me."

"What did they make you do..?" Heiji asked grimly with a hint of anger.

Kaito cast him a puzzled glance and shrugged. "Nothing illegal, if that's what you're thinking. They asked for help with some research."

Shinichi noticed Saguru's eyes widen at this. "Do you believe this, Hakuba?"

"I… maybe," he replied with his gaze focused on his classmate. "Some of this does overlap with what I know," he explained with a thoughtful expression.

It didn't sit well with Shinichi but then again his own situation could be described by 'magic'. In a way, all science and a lot of inventions could be called that by people who didn't know how it worked. Kuroba was probably being overdramatic or something again. He would have to speak with Saguru about this later on. For now, it was enough of getting sidetracked.

He cleared his throat. "So you're saying that the gem you're looking for is 'magic' as well?"

Kaito crooked his head. "Well… not quite but I guess it does fall into a similar category." He shifted his attention to balancing a card on his knuckles. "As you guys have noticed, at first I had no idea what I was looking for. That is until I found out that the people gunning at me killed my father because he was interfering with their search for Pandora – a gem hidden inside another, that grants immortality."

"Immortality..?" Heiji repeated in a doubting tone. This conversation was getting weirder by the minute. But would KID really make up a lie like this?

Kaito shrugged. "Told you, you might not believe it." He glanced at Shinichi and smirked. "Or do you~?"

Shinichi was rubbing his chin, silently wondering but raised his gaze as he noticed attention in the room focused on him. "Can't say it sounds believable but it's not like my case sounds any better…"

"Mm~ I've done a lot of research and couldn't help but notice that in tales immortality often overlaps with de-aging. It might be just a coincidence but it might not be."

Shinichi noticed a saddened expression on Heiji and spoke up before he could blabber out that the Apoptoxin hadn't actually had that kind of effect. "So, you're assuming that the people after you might be trying to replicate the effect since they can't find the real thing? You think we're battling the same organization." He wanted to phrase it as a question but he hoped so much that it would be so that it came out as a statement.

If Kaito had noticed the interruption he didn't say anything, instead, he just shrugged. "It's a possibility."

"Wait a minute," Saguru interrupted. "That sounds like too much of a stretch. It's not like tales of immortality or the like are anything new. If just hearing about it was enough, there would be a tone of research like that."

"It's not like there wasn't~" Kaito replied with a smirk.

"But none gave any results as far as I'm aware."

"Maybe knowing about Pandora makes it somehow different," Kaito wondered out loud.

"Maybe the researchers know about Pandora something you don't. Like the type of material it's made of," Heiji supplied following the line of thought.

"Maybe there's more than one Pandora…" Shinichi added grimly. That would explain why the search wasn't over yet.

"In that case, we could probably assume also that it doesn't grand a full-fledged immortality but something similar enough…"

Silence filled the room after Saguru's words, as the boys fell into realization what it might mean. Heiji broke it with an amused snort.

"Suddenly an 'immortality granting gem' sounds almost believable~"

Kaito smirked at him. "Right~?"

Shinichi raised an eyebrow at him. "Wait, you didn't believe in it up until now?"

"Does it really matter what I believe in? It's enough that there are people who do and who are ready to kill for it…" he explained with grim determination.

Saguru cleared his throat. "Anyway, if that's really the case, then I'm afraid that your trap might not work as intended Kuroba. If they already have enough information on that 'Pandora' then it's safe to assume that they know at least what type of gem it is. If it's not a ruby, they will know immediately it's a bluff."

Kaito shook his head. "It might be worth a shot anyway. First of all, a ruby would be my best bet. I once canceled a heist targeting a ruby and the people gunning for me carried it out while trying to poorly impersonate me. It could have been of course just a ruse to keep me from canceling my heists but… well, it's something. Also, the first time I was ever targeted was during the Blue Birthday heist. My target was a sapphire, which falls in the same mineral group as rubies do."

"Mineral group?" Heiji prompted and Kaito turned to him.

"Well, gemstones are basically minerals divided into oxides and silicates, with the exception of diamonds, those are just pure carbon. Pandora is supposed to be a doubled gem hidden inside a bigger one and 'cry tears of immortality' under special circumstances. If we try to rationalize it, my best guess would be that Pandora is pretty much a chemical compound that somehow gets created inside a gemstone due to, I don't know, probably pressure and maybe radiation of sorts. Anyway, sapphires and rubies are oxides, which base is aluminum and oxygen, though some silicates have it at their core too. And if we go with 'multiple Pandoras' theory then you can't dismiss a possibility of existing variations to it."

Deep in thought, Shinichi pat his finger over his chin while listening to Kaito's reasoning. He would have to consult Haibara since he wasn't that adept in chemistry but the theory certainly made sense as far as he could tell. What's more, if one would assume the Apoptoxin was an attempt at recreating Pandora then this might serve as a solution in finding the antidote to it.

Saguru hummed thoughtfully. "It could be that each variation has different properties too…"

Heiji nodded. "Which would explain why they would be trying to artificially recreate it and still be in the woods."

"That would make even a dud extremely valuable," Kaito added with a grin. "Each natural occurrence of 'Pandora compound', even if it didn't give the expected results would add to the data they have."

"But you should take into account that the whole story might be a hoax and there is no Pandora," Saguru pressed grimly.

Shinichi grimaced. "In that case, Kuroba is toast anyway, especially since we have no clue why would anyone want KID to be at large. We can assume they know who he is, so unless he would abandon his name and all he can't back out."

Kaito frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"

The detectives exchanged worried looks. "They killed your dad for being KID, right? But it didn't happen during a heist…" Heiji explained quietly.

"The police dismissed it as an accident," Kaito retorted with an unnatural calm.

"Was it an accident?" Shinichi growled a little roughrider than necessary, angered about the act.

"After I started suspecting you, I searched for the possible former KID and your father did seem like a suitable candidate. Looking closer into his death…" Saguru hesitated for a moment to find the right words. "There were a few oddities to make me question whether it really was an accident. Although I'm afraid that it isn't anything strong enough that could serve to reignite the case. I'm sorry…" he added quietly.

"It's ok. I wouldn't expect any important evidence to survive this long anyway," Kaito assured him with a sad smile and looked back at them. "Anyway, you guys are a little wrong about them suspecting me of being KID." He grinned seeing their surprised expressions. "They still think it's my dad~"

"They think he survived?" Shinichi asked in awe, in the privacy of his mind considering the possibility.

Kaito looked at him quietly for a moment and shook his head. "If he did, I wouldn't be alone in this. Not this long."

Shinichi looked away with a slight grimace. KID was too good at reading people.

"Well, even so, if they think that your father is Kaitou KID then you're still their best bet at getting to him, with your mother constantly away and all…" Saguru reasoned with a worried expression.

"It's not like he is available at the moment either you know. Officially, he's in Las Vegas, right?" Heiji argued and Shinichi shook his head.

"That's actually not good at all. If they're the Black Organization then they can reach all the way to America. And it'll be a problem if they won't find him there."

"That's why I'm planning on giving Aoko a call that I'm returning early and be back not long after the announcement on the heist."

"So what you're saying is that you're planning to get yourself kidnapped?!" Heiji growled at him.

Kaito folded his arms behind his head and leaned into the pillows behind him. "Give me a break, will you? I didn't plan on doing anything big before graduation, but like Meitantei said – this is too good of an opportunity to pass. So I can either roll with it or keep on playing 'dodge the bullet' for who knows how long." A heavy silence fell onto the room, as nobody knew how to counter his reasoning, thankfully, Kaito decided to break it with a smile. "Besides~ The circumstances aren't good just because of the dagger~ You guys have my back, right? And since this will be a case of 'Kuroba Kaito kidnapping' there won't be any reason to not include the police~"

Shinichi snorted, if only they could hope it would turn out so easily. "You'll have to fill us in on the details if you want our help you know."

"Of course~ But later, if you will. First I have a heist to prepare and I'm not spoiling that~ It wouldn't be fun if I did~" he explained with a shameless grin.

Saguru sighed. "Fine, but just in case, you're wearing a tracker during it."

Kaito gave him a flat glare. "And how does that supposed to not spoil the 'hide and seek' game?"

"You expect us to be chasing you too?" Heiji asked in shock.

"Of course~ After all – I am making the heist all the way in Kyoto just for you~"

Heiji frowned. "Actually… Why are you making it in Kyoto and not Osaka then?"

Kaito's smile turned a bit apologetic. "Sorry about that~ They say nightingale floors are supposed to be the best countermeasure for thieves, so of course I wanted to test my skills against it~"

Heiji's frown deepened but he gave a reluctant nod anyway.

"Alright, but you're still keeping the tracker. You can keep it turned off but contact us if anything suspicious happens," Shinichi said with a tone of finality.

Kaito glared at him quietly for a few moments before giving in. "Fine… If that will keep you guys from whining."

"Well, if that's finally settled, maybe you could tell us about the people hunting you? After all – they might turn out at the heist, even if you don't expect them to," Saguru reasoned with a somber tone. "You said that it's a possibility they are the same organization as the one after Kudo?"

Kaito made the cards vanish between his hands. "Yeah, although I'm still unsure about it. It could as well turn out to be two different groups."

Shinichi frowned. "What do you mean by that? You met people after you, didn't you?"

"Well, I don't know about your guys but mine didn't exactly introduce themselves to me before they started shooting at me. All I can say that they dress similarly but black clothing isn't exactly unpopular with the crime syndicates," he replied with a slightly annoyed tone.

"You mean to tell us that you didn't try investigating into it?" Heiji asked with a doubtful tone.

"Tsk… If it was so easy as you make it out to be, you should have already figured out the Crows and the little problem they caused to Tantei-kun."

Heiji sweatdropped. "It's a work in progress."

Shinichi narrowed his eyes. He didn't recall calling the members of the Black Organization 'Crows' in front of Kaito or even Saguru. And what's more, he obviously knew about the correlation between his state and the organization. The question was whether he had figured it out because of the Bell Tree Express incident or he knew about the poison beforehand.

Kaito hummed in agreement. "And I have it worse. The guys after my hide don't like to dirty their hands and have a tone of connections. Even the people I learned about Pandora from turned out to be a small branch of yakuza. Their boss probably knew a thing or two but I didn't prepare it well enough, so he got away before Nakamori-keibu could get anyone. And small arrests don't end well either…" He added grimly and Shinichi recalled what Saguru had told him earlier. "So my best bet is to get somebody big round up or infiltrate any and all suspicious groups I stumble on. And can't say school gives me much time to mingle with crime organizations. Wonder why…"

Heiji snorted. "Yeah, who wouldn't want their pupils messing with shady people~"

"So you're saying you didn't investigate the Crows after the Bell Tree Express incident?" Shinichi asked suspiciously.

Kaito tsked at him and waved a finger. "I never said that. I just don't have any proof of their connection. Yet. Although they are very high on my interest list."

Which meant that there were more organizations KID was investigating. But the only thing that interested Shinichi at the current moment was. "So what do you know about the Crows now?" Not having any definite proof meant that he had some proof, meaning that he had already done some digging.

A familiar shark-like grin split Kaito's face and the cards he in his hand seemed to have burst out, obstructing the detectives' vision for a short moment. When they fell down there was a laptop before Kaito.

"Sad to say, I do not know as much as I would like to. You know, as fearless as I am, getting nearly blown up served as a nice deterrent, making gathering information harder, as I had to move around carefully and slowly," he explained as he tapped in a password onto the computer. "I eventually found out an address, but sadly, wasn't sure what to do with it."

Shinichi felt his heart rate sped up. What kind of address could have KID found? He doubted it was just any living building. Probably a facility of sorts then. He wondered what he could do with such knowledge. Pass it on to FBI? He would prefer to investigate it by himself but given his appearance, it would be too risky. Meanwhile, Kaito continued talking and confirmed his suspicions.

"It turned out to be a research facility, which was great but at the same time… troublesome. I mean, I could have infiltrated it, but the chances of finding any clues while just blindly looking around were low. I was tempted to get in and search their computers for anything Pandora-related but what if they had another name for it? I mean those guys blew up a train cart so I would probably get only one chance at infiltrating it if I botched it once. So I decided to lay low until an opportunity came."

Shinichi noticed himself nodding to it, internally praising KID's habit of not leaving any loose ends. If he was less vigilant it could have ended not only with a wasted opportunity but also a tragedy. He glanced at the computer, wondering what Kaito was going to show them on it. Maybe he had a rough layout of the place on it? Or a list of interesting details he found out? Funny though… Shinichi somehow expected Kaito to keep things like that all in his head instead of writing them down…

"And that's when I found out the reason why my favorite critic was so tiny~" he finished with a wide grin while staring straight at the boy he spoke of. "Wouldn't have ever suspected a poison of all things."

A short "Huh?" slipped Shinichi's mouth, as he was suddenly ripped out of his train of thought.

"How did you find out?" Heiji asked with a shocked tone.

Kaito gave him a bemused smile and pointed with his thumb at the other two. "You know, some people just can't keep a secret. I mean, I wasn't even trying to find out about that particular thing and they just blurted it all out nearly right into my face."

"Huh?! When?" Saguru demanded staring at Kaito with wide eyes.

"I would say that's a type of question you should be asking a detective, right~?"

"Oi!"

"Be grateful I'm explaining anything at all~ I am doing it just because you guys love it so much and have no way of figuring out yourselves~" He teased with a shameless grin and waved a hand. "Anyway, with that all it took was to get the name of the poison and I was off~"

"You mean…" Shinichi whispered, afraid and longing at the same time to hear the answer.

Kaito flicked his wrist making a small pen drive show in his hand. "I really wasn't slacking off the last few weeks~"

"Holy crap…" Heiji swore as Kaito pushed the device into a USB port. "Is that- What do you have on it?" he asked, while moving to look at the screen, the other two joined him there hastily too.

A window with folders in it started showing on the computer. There was an awful lot of them.

"Not sure to be honest. I couldn't really spend much time before the screen, or I would blow my cover. So instead I ran a little program that downloaded the whole thing in the background. I can't make any guarantees but among other things the facility was working on a few APTX projects, so~" he hanged his voice without finishing the thought. He didn't have to.

"Wait. 'Projects'? As in, multiple?" Saguru clarified.

All Shinichi could do was stare. Could this be his answer and salvation? He didn't want to get his hopes up too much but at the same time he couldn't and didn't want to stop himself. At the same time, however, there was something nagging his brain but he couldn't grasp the thought.

Not until Kaito opened the first folder and the mouse cursor hovered over a file.

"Shit! No – don't open it!" he shouted, but it was already too late.

The file opened, showing lines of text but before they could read it the screen got blighted with darkness.

Kaito tapped on the keyboard and mumbled quietly as nothing happened. "That's… not what I expected…"

"Night Baron Virus…" Shinichi whispered, feeling his knees weaken underneath him.


Aaand cut! Yep – I'm back and so are my cliffhangers xD But seriously – this chapter was getting too long as well so I just had to jump on the first opportunity to cut it xD

As for a little confession – wow… I didn't expect to end up with Pandora explanation – like really :o Initially, I investigated worlds' crime syndicates (not a fun topic at all!) and then NOPE! muse Kaito jumps out with a heist notice and grins at me and… what can I say? It was a better idea xD So I had to scrap all my previous ideas and go with this. Thought it would turn out differently anyway and at some point I found myself reading on gemstone chemistry O.o Writing this fic leads me to the stranges places on the internet… (hopefully, nobody will bother looking up my search history xD).

Anyway – I hope you enjoyed it~ I'll do my best to post a new chapter to this story sooner than in a year this time xD

But in case I won't manage it before Christmas – hope you all will have lots of nice gifts and family warmth!