There was a wide grin on Kaitou KID's face as he used the top of the display case as a footstep to leap towards the balcony, his hand wrapping around the edge of the railing and pulling himself up into a handstand, before leaping over it to land on the second floor. It was a grin that Hakuba had seen plenty of times before at other heists, a wild reckless expression that made it clear just how much the thief was enjoying the whole situation, and it drove the detective crazy.

Surely the thrill of things couldn't be the only reason that Kuroba did all this, and for all that he couldn't find proof, Hakuba was sure that Kuroba was KID. There had to be more to the story, for all that Kuroba was a troublemaker even in his civilian life, he didn't seem like the type to just wake up one morning and decided to take on the mantle of a famous jewel thief.

There had to be some ulterior motive to his actions, something related to the gunshots that occasionally happened at KID heists, but he'd yet to figure out what that was. If he could just catch KID and prove he was Kuraba, then he could surely manage to finally force some answers out of him.

With that in mind, Hakuba took off running after the thief, avoiding the hoard of police officers who were racing up the stairs to the second floor in favor of copying KID's method of escape. He was nowhere near as agile as KID, which meant his journey to the second floor involved a lot more clambering and a lot less handstands, but it was still quicker than trying to push through the mess of police crowding the stairs.

Especially given the fact that he wouldn't put it past KID to have booby trapped them.

Hakuba could see the thief's cape disappearing around a corner as he made it up to the second floor, and he ignored the sound of Inspector Nakamori's yelling as he quickly picked up his pace to follow after, keeping a close eye on his surroundings in case of any traps. It was far enough into the heist that KID was probably done with just messing around with the capture squad, but that didn't mean he wouldn't throw out some tricks to help enable his escape.

The manor the heist had been held in had plenty of twisting corridors that KID could have headed down, but Hakuba felt confident that he'd be heading towards the roof. With the heist being held on private property, it hadn't been possible for the usual crowds to gather, which meant KID couldn't easily slip in among them to disappear; his best bet was using his hang glider from the roof. Hakuba just needed to get there before he could escape.

Thankfully he'd memorized the manor's floor plan before coming to the heist, so it was easy enough to make his way up onto the roof, though he would have preferred it if hadn't required him to climb out a window to get up there. There had been a door he could have used instead of course, but given whoever had designed the manor must have had some deep seated admiration for the Winchester House, it would have taken far too long.

KID stood near the edge of the roof, the stolen Azure Moon grasped in his hand as he held it up to the moon's light. The purpose for doing so was another thing that still eluded Hakuba's understanding; KID was certainly eccentric enough that he very well might just be taking the time to admire the way the jewel looked before disappearing, but it was just as possible that he was looking for something specific in the jewel. It was just another question he'd have to ask the thief once he finally caught him.

Although he was sure the thief was aware of his presence, there was no immediate response from KID, who just continued to stare at the gemstone. For a second, Hakuba thought he saw a flash of red within the gemstone, but KID had finished his moonlight perusal of the gem and lowered it before he could make sure it was more than just a trick of the light.

"Ah Tantei-han! Running a little slow today, I see," KID commented, a carefree grin on his face as he spun to face Hakuba, somehow managing to make even such a simple movement overly dramatic. "I'm afraid I have no time to play with you anymore though, I'm a busy man after all."

The words were flippant, spoken in a carefree tone just like KID was known to do, but there was something about the situation that just seemed off. KID was a good actor, with an impressive amount of control over his expressions; even when he was caught off guard, it could be hard to tell how KID was really feeling.

Looking at him now though, Hakuba thought he could see an undercurrent of tension running through the thief, like he was concerned about something. Seeing the usually cheerful thief clearly worried about something killed any threats about capturing him on Hakuba's tongue, replacing them instead with ones of concern.

"KID, are you..." He wasn't able to finish his sentence, or even fully formulate in his head, before a loud crack suddenly split the night. Although Hakuba usually was only there for the aftermath of crimes, he was familiar enough with the sound of a gun firing to recognize it when he heard one.

Much to his horror, although Hakuba had no idea who had fired the weapon, it was very clear who their target had been. Kaitou KID stumbled backwards several steps, a patch of red rapidly blossoming on his chest, even as the thief brought up a hand to press against the newly acquired wound.

Hakuba had seen plenty of corpses, far more than someone his age probably should have if he was being honest, but none of them had left him feeling as sick as the sight before him now. Usually the white of KID's costume made him stand out whenever he appeared, but this time it served as a stark backdrop to highlight the bright red blood as it continued to spread.

The scent of iron hung heavily in the air as KID swayed unsteadily, his expression seemingly locked in one of surprise; not as surprised as he probably should have looked though, Hakuba noticed, as if he had known something like this was a possibility. Just what had Kuroba gotten himself involved in?

The rest of the capture squad finally made it to the roof at that moment, squeezing through the small door to it with some difficulty, just in time for KID to finally lose his fight with gravity and tip backwards off the edge of the roof.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hakuba saw Inspector Nakamori's expression freeze in one of shock as he watched KID plummet, the bloodstains on his suit obvious even from the far end of the roof. As the thief disappeared from their sight, it was like a spell had been broken, freeing each witness from where they'd stood frozen in place.

"Hakuba-kun!" Nakamori began, the loudness of his voice doing nothing to hide the undercurrent of worry in it. "What happened here?"


Explaining to Inspector Nakamori the details of what had happened on the rooftop with KID prior to the police's arrival took way longer than Hakuba would have liked, despite their honestly not that much to tell. It was only the knowledge that there were already police roaming the grounds in search of the injured thief, that allowed him to stand around long enough to go over the facts, despite how he itched to be out looking himself.

'Sir!" He'd just finished up explaining for a second time that no, he didn't have any idea who the shooter had been, when one of the squad's officers approached. "We've searched the whole grounds, KID doesn't appear to be here, but…"

"Spit it out!" Nakamori growled, his already short temper frayed even further by the seriousness of the situation.

"We found footprints near the edge of the house, leading into the trees. There was blood there too, a lot of it."

"Just one pair of footprints? Were they walking towards or away from the house?" Hakuba questioned, his mind already going over the possible scenarios the evidence could suggest.

"Away."

That was good. If KID had been taken away by someone else, whether it be an ally or assassin, there would have been footprints walking towards the house too. Which meant KID had somehow managed to walk away on his own two feet, though judging by the officer's comment about the amount of blood at the scene, it wasn't likely he'd get far.

Then again it was KID they were talking about, if anyone could manage to get themselves all the way back to town while dealing with a gunshot wound to the chest, then it would be him. And Hakuba was fairly certain he knew just where KID, where Kuroba, would go. He'd just have to hope he could get there before the idiot did something stupid, like bleed out on his living room floor.

It was easy enough for him to get away from the crime scene, quite frankly he thought Inspector Nakamori seemed relieved that he was leaving; a reaction he chose to chalk up to the fact they had no idea if the sniper was still around, rather than simply personal dislike.

It was a far longer journey to Kuroba's house then Hakuba would have liked given the circumstances, a journey that was made worse by the fact that it had begun to pour rain not long before he'd left the crime scene, as if the sky itself was mourning that night's events. He could only hope that the police had gathered enough evidence from the crime scene before it was destroyed by the weather.

Upon reaching the Kuroba residence, Hakuba began looking for a way in even as he approached the front door. He'd knock first, just in case Kuroba was somehow well enough to answer the door, but he was already eyeing the ground floor windows as possible means of entry.

Raising his fist, he pounded it against the door harshly, before waiting a moment to see if anyone would answer. He was just getting ready to see about finding a way to jimmy open one of the windows, when the front door slowly opened, revealing a tired looking Kuroba on the other side.

"It's 3 in the morning Hakuba," Kuroba stated, after staring blearlily at the detective for a few seconds. "Just what are you doing here?"

"3:05 actually," Came Hakuba's automatic response, before falling silent as he carefully examined Kuroba's appearance. Dressed in a pair of sweats and a tank top, his brown hair even messier than usually, the other teen looked by all accounts as if he'd just rolled out of bed in order to answer the door. There was nothing in the way he held himself that gave any indication of him being injured, and no matter how good an actor Kuroba was, there wasn't any way he should have been able to look so normal after taking a gunshot to the chest.

There wasn't even the slightest speck of blood on Kuroba's shirt, and Hakuba knew he would have noticed if there was; as if to mock him, the stupid thing was just as white as KID's cape. Even if Kuroba had managed to bandage the wound tightly enough that no blood seeped through, the bulk of it would have been easily noticeable underneath the thin tank top.

"You're…you're alright." Hakuba choked out, feeling confused by the whole situation. He'd seen KID get shot, had smelled the blood in the air, and yet he couldn't find a single thing to indicate there was anything wrong with Kuroba.

"I wouldn't exactly call being woken up at 3 in the morning by an annoying detective alright, but…" Kuroba began in a flippant tone, before trailing off at the sight of the expression on Hakuba's face. "Okay, clearly you're the one who's not alright here, just what is going on?"

"You were shot!" Hakuba shouted, before remembering the existence of Kuroba's neighbors, and quickly lowering his voice. "I saw it! I saw you fall from the roof! How are you alright?"

Kuroba stared blankly at him for a moment, before seeming to finally connect the dots, at which point he let out an annoyed sigh. "This is part of your obsession with the idea I'm KID, isn't it?"

"You are KID!" Hakuba hissed. It was annoying enough that Kuroba denied it the rest of the time, even though the truth was obvious, but the fact that he was still denying it now when he was obviously in danger made Hakuba mad.

Something in Kuroba's eyes changed, a more serious expression appearing on his face than Hakuba had ever seen before. "No Hakuba, I'm not." He said, tone tinted heavily with annoyance. "You know it was kind of fun when you first started accusing me, back when I thought you were half joking. But you're not joking at all, are you? You genuinely do think that I'm KID, and refuse to listen to any evidence to the contrary. Well, guess what, I'm not KID. I don't go around stealing gems for the fun of it under the moonlight, and I certainly haven't been shot."

Hakuba didn't know how to respond, that hadn't been anything like Kuroba's usual denial to his accusations. There had been no flippancy, no playful annoyance, just a tired frustration that seemed to cut through Hakuba just like cold steel. This wasn't the Kuroba he was used to, the playful trickster who went out of his way to try and make others smile.

Just as quickly as the strange version of Kuroba had appeared, it vanished, leaving behind someone who felt familiar and yet like a stranger. "Look," Kuroba continued, the annoyance gone from his tone now, replaced with a neutrality that somehow felt worse. "I do appreciate that you were worried about me, even if it was totally misplaced, but again, I am not KID. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to sleep."

"..." Hakuba couldn't seem to find any words to reply, so he simply nodded his head in acknowledgment, before awkwardly stepping back away from the door as Kuroba slammed it shut.

Standing there in the front yard, rain soaking his hair and clothes, Hakuba couldn't help but wonder if he'd been wrong.