So, this one got away from me. I didn't anticipate getting wrapped up in each drabble, but obviously it's going to happen. Future note: drabbles will vary in length, and could possibly span into short epic-length stories on their own. I will not be moving them from within the drabble collection unless otherwise convinced.
"Wow! Kaito, look at this view!" Aoko ran to the window, pressing her face against the glass. The sky over the Sea of Japan was stunning, an entire world turned gold and blue beyond their little window. He stepped up beside her and spread his hands over the sun, light spilling through his fingers and washing over their faces.
"I told you this would be worth it," Kaito teased, dropping his hands by his side and leaning back as she swung around to face him. His mocking tone didn't do anything to bring her mood down. She grabbed his arm and hugged him tightly.
"I apologize for not believing you," she said, shoulders shaking just a bit as she swallowed back her tears. "Are you really set on Kyodai?"
"Hey, hey. No tears." Kaito pulled handkerchiefs from his hair, a rainbow of silk that wrapped around Aoko's throat like a scarf. She giggled, bringing one up to dab at her eyes and untangling the others from around her neck. "I can be on a train back to Tokyo in no time."
"I guess," Aoko finally took in the rest of the room, the two beds aligned together with only a narrow aisle between them, the chairs before the window, the appliances and tv, and the en-suite bathroom. "This must have cost you a lot of money."
"Not so much," Kaito said, dropping into one of the chairs and relaxing. He kicked his feet up on his bag in front of the chair, stretching out his back. "I picked up all those performances, so this is nothing."
"Still, it's very impressive for a graduation gift." Aoko settled on the arm of the chair next to him, pulling out her phone and taking a picture of the ocean beyond the train.
Kaito snorted. "Hakuba was trying to drag you to Paris. This is small fry."
"I wouldn't have been able to see you in Paris, though," Aoko said, warmth in her voice that had Kaito looking up through his bangs. "And Saguru is going to be in Toudai with me. I'll get to see him every day."
"For the rest of your life," Kaito muttered, remembering with some unpleasantness that Hakuba fully intended to marry Aoko, come KID or high water.
"So you better appreciate the time we have together now," Aoko warned. "Or I'll be forced to refuse your participation in our wedding."
"Urg, Aoko. No tears and no Hakuba from now on." Kaito avoided the impending slap, sliding out of the chair to the floor and rolling on the balls of his feet into a smooth spin. Aoko overbalanced and fell into his abandoned chair. "Want to go explore?"
"Shouldn't we unpack first?" Aoko pushed herself upright, lifting her bag and settling it on one of the beds. Kaito scoffed.
"It's just one night on the train. And you can set up your toiletries later," Kaito said, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from the bed. "Don't you want to scope out the best view for sunset?"
"I would like to see other parts of the train," Aoko agreed tentatively, tangling her fingers with Kaito's.
"Then let's go!"
There wasn't much to see outside their rooms. The appeal of the train was in the spectacular view and the long voyage, not in the inner accommodations, though those were nice was well. The long hallways outside of the others rooms all looked the same, with only the dining car, saloon car, and a small meeting room at the far end of the train. But Aoko stopped every so often to take pictures, of the view, of the décor, of the few others walking about the train.
"They're serving lunch, aren't they?" Aoko asked, finally releasing his hand to take a picture of the two of them standing in the small meeting room with the Sea of Japan at their backs through the window.
"Yeah. Didn't need reservations for that. Hope you feel like French cuisine for dinner." Kaito took out his own phone, snapping a picture of Aoko distracted by the view.
"To make up for not going to Paris?" she teased, laughing in his face as he grimaced. "Sorry, sorry. It's the last time I'll bring it up. Promise."
"You're a mean girl, Aoko." Kaito bowed as he opened the door, frowning as Aoko started laughing. "What?"
"That's the most realistic double yet, Kaito," Aoko said, coming up beside him and reaching out.
Kaito grabbed her hand before she could make contact.
What the hell was Kudou Shinichi doing on their train?!
"That's not a double!" Kaito gently pulled her back and offered a polite smile to Kudou.
"What?" Aoko looked between them and blushed. "Oh no. I'm sorry!"
"It's alright. It was a surprise for me, too." Kudou stepped to his side and, that was Mouri Ran, wasn't it? "My friend looks a lot like you."
"Oh wow," Mouri said, giving both of them a bright look of interest.
"Yeah," Aoko agreed, bowing to the pair of them. She elbowed Kaito when he didn't move. "I'm Nakamori Aoko, and this is Kuroba Kaito. We're traveling to Sapporo."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Mouri Ran and this is Kudou Shinichi. We're actually traveling to Sapporo with some friends, too."
"Nice to meet you!" Aoko elbowed Kaito again. "He's pleased to meet you too."
"Ow, Aoko!" Kaito rubbed at his side, pulling himself out of his internal panic. Kudou still hadn't said anything, and that made Kaito nervous. They'd only met once as KID and Shinichi. KID and Conan's temporary alliance fell to ash when Conan became Shinichi again and the Black Org fell. As informed as KID was about Conan's life, Conan hadn't pressed for any information on KID's, so the burden for getting into contact again fell to KID's shoulders.
And KID, only the mysterious and enigmatic rival turned reluctant ally, never tried.
He had thought about it. But Snake hadn't gone, the group after KID slipping away from justice and right onto his tail, and there hadn't been a reason to ruin Kudou's life now that he'd reclaimed it. Thieves didn't do reciprocity.
"Be polite!" She hissed back before turning a smile on their new friends. "We were just heading to lunch. Would you like to come with us?"
"That would be great," Mouri said, looking at her companion with a slight frown.
Kaito wondered if that had developed for the detective, if they were finally together now that Conan and the necessary lies weren't between them. It was a thought that sat like acid, dripping down through his chest and shortening his breath.
"Hattori and Toyama should already be there," Kudou said, waving a hand back towards the dining car.
Mouri and Aoko started back first, Aoko tossing a worried frown back to Kaito. Kudou didn't move until Kaito swallowed back his nerves and went after them. Kudou fell in step with him, the silence between them grating at Kaito's calm.
"Kuroba Kaito, wasn't it?" Kudou asked, but it wasn't much of a question. "Was that on purpose?"
He didn't have to ask the detective what he meant. There weren't many people in Japan with similar faces, and KID's ability to masquerade as Kudou without a mask was more than enough evidence to place Kaito as the number one suspect. It'd be tedious to listen to Kudou's deductions.
"Different kanji. I'm sure tou-san meant to make a joke. Or maybe kaa-san. It's a bit of a family trade." Kaito pushed his hands in his pockets to hide the fact they were shaking.
"That must have been interesting," Kudou said, slowly and with a measured note in his voice that warned Kaito he'd already noted Kaito's strange behavior.
"It was while it lasted. Now, I tend to make my own fun." Kaito cracked a smirk, one of the few expressions that melted easily from his poker face.
"I don't think the police call it fun." Kudou stopped, grabbing Kaito's shoulder and glancing back and forth down the hallway. Kaito considered protesting, but Kudou was already pushing him inside one of the twin rooms, essentially caging him in with an angry detective and no escape. "I thought we were friends, KID."
"Allies, maybe. A distraction, certainly. But friends?" Kaito laughed, holding his ground in front of the small window. KID's persona settled over his shoulders, and Kaito took comfort in the familiar confrontation. "Meitantei, why would I ever befriend one of my hunters?"
"Is that really how you see it? Hunter and prey?"
"I'm nothing like prey," Kaito snarled the last word, composing himself with a quiet huff. "We were allies against a greater threat. You'd never been interested in petty thieves, so I let you move on with your life. It's not like you've been to one of my parties, since Conan."
Kudou stared at him, eyes dark and face set. "I always made exceptions for you before."
"Right. Suzuki's niece is your girlfriend's best friend. It held to reason that Mouri's little charge would tag along to heists. What exceptions are there to make now? There's no one to chide you along after me."
"If you don't think Sonoko hasn't tried to force me to one of your heists-"
"And you never came," Kaito cut in. "You haven't been to a single one. It was fun, meitantei, but there's no reason to intersect our lives."
Kudou seemed to lose his steam at that, body language turning from confrontation to indifferent surrender. Kaito took one of his hands from his pockets, opening his phone and sending a quick text to Aoko. He ignored Kudou as he read her quick reply.
"They're waiting for us. Time to go."
And Kaito passed him, stepping out into the hallway and using the chance at having Kudou at his back to let his expression crumble at the edges, blinking back the hurt and anger, when Kudou followed him. He ignored the detective until they were in the dining car, Aoko seated with Mouri, Hattori Heiji, and Toyama Kazuha. It occurred to him that he'd surrounded himself with the morally upright, three children of police, two detectives, and the perceptive daughter of a detective. And dear Hakuba who was both a son of justice and detective, like Hattori Heiji, who would be meeting them in Sapporo after flying back from London.
He started laughing, drawing the attention of several passengers and Aoko, who was flushed and happy and incandescent when she started laughing with him. Kaito saw Kudou's hand come forward, like he was going to touch, and Kaito moved away before he could, a bouncy step in his stride as he came upon their table.
"Aoko! You look like you're having fun." Kaito bowed and drew three roses from his sleeve, a blushing pink for Aoko and yellow roses for Mouri and Toyama. "Sorry to be so rude earlier, Mouri-chan. I am Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire!"
Aoko took her rose with a teasing roll of her eyes, tucking it up in her hair. Mouri and Toyama both awed overt the trick, closing their fingers around their on roses. Hattori gave Kaito a sour look, so he pulled another one from his sleeve, dyed a rich emerald green.
"To match your mood," Kaito said, pinning it to Hattori's chest with a quick step forward. "Don't worry. I'm harmless."
Toyama laughed at Hattori's scowl.
"I don't want a flower!" He pulled the rose off, sharp eyes running over Kaito's confident smile. "And I wasn't jealous."
"Everyone got a rose but you, of course you were feeling jealous." Kaito waved a hand, dismissing the irritation he could see wrinkling Hattori's brow. Aoko slid over, patting the seat next to her. Mouri made room for Kudou, leaving Toyama, Aoko and Kaito on one side and Hattori, Mouri, and Kudou on the other.
"Did you give one to Kudou-kun?" Aoko asked, handing one of the lunch plates over to Kaito. He took it from her, concentrating on not dropping the chopsticks on top of the plate instead of meeting Kudou's eyes.
"I'm good without one," Kudou volunteered, same steady tone as earlier when he commented on Kaito's family.
"Kaito! I told you to not be rude!" Aoko hissed, stepping on Kaito's foot in punishment. He hid his grimace under a cocky smile, picking up his chopsticks instead of appeasing her.
"My roses are special!" he protested, turning his attention to his food.
"Exactly," Aoko agreed, but the others weren't paying them much attention, Toyama and Mouri both giggling over Hattori's stormy expression and destruction of the rose. "But you had one for a joke."
Kaito sighed and placed his chopsticks down. "Aoko-"
"This is Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha. They live in Osaka, and they're both children of police officers, like I am. Hattori-kun's joining the police force as a detective, and Toyama-chan's hopes to join the National Police Agency." Aoko said over him, ignoring his hurt look and attempted placation.
"Nakamori, daughter of Nakamori Ginzo, correct?" Kudou asked, eating his own meal while Mouri turned her attention away from Hattori and Toyama.
"My dad. I'm joining the police force because of him. Truly, as soon as we get back to Ekoda, I should know about my application process."
"Aren't you worried about the physical endurance test?" Toyama drew Aoko in, discussing the application process and their various concerns about the written test. The physical fitness conversation even drew in Mouri, who contributed with her own knowledge of karate and judo, and Hattori, who suggested his own kendo training.
"That's got to be pretty lonely," Kudou said.
Kaito pretended not to know what he was talking about. "Aoko's got a mean swing with a mop. She'll pass easily."
"So it's just me, then. It's not that you can't be friends with your hunters. You won't be friends with me." Kudou's voice was quiet, soft enough that Kaito doubted Mouri could hear him if she tried.
"That's how it is. I've known her as long as you've known Mouri-chan. Even if I made her leave, she's still tied to me. Isn't that right, Conan-kun?" Kaito brought his arm up, leaning on his elbow and resting his chin in his hand.
Kudou flinched at the name. It didn't make Kaito feel better.
"-even in Division Two," Aoko said, a chill racing up Kaito's spine and a sudden feeling of dread at the words. "We've had two officers injured just chasing after that ridiculous thief. Being shot, I don't want to imagine it."
Kaito closed his eyes. He didn't need to imagine it. He knew how it felt, and he realized that while he was taunting Kudou, the rest of the group had turned their conversation to the dangers of being a police officer. And Kudou's expression turned fierce.
"There was a shooting at the KID heist? Why wasn't that in the paper?" And Kudou had everyone's attention, throwing off whatever cheery atmosphere they'd managed to create. Only Hattori looked like he had a clue what was happening.
"They're investigating whether or not KID had anything to do with it. Just because he's been non-violent so far, he's still a criminal and he could always decide to escalate." Aoko's face turned grim, and Kaito knew she was remembering the speech Nakamori had given to his task force immediately after the heist. "It's staying under internal review until they can get evidence on the shooter."
"Seems reckless to endanger the public if there's shootings at one of KID's heists." Hattori commented, Toyama and Mouri echoing him sadly.
"KID still has heists. There aren't any more notices in the papers, but he still sends them to the police department. And there's never much of a crowd anymore." Aoko nodded to Kaito. "Sometimes, it's just me, Kaito, and some plain clothes officers, but there's no big crowd like there once was. "
"Which is a shame. KID is an excellent magician," Kaito said, producing a shower of confetti and glitter with a flick of his wrist. It rained over the table and was swept away just as fast as it had appeared. "I miss seeing his big performances."
"I only ever went to one," Kudou said, mirroring Kaito's earlier pose and resting his chin in hand. "That big clock tower in Ekoda. Almost caught him, too."
"Did not!" Kaito protested before he could think better of it.
"All we would have needed to do was cordon off the crowd and check everyone over. But, the code he'd left behind was more interesting." Kudou held Kaito's eyes, a challenging stare egging on Kaito to say something.
"I will not give this clock to anyone, right?" Hattori said, breaking Kaito and Kudou's staring. "What happened to it?"
"It's still there," Aoko said, an all too familiar expression of happiness and unease on her face. "The owners were crooked, and eventually the ownership reverted to a distant relative of the original owner. She's a KID fan so she's left the clock tower and KID's message alone."
"It was interesting because I didn't think thieves had any kind of honor."
Kaito gritted his teeth behind his smile, shoulders drawing up and tense. "KID's a magician, as well. You have to have some honor to become one of those."
"KID's more of a performer than a magician. He's only after his own amusement. The crowd being there is incidental, when they're not needed to make one of his tricks happen."
"A performer?!" Kaito almost lunged across the table.
"He's exposed a few murderers and counterfeiters, but not for justice's sake. He wanted something from someone involved every time. He's not someone we should be celebrating."
"Exactly, Kudou-kun," Aoko agreed happily. "Hakuba and I have always believed that. Kaito's the only one who argues against it."
"Magicians need to stick together," Kaito said, emphasizing his own title for KID. "Otherwise, we will all be reduced to nothing but amusing past times to people determined to expose all our tricks and ruin our dreams."
"Plenty of people go to magic shows for the sole reason of exposing the magician's tricks."
"And those people disgust me," Kaito growled, all humor leeched from his face. "You might enjoy taking the fantasy out of every day life, but what gives you the right to take it from others? What gives you the right to point at a harmless trick and cry foul? People believe in what we do because they want to feel like something beyond their lives is amazing, can give them something to wonder over."
"I can still admire the skill it takes to make those tricks happen."
"And then point at the magician. The curtain's drawn away, and everyone realizes it's nothing but a man and his smoke and mirrors. It's an entire relationship built on secrets and trust. When you take that away, we're nothing. It's an empty stage and empty promises and no one cares because you're the one playing the tricks. No one empathizes with the villain."
"Kaito-" Aoko's voice sounded distant, trembling and fragile, but Kaito only had eyes for Kudou.
"And you live your whole life on that stage. So when someone comes along and pulls it apart, rips up your foundations and sets the whole place on fire, how is that fair? Why are you celebrated for pulling apart my dreams?" Kaito's voice broke just a bit, anger and a chasm of grief drowning out everything but the increasingly unnerved expression on Kudou's face. "You're nothing but a critic."
He pushed away from the table, away from Aoko and Kudou and a conversation he let too much of his true self participate in. He didn't care where he went. As long as it was away.
He found one of the doors leading outside and picked it open. It was hardly worth any effort to swing himself on top of the train, bracing himself against the wind and from falling over the side. It was much less dangerous that the time he'd been standing on a train facing down Snake, then later facing down Conan. But there was enough cool air and uncertainty of safety that he felt something unfurl in his chest. He hadn't been much of a daredevil before KID, but dancing on the edge of ruin made him all the more happy to be alive.
The closest experience he could have with his father as the man himself was long dead.
He watched the sunset from the top of the train, skipping dinner with Aoko. He didn't want to see her, to know she'd ask about his unnatural temper and the grief he was sure she'd seen in his face. She knew him better than he thought she realized, some part of herself being willfully ignorant about how much he and KID were one and the same.
She knew him well enough to read what had touched off his outburst, to connect the familiar disparaging remarks about magicians with the headlines questioning his father's sanity, his career, how he'd tempted fate by playing with fire. How it had to be a magician's dream to die on stage.
Like dying was some great trick for everyone to see. Like dying had brought peace.
Like it wasn't his greatest nightmare to die as KID.
"I thought I'd find you up here."
Kaito stiffened as Kudou climbed up to the roof of the train, gripping hard to avoid being swept off his feet.
"I don't want company, meitantei. Leave." Kaito nearly set his back to Kudou, but held back, feeling that he'd be darted and dropped inside the train if he didn't watch the detective.
"Nakamori explained about your father. I didn't mean to say your profession was-"
"You said those things to goad me into arguing with you. I'm not stupid. I know why you said what you did. I don't want an apology."
"I mess things up when I try to talk to you." Kudou sighed. "Hattori knows how KID helped bring down the Black Org. He thinks I've been refraining from going to KID's heists as a way to thank him. Ran thinks I'm avoiding them because of how much publicity they get, and I've had enough of being in the papers. In a way, they're both right."
"I don't need thanks-"
"You helped me when I was at my weakest. And you kept helping me until I was cured. At first, I thought maybe you didn't know how to deal with me when you'd only known the child me. But you didn't treat me like a child after the Memories Egg. It's always been about even ground." Kudou used one hand to brace himself on the train, but he stretched out the other until he held Kaito's arm. "But it's never been even ground. You were always the one in charge of our encounters. And I didn't question it."
"Even KID is allowed his privacy," Kaito repeated, one of the last things he'd ever said to Kudou when Kudou was making the transition from Conan.
"Why do you think I wouldn't help you? Why I wouldn't believe you if you said you were in danger? I would have hunted down every last person taking shots at you, not stopped until they were locked away and you could still steal and rob and play bandit to your heart's content." Kudou's fingers tightened around his arm, but Kaito didn't pull away.
"Would have?"
"Will do so," Kudou clarified. "If I'd known you were being threatened before, I would have ignored your indifference."
"It's not indifference. It's concern. You've got your life back. You've got your girl, your career, your entire life ahead to being whatever you want." Kaito almost shouted the words, the sudden lash of anger rising through his chest again, rising up and displacing the tendrils of KID's persona.
"I stayed away from your heists because I cared more about the person under the mystery than I did about solving it. And you didn't want to be unmasked."
"Don't talk about me like you get it. You read motives and murders like I do dreams and fears. I can see all the secrets you're hiding on your face plainly. That might be part of the truth, but there are still two liars on this train."
"Then you should leave the deductions to the professional," Kudou snapped back. "You're too angry and afraid, you're responding to things like I've already condemned you."
"I'm not reading anything but what's there. More shame on you if you can't tell," Kaito snarled, because he didn't read people wrong. He might not have been able to read their lives from their handshakes like Kudou could be rumored, but he could read their hearts in their eyes. KID's tricks weren't all magic.
"I wanted you to trust me like I trusted you!" Kudou shouted, fingers a vice around Kaito's arm. He didn't even try to hide the flash of pain. "I waited for you to realize I was still there. I don't have Ran. I don't technically have a career. But I thought I had you. And you left me to protect yourself."
"Two of my officers nearly died, Kudou. Shot in the stomach. If the heist hadn't been so close to the hospital, they would have. When it was equal, when you were in just as much danger as I was, it was fine, because I could keep a child away from danger. As you are now..." Kaito trailed away and decided to let slip the biggest secret he still had left. Better to use it before Kudou could root it out and brandish it as a reason to let him in. Better to use it as a weapon than to be offered as an olive branch. "These people know me. They watch me. Watch who I'm close to. And they're only letting me continue because I've been helpful."
"You know who they are?" Kudou asked, seeming to disregard everything else.
"I still have nothing on them. Do you really think I wouldn't have foisted them out, brought them down, ruined them, if I had everything I needed to at my fingertips? Do you think KID hasn't tried?"
Kudou shook him, the expression on his face one Kaito remembered the roots of in Conan's growing frame. It had been fierce as a child. Grown, Kudou could level mountains with that kind of intensity and focus.
It meant nothing to a phantom.
"They know what I'd done for you. What we'd done to the Black Org. And if KID could do that with a child, what could he do when he turned all those detectives and police officers after him onto them?" Kaito laughed, ugly and small and let fly the last poison-tipped arrow. "So they shot two of my officers and left me a notice of their own. My next heist is going to be KID's final."
Kudou looked lost for words, like he'd been when KID had touched down in his backyard, fresh from a heist and a murder of crows, offering the Sundrop Diamond in one hand and the apotoxin in the other. It had been pure delight to rouse that reaction from the detective, so much that his heart had swelled and he'd known right then he was as surely shackled to Conan as he was to Aoko.
"Nakamori said this was a graduation trip. That you'd been accepted to Kyodai."
"All true."
"You're giving up?" Kudou asked, the thin slivers of hope in his voice slipping under all of Kaito's righteous anger and grief and cutting into the heart Kaito had been holding together with force of will.
"No."
He blinked back the tears, turning his face into the wind and letting them slip down by pretending they were just from the bite of the wind. It wasn't a hard choice in the end, what he'd chosen to do. There were a thousand more gems in the world that could be Pandora, but he had bet his life he'd take the true one and for once, his luck had tanked. They'd been willing to let his petty declaration to destroy Pandora endure, but not any longer. If he went after the Sun Splinter, he'd be forcefully reunited with his father.
"Final curtain, meitantei." Kaito reached up and took hold of Kudou's hand, prying off his fingers one by one, indulging himself for a second and imagining he had the right to twine their fingers together and head for the future. "Don't wait around for me."
"Kaito," Kudou whispered, eyes wide with a thousand things Kaito could read with a glance. The brilliant futures rose and fell, willful indignation and pure stubborn might burning out the grief and horror he could see lurking, circling the depths like a great shark ready at the first drop of blood.
"If you even think of following me, I'll ruin you." Kaito released their clasped hands, throwing Kudou's grasping fingers off to keep temptation away. "Don't lie and call me a friend. Don't pretend I'm not every inch the criminal your murders are. I'll ruin your life. Every scrap you've gathered together from Conan. Every tie you've clung to since."
"I know you'll try," Kudou said, but he wasn't backing down. And Kaito needed one last weapon, one last betrayal that would burn even their most remote encounters into ashes.
"I know your chemist friend made one last poison," Kaito said, "I know where she put it, hoping it would be safe. There's no lock, no box, no system I can't get inside. So, I can get it. Do you know what it is?"
"No." And there was the horror Kaito wanted. He pounced on it.
"So she can never go back, that the temporary antidotes won't work, that there would be no way to reverse whatever change the potential cocktail of hormones in puberty could catalyze. She made one last poison. If you try to go after me, if you try to call me your friend and save me, I'll feed you the poison myself, Edogawa Conan."
Because Conan wasn't a death sentence, no matter how much Kudou would think otherwise. No matter what lies he had to tell and what he would have to do to scrape his life back together, Conan wasn't a death sentence.
Kaito had fallen in love with the heart he'd seen in Conan's eyes, after all. He'd rather be the villain and do what even the Black Org hadn't been able.
"I told you I'm the bad guy, Kudou. I always have been."
