Timeline: Aftermath
-X-
No one gets hurt.
That's Kaito's personal oath to himself, why he can draw a line between real criminals and himself.
No one gets hurt.
-X-
"Kaito?"
Dawn is just starting to break. He should have been home hours ago. It's dangerous to still be out after a heist in KID's regalia, but he can't go home yet.
It had taken the ambulance forty minutes to arrive at the warehouse. It had only taken three for time of death to be called. It had only taken one for a little boy to lose everything.
He'd never taken the bug off the police when he'd left with the earrings. He'd planned to stop by the station later and divest officers of their microphones under the guise of a junior officer. Now, he was using it to unravel the situation and try to figure out what he could possibly do to make amends.
A glove was still in Connery's hand, the only proof that KID or Nightmare had been in the warehouse, but it was enough evidence for most of the Task Force, Interpol officers, and the homicide team that arrived with the ambulance.
KID was no longer considered a moderate threat.
KID was dangerous.
The favorite theory was that there was an altercation between KID and Nightmare which Connery interrupted by arriving on the scene. With no trace of Nightmare beyond the mask, it was assumed that he fled and left KID with Connery. During the struggle for the earrings, KID assaulted Connery which sent Connery over the railing and to his death. KID fled the scene shortly after.
No one asked why a man without the capacity to arrest either criminal was in pursuit.
Nakamori and Hakuba were the only ones not in support of this theory. In fact, Hakuba argued long and hard over the presentation of the body at the scene, the marks along the railing that most likely indicated KID attempted to prevent the fall, and the unusual mask found meters away from Connery's body with the razor card in the front. Particularly the fact that KID wasn't known for violent assault. KID isn't the first thief most thought of when talking about murder.
Hakuba pointed blame to Nightmare, but there had been neither hide nor hair of the criminal. KID's regalia can't be used to identify him. Not even things he didn't mean to leave behind. So one white glove isn't really enough to implicate him.
However, KID's daemon, a Verreaux's Eagle, was a predator. It wasn't a magpie or raven hunting after sparkly jewels. It wasn't a dove or owl, a magician's companion. It wasn't a black cat, a predator but one that could be domesticated. It was an eagle.
And daemon profilers were still considered valid careers and parallels were drawn. KID hunted his targets by using surprise and flashy tricks, not unlike his daemon's wild counterpart that surprised its prey by coming upon it with a flashy, dangerous dive. KID would inevitably lead his pursuers on a merry chase before taking off and leaving satisfied, not unlike how his daemon's wild counterpart would make its kill on the ground then fly off in pursuit of another meal.
Kaito couldn't deny that.
They chose a predator because he wanted Snake and all of those like him afraid of him.
He couldn't have let Kenta discover his father's secret. It would have destroyed the man in the eyes of his peers, as well. Kenta would forever live with being known as Nightmare's son. Friends of the family and Kenta's caretakers at the orphanage might have distanced themselves from the child and the scandal.
Every case Connery had taken would have been scrutinized. His assets would have been seized. There would have been nothing left of the father Kenta had known.
Nightmare would have overshadowed every aspect of his life.
And KID could steal that away.
"There's nothing else we can do here." Aares nudges him with a wing, upsetting his balance. Kaito sways drunkenly as he climbs to his feet, stepping off the ledge of the roof and activating his glider. The tunnel entrance into KID's Hideaway is only a few blocks away and out of sight.
The house is quiet when he reaches it.
-X-
No one gets hurt.
It's such bullshit.
Someone's been hurt at every heist. His father, the original KID, was murdered. Aoko's left alone, without Kaito or her father when she needs them. Akako ensnares every man in her path to do her bidding and barely thinks twice about forcing the same fate on Kaito. Every prank and trick and humiliation KID heaps on Hakuba spills onto his reputation, damages his standing in the eyes of his peers, his father, the world. Jii's nowhere near as spry or able as he once was, and there's nothing for the magician's assistant when the performance ends.
He's tricked detectives out of windows, killed a copy of himself, left a man to die on a ship, and that's only the things that immediately come to mind.
Snake and his jackal hound every step KID takes and doesn't care who gets between them. KID's practically Death's Herald, leading innocents into the slaughter in exchange for his own life.
"Sometimes I wish we never knew Dad's secret."
Aares doesn't say anything.
Nothing echoes back to him through their bond.
Nothing sits in his chest, in his heart.
-X-
Aoko calls him the next morning. Kaito hesitates to answer, but every news channel has been playing coverage of last night's heist and there's no school to miss today.
"Aoko? Hello?"
"Kaito... have you seen the news this morning?" She asks, her voice hoarse and thick. She's been crying.
"Kenta-kun's father-"
"It's true. KID... The police think KID killed him. Dad doesn't think so, but everyone is against him. And now... Kenta-kun has no one now. His caretaker at the orphanage came by last night, but Kenta-kun had an attack at the hospital. He told me last night that they found someone to do his operation, but with his father-" Aoko takes a ragged breath, more like a sob, and Kaito closes his eyes at the burning tears he feels welling in his own.
"Are you at the hospital?"
"I couldn't leave him on his own. Kaito-"
"I'm on my way." He hangs up before she can say anything else. Aares changes into her magpie shape, but she doesn't speak to him.
She hasn't spoken to him since she herded him home.
-X-
Kaito has never enjoyed hospitals. Spending hours sitting on a hospital bed, wearing an oxygen mask, and huddling with a lion shaped Aares while waiting for his mother to arrive, it would always be the first thing he remembered when he wound up in the hospital for one reason or another.
Aoko's mother's short stint in the hospital before she died, that was second. It hit both Aoko and him like a lightning strike, sudden and deadly, devastation in its wake. Her cancer's rapid spread had led to a short but painful stay, marked mostly by how horrible the food tasted and how Nakamori Kin grimaced with every breath.
They're not places he's visited regularly either, but he's visited Nakamori when the man would spend the night after overexerting himself or getting injured in the line of duty. Usually he would charm the nurses into letting him and Aoko stay past visiting hours, unwilling to let her go home to an empty house.
Not all thieves were like Kaitou KID, after all.
There's a larger police presence than usual, and a small crowd of reporters are assembled around the entrance to the hospital.
Hiwatari spots him and waves him through the crowd, directing officers to hold back the reporters when they notice Kaito and Aares passing through their lines.
"Where are they?" Kaito asks, lingering in the doorway while Hiwatari blocks the reporters.
"Third floor. Hakuba-san and Nakamori-keibu are with them." Hiwatari grimaces as a reporter thrusts a microphone into his face and starts to shout questions at Kaito.
Kaito keeps his face out of their cameras, pulling his baseball cap lower over his forehead. The shouted questions are mostly about KID, about the death of an Interpol officer, about Nightmare.
No one asks about the child.
The nurses are harried and barely give him a second glance, sending him on the way and harassing the police officers loitering in the lobby. It looks like the whole Task Force is here. Kaito wonders who's watching the station, and why they're all here instead of compiling leads on Nightmare.
When he gets off the elevator at the third floor, Hakuba and Nakamori turn to him, but they go right back to their discussion. Kaito hesitates, but steels himself and walks through the hall towards them. They're flanking a hospital room, but they part for him without pause. He ignores whatever they're talking about, regardless of how it might help him as KID to understand the situation. Instead, he turns his attention to the little boy in the bed and the three women around him.
Aoko and Hakuba's manservant are seated on one side, and an older matronly woman is on the boy's other side. Malia is actually on the bed, sprawled out on the end of the bed and turned towards Kenta.
"Kaito!" Aoko jumps up, Kiiva perking his head as Kaito comes into the room. "You're here."
"What happened?" he asks without taking his eyes off Kenta. He's flushed and sweating, and they have him hooked to an IV. Malia's coat is drenched with sweat, and he can see her sides spasm occasionally.
"After... He collapsed at the scene. The doctors think that the night's stress, having nothing to eat, and a flare up, all of it just aggravated his condition. They don't think it's serious for now, but maybe within the next month or so without surgery, he might not-" Aoko stops, wrapping her arms around Kaito's arm and holding tightly. Kaito turns to press his face into her hair, closing his eyes.
"Are they scheduling surgery for him?" Aares asks. It jolts Kaito. He'd almost forgotten she was there. He'd almost forgotten about his own daemon, and he wants to cry.
"No one knows yet," the matronly woman says. She has a pudgy rabbit daemon in her lap, grey fur at its muzzle and around sad, dark eyes. "With his father passing and all of his assets reverting to Kenta, we should have the money to cover surgery costs, and in the event of his passing, Kenta is under my guardianship."
"Then what's the problem?" Aares shuffles to his other shoulder, rubbing her beak against Aoko's hair. Kaito can feel a soft echo back, an uneasy feeling like missing the step in a flight of stairs but no fear.
"The problem is Connery's connection to Nightmare." Hakuba's voice interrupts. "I can't discuss the particulars, but there is reason to believe that Nightmare may have been working in tandem with Connery for the past two years."
Kaito stiffens, drawing away from Aoko to look at Hakuba. Watson looks rather sad, obviously tired and overworked, but she's watching Kaito intently. Aares walks over his shoulders to stare her down, puffing up her body and clacking her beak. Even with their thinned bond, he knows she's wishing for her own talons and powerful beak, wishing for her far greater predatory size.
"Why do they think that?" Kaito rubs a hand down Aoko's arm, mostly a consolation but partly an apology. She pulls away from him and goes back to the boy's bedside. He watches her from the corner of his eye, but Hakuba is stepping up to his side and that demands more of his attention now.
"I can't divulge the details," Hakuba reminds him. But he's staring at Kaito hard. "But it is something that is creating difficulties scheduling the boy's surgery."
Kaito narrows his eyes and, to give Hakuba credit, it doesn't make Hakuba flinch at all. Instead, he looks like he's waiting. Kaito's eyes are drawn back to Kenta, to Malia, to the entirety of the room now that he's paying attention. Bits and pieces of the conversations he'd overheard just entering the hospital float to the forefront of his mind. And secrets are as much KID's core as magic and moonlight.
"It's the money. They think he was taking some of the money when Nightmare succeeded."
He doesn't even feel triumphant when Hakuba just continues to watch him. "I cannot divulge the details."
"So, they're seizing Connery's accounts and investigating all of the transactions." Kaito leans into Hakuba's space, mindful not to let KID's razor sharp grin split his lips. "That's why you can't just go ahead and schedule surgery. There won't be any money to cover the costs, even with insurance."
"It could take up to eight months to complete a full investigation, considering how long Nightmare has been active." Hakuba drops his eyes, reaching a hand to brush over Watson's feathers.
"Which is too late for Kenta-kun." Aoko swallows back her tears, and reaches over the bed to hold the boy's hand.
"Unless Connery can be cleared sooner than that," Hakuba says. His hand comes down onto Kaito's shoulder, as far away as he can get from Aares. "We have to leave now, Aoko-san."
-X-
Hakuba lingers behind them at the hospital doors. Watson's eyes never move from Aares. Hakuba grabs his arm before he can leave, fingers tighter than a vise.
Kaito pulls his eyes from Aoko, and he meets Hakuba's dark eyes without wavering.
Hakuba searches his face, and Kaito's got a perfect poker face.
He lets go when Aoko calls for Kaito.
But Kaito can still feel their eyes on his back.
Hakuba's never going to forget this. KID can't bow out into retirement.
A murder charge is going to follow him like his own bad shadow for life. Even if there's no proof, he's always going to be thinking that Kaito could do it. That Kaito could kill someone.
Hakuba is going to remember that. He serves justice and he'll see KID face his crimes.
It's going to be a line between them that'll only deepen with time.
-X-
"We'd just be excusing him!" Aares hisses, swelling up into her eagle shape. They'd walked Aoko home, leaving her with a hug and hopeful words. Aares hadn't said anything to him on the short walk to their house, but even with their weak bond, he could feel her anger. Aares waits for him to close the front door before leaping off him and towards the couch.
"He's dead. There's no more justice to be had for everyone he's wronged. There's just money and reputation and politics. We just have to give Nightmare a send-off to let the world know he's gone." Kaito spreads his hands, shrugging as Aares stares at him.
"So you'll go forward and tell the world... what? That KID killed Nightmare-"
"That's exactly what I'm going to say," Kaito interrupts. "The police have our card and Nightmare's mask. And all we need to do is steal them back. Take all of the evidence, destroy their files, wipe everything about Nightmare. Whatever physical copies they have, we'll take. Whatever footage they have, we'll erase. Whatever thoughts they think they have, we'll control them."
"And you want to be known for that? You want KID to be known for that? KID's the only thing left we have from Dad, and you want to destroy it-"
"Dad's dead." Kaito's voice breaks and tears well up in his eyes, but he holds her eyes. She's shocked, wings hung limp and head ducked. "It doesn't matter what we do with the KID because he's dead. And the only thing I want to use the KID for is to catch the people responsible for that. Everything else..."
"But if they think KID kills, we're destroying our safety net. Murder isn't the same as a robbery, Kaito. We'll go to jail. For life." Aares shifts into a cat, jumping into his arms as he opens them for her.
"Like we'll ever be caught," Kaito scoffs, but he hugs her closer. "If it comes down to it and we're exposed when we get that bastard Snake, then we'll disappear. We can travel the world and make people smile until the statute of limitations runs out on our warrants."
"We'd be giving up so much-"
"We always knew that. As soon as we knew the truth, we knew what we'd have to give away." Kaito buries his face in her fur, smiling as she purrs loud and hard for him. "The trick is to steal it back, anyway."
-X-
Join me in my waking dream,
Where no ill shadows reside.
Wake to see this new world,
And be at peace, child,
For your Nightmare is ended.
~Kaitou KID
-X-
The notice makes the morning papers. It's a red flag before the bull, and Kaito spends the next few days reading about what the police have found.
Or rather, what they've found missing. The summary essentially boils down to: all electronic files related to Nightmare, all evidence from The Dark Knight heist (including the Dark Knight earrings), all paper files within the Japanese police records concerning Nightmare, a slowly accumulating list of paper files within Interpol offices concerning Nightmare, and the only video of Nightmare to ever exist, are all purged and missing.
Kaito leaves a video of his own. He's on a rooftop with the camera angled to show the police headquarters behind him. He's fully decked in KID's regalia and Aares is on the railing to his left, wings spread wide. In his hands, he's holding Nightmare's mask with his card still embedded within the front. The moonlight and hazy city lights illuminate KID, making his monocle flash and highlighting his grin.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I bid you good evening," KID says, moving the mask to one hand and sweeping his other before him as he bows to the camera. "As you have ascertained by now, I have taken your Nightmare from you. There is no need to fear a return. I am merely hoping to console your worries and offer my own condolences to the officer who gave his life in pursuit of justice. Be at peace, Jack Connery of Interpol."
KID pulls the card from the mask, and dark red liquid begins to seep through the narrow hole. It runs down the front of the mask and spatters on the ground. He lets the mask ooze, spilling over his white glove and staining it crimson red. It's as blatant symbolism as Kaito is willing to try without actually producing a body.
KID grins, something cold and cruel and indifferent.
"Pleasant dreams, ladies and gentlemen."
The video cuts out as KID's daemon flies away.
-X-
The truth of it is that Kaitou KID now owes a group of capable thieves, spies, and hackers various favors of their choosing but within certain limits. He reveals a bit more of the truth to those who have helped him wipe Nightmare from the world, but nothing that would expose Connery to any more scrutiny.
The missing money is an issue, and it does make Connery look suspicious, but with so much missing, there's nothing factual on which to build a case. And one of KID's favors ensures that all of that money is dropped into a dummy account.
He visits the hospital on his own after school, dodging Aoko and Hakuba who'd both taken to tailing him with unnerving tenacity. He was sure Aoko's reasons were benevolent, but Hakuba's eye twitched whenever Kaito was within his sight, which Kaito takes as a sign of imminent volcanic rage.
Kenta's caretaker is present, but he puts on enough of a show that she's content to leave Kenta and Malia under his watch while she goes to the cafeteria. He brushes a hand through Kenta's hair, faint heat from a fever evident even from this far away, and Malia is nearly drenched, sweating until her coat is slick. He leaves the vase of white roses and lilies on the side table, a note from Kaito stuck among the flowers, and gases his caretaker while she's on her way back to the room.
He leaves her and her daemon passed out in an empty room and pulls on the disguise he's brought of her. Aares climbs into his arms, changing into the woman's rabbit and rubbing her soft nose against his thumb.
Kaito finds the doctor in charge of Kenta's care and sits down to schedule a surgery, even though he's nearly lost in the survival rates, intraoperative details, complications, post op details, and longstanding monitoring needed to be done in the future.
The issue of payment is taken care of with the dummy account, and one last favor where the account is monitored to flag any other activity, so there's no chance of the account being stripped or drained before Kenta's surgery is complete. He leaves the account as the primary, rerouting all charges from whatever the caretaker was using to pay for the past few days.
Using the dummy name "Nishin Akai" is all but telling the police just who's using the account, but he won't let them take away the one thing he can do for the boy.
He failed to save Connery, but he won't fail to make sure the boy grows up into someone his father would have been proud of.
-X-
The favors are relatively simple to fulfill.
He goes as KID to a child's birthday party to be the entertainment, the favor owed to a thief who swiped documents from Interpol offices within Japan.
He impersonates a hacker by the alias of "Acid Burn" in her real life tour of Japan while she diverts police suspicions off herself for exposing corrupt police officers in Japan, the favor owed for her timely disappearance of Nightmare's electronic files.
Kaitou KID stages a heist for The Sapphire Sunrise, an ornate headdress crafted out of gold, sapphires, ivory, and peridots, which is being displayed at a museum under a less-than-reputable yakuza gang ownership, the favor owed to a spy who uses KID's heist as a way of exposing them.
He takes a fellow thief, Harlequin Hearts, out on a date in Tropical Land, the favor owed for her help in stealing from international Interpol offices.
He obtains an autograph of Okino Youko, the favor owed to a hacker who's an otaku of hers as well as a security contractor for most government buildings.
He performs as KID at a private club in Japan as one of several hosts who also ply magic in their trade, for the hacker who created the dummy account for the money and runs The Vanishing Hearts Host Club.
He's only left with two favors, owed to a thief who stole from the main Interpol headquarters and the other owed to a Russian spy who wipes the video of Nightmare which had been in the Special Representatives Office in Brussels.
Neither want to collect their favors immediately, and Kaito doesn't push them to comply. He leaves an open invitation to contact him using their own discretion.
His whole plan could have backfired spectacularly, but Kaitou KID's reputation is well-known and The Phantom Lady heavily endorses him.
Being beloved of Lady Luck certainly doesn't hurt, either.
-X-
Of course, not all of the favors are just simple transactions. Harlequin Hearts, civilian name: Warai Hibari, actually extends a hand of friendship, under the promise of not expecting his own identity in return for hers.
She lives up to her name, a perpetual smile on her face and a sweet disposition. Her daemon, Camamon, is a whooping crane, and he gets on well with Aares.
The date had been fun, even though Kaito had been disguised as a college girl, and they'd spent much of their time wandering the park instead of riding rides. She is older than he is and went abroad for school and volunteer work. Thieving was a hobby she'd taken up only for the last few years, often targeting items that had been unjustly stolen from their owners and placed in museums or the pockets of the rich.
She didn't just steal out of benevolence, but Kaito wasn't sure how harshly he could judge a woman for making her way in a world that looked down on her. She was a what they called 'deviant', after all, and more likely to be exploited or killed for who she loved, instead of being accepted for who she is.
Either way, it was good to spend time with someone other than Aoko or Hakuba, filled with listening to Kaitou KID conspiracies and angry rants about breaking the law. Hibari even gave him tips for appearing more feminine in his dress and manners.
Most of their outings were to clubs in Ni-chome, but Kaito found himself enjoying them and even coming disguised male on more than one occasion. He'd given up on anything coming of his love for Aoko, but he wasn't going to be a chaste virgin for the rest of his life. He hadn't thought it was a problem until Aares freaks out one night on the train back to Ekoda.
"Mom said the thieving community knows they were married!" Aares hisses at him, curled around his neck in the shape of a leopard gecko. "And if we want the world to think we're the original Kaitou KID, that means we're married!"
Kaito coughs hard, face paling and raising a handkerchief to his face to obscure his features. His college girl disguise wouldn't hold up to well-meaning and insistent concern from fellow travelers.
"I am not staying a virgin for the rest of my life," Kaito hisses back, his face flushes as several passengers on the train look over at him curiously, but they've obviously not heard him clearly.
"And you think I want that?" Aares swishes her tail, rubbing it along his neck.
"We'll just go to the places where secrets are accepted. One night stands can't be that bad," Kaito suggested, even though his shoulders slump at the prospect. That is absolutely not the best place for a young man to gain experience, but any disguises would be wrecked during actual intercourse.
"For the rest of our lives?" Aares shoots back in disbelief.
That is an excellent point.
"The only other option is to hope that when we do like someone well enough to go that far, one of several things may happen. One, they'll accept that we can't tell them the truth and continue to meet them disguised. Two, we meet with them disguised but they can't accept us. Three, we meet them and maintain a relationship, but they figure out we're the KID. Four, whoever we're with learns we're the KID and turns us in."
"They could always learn and not care?"
"Which narrows prospects to a very select minority that looks beyond the thief's persona, your ever-changing shape, and our own thinned bond."
"Well, when you put it that way-"
"We're going to be virgins forever," Kaito complains, blushing as the fellow passengers surrounding him abruptly turn and stare.
That had been a little loud.
Oops.
-X-
"Kaito! We're headed out to the park after school today. They've just opened the ice skating rink, the year-round one they've been planning for years." Aoko leans over his desk, pushing the newspaper out of her way to look in his eyes. "It'd be a great chance to practice ice skating, since you're so terrible at it."
"Aoko! That hurts! I'm terrible at nothing." Kaito clasps his hands over his heart, faking a look of pain.
Aoko rolls her eyes, and Hakuba comes up behind her, looking especially irritated and sneaky.
"Yes, Kuroba, you should come with us. After all, you might get over some more incriminating flaws, if you practice."
Kaito's eye twitches and Aares huffs on his shoulder.
"Plenty of people are bad at ice skating at first. Just because we're not brilliant at it doesn't mean anything." Aares shakes her whole body, feathers fluffing out, and she starts to smooth them down nonchalantly.
"What? What does that have to do with anything?" Aoko glances between them confused, but scowls when she feels cool air hitting her thighs.
"Blue stripes? You might want to change into something less eye-catching if we're going to skate, Aoko," Kaito offers, leaning his weight onto the balls of his feet and off the chair.
Hakuba's face flames bright red, and Aoko grabs Kaito's desk, her own face dark.
"Kaito!" She flips the desk, barely missing Kaito as he springs out of his seat and three desks backwards, landing with ease on Akako's desk. The witch just glances at him, turning back to her enthralled fans with a laugh and ignoring Kaito entirely.
"Calm down, Aoko! Good girls don't destroy classrooms!" Kaito leaps two desks to the right as Aoko charges him with a mop in hand. Kiiva lunges at him, Aares distracting him and taking off to circle the classroom.
"Good girls don't, huh? What do you know about being good?!" Aoko demands, nearly catching him over the head with a wild swing. She backs him up into the wall, and Kaito's got the best trick ready for this occasion. Kaito bites his lip to hold back his laughter before he's springing forward into her space and enveloping both of them in a blue plume of smoke.
He switches his uniform as she struggles, donning the female Ekoda high uniform and a mask and wig to make him look like Aoko. A quick run through with a brush and application of contacts finish the look. And a glance behind him assures him that the fake wallpaper he'd put up when he first started the semester is still in place.
The best tricks are the kind that take time to develop, after all.
The smoke clears and two Nakamori Aoko stare at each other in surprise. Aoko reaches out and Kaito mirrors the movement, echoing her expressions mere milliseconds after she makes them. It's the benefit of masquerading as someone he's known since childhood, so he can accurately predict her behavior even before she knows.
"Kaito? That's a really amazing disguise!" Aoko's face brightens as she changes into stranger and stranger gestures and postures. She's forgotten about the entire ice skating outing, for now, and Hakuba's leading statements.
Aoko puts on an exaggerated frown, scowling so hard her brow furrows deep, and plants her hands on her hips. Kaito mimics the gesture, and even when she shouts his name, he soundlessly parrots it back. She starts to reach out to him and Kaito steps back, Aares catching the corner of the wallpaper and dragging it down, out of sight as Aoko shouts his name again.
Kaito steps back through the opening, pulling the glass over the opening and laughing at Aoko's surprised expression as she encounters something other than air. The mirrored glass lets him watch her increasingly surprised and shocked expression, several classmates coming over to touch the glass in surprise.
He waits for everyone but Aoko to pull away from the glass, and then he shoves it aside with one hand, grabbing her with his other.
"Time to go through the looking glass, my dear Alice!" he shouts as she tumbles into the hollow space he's made in their classroom wall.
"Kaito!" Aoko gasps as he lifts her up, swapping her uniform for a blue dress with a white apron and his own female uniform for a purple and black stripped suit. He places cat ears over his head and unfurls the tail from where it was tucked into the waistband of his trousers.
"I personally prefer this shortcut, my dear Alice," Kaito says, stepping back once and dropping through the hole in the floor behind him. Aoko shrieks in his ear as they fall in the darkness, but Kaito blocks it out.
The next bit of the trick needs his full attention or they'll get stuck.
"Get us out of here!" Aoko wraps her arms even tighter around his neck, and Kaito pulls her closer in apology. He lands with a soft thud on the landing platform, letting his weight reset the pulley system and prime the lift behind him.
"Where would you like to go?" he asks, leaning down to press a kiss on her forehead.
"Back to class! Get us back to class, you idiot!" She starts to squirm, and he can't have that.
"Oh? Not the roof? Not home? You just want to go back to class?"
"Yes!"
"All right." Kaito heaves a sigh. "As the lady commands."
Kaito steps back on the lift, and they're moving upwards far faster than they fell. Aoko squeezes his neck. He shakes a remote out of his sleeve, letting it fall into his palm, and presses the top-most button. They're moving slower now, enough that they're at the top right when the floor opens fully over his head.
Screams ring out as the floor space by the doorway opens and smoke billows into the classroom. The platform meets the opened seam and seals itself in just as Kaito steps off.
"The classroom, my dear Alice." Kaito grins, a cheshire cat worthy smile, and Aoko pulls her head up to look at the room in surprise.
Now that the panic is over, several students start to clap, crowding around Kaito and Aoko as he places her back on her feet. She touches the hem of the blue dress in surprise, a soft smile on her face, and holds her arms out for Kiiva to jump up into them. Keiko and her fainting goat fawn over how well her dress matches her eyes.
"This only adds to our suspicions. You do know the cat is mad, right?" Hakuba says, eyes narrow on Kaito's costume. Watson laughs throatily, shuffling on Hakuba's shoulder.
"Oh sweet Hakuba," Kaito sings out, lips curling even more until it's a far more manic and dangerous expression than KID's have been. Hakuba visibly pales. "We're all mad here."
The white plume of smoke that Kaito releases over Hakuba blows away to reveal The White Rabbit, complete with overly large watch and whiskers.
Kaito leaps out of the detective's way as he realizes what's happened to him, balancing preciously on the sill of the window. The lunch bell rings, signaling that the next class period is about to begin, but Kaito's not staying the rest of the day. He waves at Aoko and Hakuba as he drops off the sill and lands in a rolling crouch on the ground.
Aares flies after him, flying erratically because she's laughing so hard.
Kaito climbs the gate fence and drops on the other side, wearing street clothes instead of his uniform. He pockets the cat ears and clasps his hands behind his head, whistling as he starts making his way back home.
-X-
"How do you feel about going for a drive?" Aares asks, in her human shape and wearing a blue Lolita style dress. Kaito looks over at her from the laptop and away from the Magic Lover's online forum. Escape King and The Vanishing Bunny are critiquing past performances of some of the biggest magicians, but they're mostly tearing others down and making completely irrational suggestions for how to improve their acts, and it's enough to make Kaito sick.
This is unacceptable behavior from fellow magicians.
"Yeah. Maybe after we get back, I'll have something nice to say about these people," Kaito closes the laptop and stretches. Aares laughs and waves him over.
"So let's go joyriding," she says, opening the passenger side of the car.
"You just want to give Nakamori a heart attack," Kaito teases, though he does pull on KID's regalia. There's no mistaking an all white car with the vanity plates "K1412" and the man in the top hat at the driver's seat.
"Well, now that you mention it..." She sits primly in the passenger seat, rolling down the window and tapping her nails along the side of the door. "And besides, we never did find out the top speed of this baby."
"That is an excellent point," Kaito starts the car and finds the switch attached to the sun visor that opens the wall and lowers the tunnel. "I heard they've closed some streets for renovations. Want to see how that's going?"
"Yes, please," Aares wiggles in her seat as Kaito guns it down the tunnel and emerges from the tunnel into an alley. The car wasn't intended for leisurely outings, that had been obvious from the first time out and they'd nearly wound up in a collision when Kaito tripped the nitrous boost by accident.
That's also not counting all of the other tricks the car has ready, including a retractable sunroof and emergency launch passenger seat, a towing cable under the back bumper, satellite up-links to every police radio, and high-beam lights that could blind oncoming traffic. There are several things that Kaito can't make heads or tails of inside the engine, but that's what research and apprenticeships in auto body shops are for.
It doesn't take long for someone to send out an alert and Kaito's leading a train of police cars eighteen cars long behind him. Aares leans out of the window to get a better look behind them, waving a hand back at Nakamori in the lead car. Kaito muffles his own laughter as Aares flashes victory signs back to Nakamori.
"Come on, Kaito! This is nowhere near the top speed!" Aares reaches over to his hand on the steering wheel and squeezes. "Faster!"
"And people think I'm reckless..." Kaito does as she asks and presses the accelerator down, the car bucking under the sudden speed. He feels the whole frame shudder and hisses in a breath between clenched teeth. "So, I'm thinking this was a bad idea..."
"Then slow down!" Aares squeezes his hand and braces her other hand on the door.
"I am, I am." The frame is shaking less now, but Kaito can still feel minute vibrations. "So... Looks like speed isn't going to get us out of this."
"Let's try something else." She drops a hand, aiming for one of the buttons under the radio.
Kaito jerks the wheel to avoid running over anyone in the blockade the police have formed. He curses as the car flies over spike strips, but the wheels don't actually deflate. Or well, the outer wheel deflates, but a secondary wheel inflates in seconds, and that's gonna be a pain to replace.
Aares misses whatever she was intending to press, landing on the cigarette lighter and yelping as it collapses inwards.
Something rattles loose in the dashboard and the engine light flashes twice.
Kaito turns his head to meet Aares' horrified eyes.
"What does that do?" he asks calmly.
Poker face.
"No idea."
Poker face.
The roof retracts all the way to the trunk. The backseat folds inwards and there's a box of red lights flashing in its place.
"That looks explosive," Aares comments.
Poker face.
The red lights stop flashing.
Fireworks erupt from the backseat, momentarily filling the car with smoke and obscuring his vision. He rolls down his window, a useless gesture to try to help the smoke disperse with no top to the car, but the fireworks keep going off. He can see them erupting brilliant colored sparks, making thunderous booms.
There's a wall of flashing lights ahead of the car and drawing steadily closer as Kaito watches.
"Shit!"
He slams on the breaks as the fireworks continue to launch, tires squealing to a halt a few meters away from the line of police cars across the road. The policemen have long since abandoned them, but Aares leans out of the window to get a look at their situation.
"They're about ten kilometers behind us! And the police ahead are along the concrete divider, several moving in on us. What's the plan, Kaito?!"
"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" He starts pressing buttons at random, the last of the fireworks flying off and the back seat resetting itself. There's a line of buttons along the dashboard, framing the speedometer, tachometer, odometer, and fuel gauge. He presses the largest one.
The front of the car shutters as two steel panels rise up from the bottom of the car and seal in place around the bumper. Kaito's eyebrows hit his hairline.
"It's a battering ram." Aares laughs. "It's a goddamn battering ram."
"So let's go!" Kaito slams the acceleration, jerking the wheel to one side and driving back towards the pursuing officers.
Aares turns on the radio, filling the car with horrified police chatter. They think he's going to crash into them. Kaito braces himself and waits for the right moment.
"Timing, Kaito," Aares mutters, closing her hand over his on the gear shift. "We can do this!"
He's close enough to see Nakamori's terrified expression before he jerks the wheel, sending them fishtailing in the opposite direction. Kaito aims for the largest gap between the vehicles aligned in a row, the two centermost cars leaving a meter of space between their bumpers.
He crashes through the two of them, upturning them as he goes, and waves to the policemen he'd sent diving for cover.
"Bye bye!"
-X-
"We should keep a scrap book," Aares says the next day, settled on his shoulder in her magpie shape and reading the newspaper with him.
Kaitou KID's joyride through Tokyo is lovingly captured in print. Apparently, the fireworks had made one of KID's caricature faces in the sky. There was much speculation on what the KID had been doing driving through the streets so recklessly, but no one seemed to think they'd just done it for the hell of it. There was also some speculation on the mysterious passenger, as well, ranging from KID's accomplice to his assistant to a KID fan on a date.
"We should," Kaito agrees, smoothing out the photograph of the fireworks and the upturned police cars.
-X-
"Halloweif died," Aares says, "During his magical escape routine, he drowned. They called it at the scene."
Kaito closes his eyes and holds out a hand for the obituary. Aares lays it in his palm and walks up his arm, rubbing her beak through his hair in sympathy.
"I hoped he wouldn't have let all that talk online drag him down. He was the best escape artist on the scene." Kaito reaches for her and runs his fingers over her wings. "Silly Boy Halloweif. Do you feel like a funeral?"
"It's the least we can do. After our hopeful messages failed. We can give some sympathy to those left behind."
"It should just be a grand-daughter." Kaito closes the newspaper and moves towards the house proper. "We can bring some flowers for the grave."
He goes disguised. There are several magicians in the crowd, some assistants, some suppliers, some fans, and Halloweif's grand-daughter, Kikue Tanaka. He's dressed as a young fan, possibly in his college years or just finishing them, and Aares is a quiet Artic fox at his heels. He brings a bouquet of lilies, their insides dusted a warm orange.
It's a somber affair. It's a magician's greatest fear that they'll fail a trick on stage, more so when the magician is gambling with his life on his skills. His father died on stage, and he can remember the horror as clear as if it happened this morning.
He can't imagine a worse ending.
-X-
"Kaito! Kenta-kun's being released this morning!" Aoko says as soon as he opens his front door for her. She's panting and flushed, but there's an overwhelming happiness on her face.
"What? That's great!" He captures her in a hug, a spike of pure delight in his heart. She laughs as he spins them around, depositing her back on the ground but not releasing her hands. It feels like the smile's about to split his face.
"I talked to dad and he said the hospital was ready to release Kenta, as long as he was on bed rest with no strenuous activities. He's still recovering from his surgery, but he's going to be fine." Aoko squeezes his hands. Kiiva starts yowling at their feet, and even Aares can't hold in her delight, fluttering around their heads with a croaking song.
"He's going home to the orphanage, right?" Kaito asks, but he's already sure of the answer. The boy doesn't have anywhere else.
"Yeah. They're holding a small party to celebrate, and his guardian invited both of us to join them," Aoko says, releasing one of his hands to tangle around the arm she has captured. Kaito leans into her as she presses into his side. "I told her we'd be happy to go."
"More than go! I'll throw him a magic show!" Kaito pulls Aoko with him, Aares shutting the door behind him. "Let's hurry up, Aoko!"
"We still have to go to school, Kaito!" Aoko protests, but she's running beside him without hesitation.
"Where do you think we're going? I need all day to plan the best surprise!"
It is nothing like performing as KID. KID had to be remote and charming, the perfect gentlemen but also a heartless rogue. He had to be elusive and untouchable. KID let no one close. KID cared more for thrills and theatrics than laughter and joy. KID was his own audience, creating tricks and traps to appease himself.
Kaito just wanted to spread happiness. He let people help him with his tricks. He let the audience think he messed things up, let them laugh as he bumbled and faltered, while all the while doing grander and greater tricks. He poked fun at himself, most of all.
"Thank you for being a most gracious audience!" Kaito bows to the assembled children, confetti shooting out from behind him and over their heads. It rains over their cheers and clapping, clumps of confetti forming roses of all colors, thorns snipped off.
"That was amazing! Thank you, Kaito-niichan!" Kenta shouts, a handful of roses in his hands. Malia stands over him, a garland of pink roses around her withers. He hugs Malia's neck from his chair, looking around him at his friends with a large smile.
"It was my pleasure, Kenta-kun," Kaito says as he steps off the makeshift stage. Aares lands on his shoulder and chitters throatily at the boy. "There was one last welcome home gift I would like to leave you."
He kneels down in front of the boy and draws his sleeves up one arm at a time, winking when he flourishes his empty hands. He closes them together as if in prayer.
"Three. Two. One." He spreads his hands.
A stuffed dove pops into being in the air between his hands and he drops one under the stuffed animal to catch it before it falls. In the bird's beak, a clover phone strap dangles with his phone number scrawled on a strip of paper connected to it.
"Your guardian has my phone number already, but if you ever need anything, ever want to talk to someone, please call me at any time. Alright, Kenta-kun?" Kaito takes one of the boy's hands and places the dove gently in his palm.
Kenta tears up, just a little, but he doesn't cry. He pulls the little bird to his chest and nods. "I will."
"Good. I've never had a little brother, but I'll try my best, alright?" Kaito holds out his hand and grins widely when Kenta reaches out to take his hands.
"Yes!"
-X-
"Kaito, can I speak with you?" Akako asks, cornering him at the school gate on his way home. He'd been sure to leave last, trying to avoid Hakuba's annoying pursuit and pestering. Akako's without her ever-loyal fans and creepy assistants, but without Aoko, he's not inclined to trust her.
"What's up, Koizumi?" Aares hops down to his elbow, and Kaito tilts his arm up for her to better stand. Diamet uncurls from around Akako's throat to stare her down.
"Not here." Akako waves a hand in the direction of her home. "It won't take long."
"Sure," Kaito agrees, only moving to follow her when she huffs and stalks off. She stops at a cafe, an average looking place on his first glance that grows into an uneasy atmosphere once the door chimes closed behind him. Akako seats herself at the farthest table, a pot of tea and two cups being placed before her a moment later.
"Well? I promise it isn't poisoned." Akako pours two cups of tea and sips at one, pointedly looking at the other.
"What did you want to talk about?" Kaito asks, dropping into the chair across from her and picking up the cup. He touches the rim of the cup with his lip, sniffing at the tea in distrust. Her definition of poison and his vary greatly.
"Aoko. What are you doing?" Akako places her cup down deliberately, folding her hands on the table. Kaito holds the cup to his lips for a second longer then takes a cautious swallow. He watches her as he lowers the cup and rocks his chair back on two legs.
"I don't understand," he admits, taking his eyes off Akako to shrug at Aares.
Diamet actually hisses at them, rising up and swaying in place. There's a baleful expression on Akako's face that echoes her frustration.
"You know exactly what you're doing. You're pushing her on me," Akako accuses, hands clenching tightly together before she relaxes them. "You might think getting us to be friends will help keep you safe from me, but I don't care about her enough to take her feelings into consideration when I trap you."
Kaito drops his chair back to the ground with a loud thud, dropping his shoulders back and staring at her levelly. Aares climbs to his shoulder and fans her wings open.
"I haven't done anything to Aoko." He leans forward so she can see his face better and know he's serious, not just masking his humor under his poker face. "If Aoko's trying to be friends with you, it's because she wants to be. But if you're just going to hurt her and chase after me with your crazy stories, I'll take her away from you and damn the consequences."
It's harsher than he'd expected, actually biting and angry and dangerous. He does hide his surprise from her because she looks bad enough, eyes wide and stunned. Diamet drops to hide his face in his coils, Akako's hand covering his writhing body as he settles under her hair.
"You've been distant to her and she's coming to me with invitations out to eat and study. And she spent most of the time talking about you. I thought-" She stops and turns away from him, letting the fall of her hair shadow her eyes.
"Aoko likes you," he says as soft as he can, picking up his cup and taking a bigger swallow. She's off balance, and he doubts she brought him here to trick him into line with all the rest of the male population. "I don't know why, I don't know how much, but if she's been inviting you out it's because she wants to spend time with you."
"Why?"
And Akako cracks a little, not the perfect queen or haughty witch, but the young girl with few friends and fewer loved ones aching to reach out to someone. It's more genuine than he's ever seen her.
"You'll have to ask her yourself." Her shoulders slump down and that's when he gets it. "She's asked you out, hasn't she? To go somewhere that's not about school or with a group of friends."
"The movies," Akako confesses, picking up the teapot and filling her cup. "I thought she was trying to have us get along. Or be extra friendly to me so I would be nicer to you, and the rest of her friends by extension."
"Aoko doesn't have secrets. She tells you everything out right." Kaito grins at her, softer than he usually does in apology for his sharp tone earlier.
"Has she told you she's in love with you?" Akako spits back, fury and jealousy in her eyes suddenly. "She is. She's been in love with you for years! I can always tell her I know about her feelings, that I told you about them. That should stop her, shouldn't it?"
All of his good humors drains out and he wants to snarl at her. He wants Aares to grow into her eagle shape and snatch Akako's snake up, let her know who would win in a true fight between them. Aares flies down to the table, rattling the cups and fluffing herself up nearly double her size.
"I know how she feels about me. I love her, too." It's the first time he's told someone else, not just Aares. It's too exposed, too much like a look behind the curtain, but he can tear down hers just as easily, so he can give her that glimpse. "I've been in love with her half my life. Aoko knows that I know about her feelings. We don't talk about them and we don't confess to each other because she knows I can't admit it back."
"I could tell her I know, anyway. She'd stop bothering me then," Akako says, her shoulders hunched up and eye cast down. She runs her hand over Diamet's back, fingers shaking.
"Aoko is the only one being hurt then. And I won't let you do that to her. If you try, you'll lose more than you think. I'm a thief, after all. I think I can steal a few tears," he threatens, pitching his voice so she understands how serious he takes threats against Aoko.
"You know-" Her head jerks up in horror. Her entire body shakes once, and Diamet uncoils to flare up in front of her, hissing meanly.
"You could be my ally as easily as my enemy. I make it my business to know your soft spots." Kaito taps a finger on the table and glances at Aares.
"Be gentle with her. She adores you," Aares says, shaking herself to smooth her feathers. She flits to Kaito's shoulder and hides her face in his neck.
"I think she could make you great. No one said witches couldn't love, too." Kaito stands and takes his leave, ignoring the threatening words Diamet calls after him.
