The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown;
The Lion beat the Unicorn all about the town.
Some gave them white bread and some gave them brown;
Some gave them plum cake and drummed them out of town!
-Children's Rhyme

Mixed with Black: Grey
By Icka! M. Chif


"I've got you now Ki-" Hakuba's triumphant statement was cut off in mid cry as the Kid turned around and clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhhh!" The thief hissed. "Do you want to get shot at too?"

Hakuba blinked. Did the Kid mean that he'd shoot him, or that someone else would shoot him? He froze, wondering what the heck brought around this turn of events.

The Kid pressed him up against the wall of the air duct for a moment, leaning past him, his senses obviously straining at something behind them. What ever it was, it was enough to spook the Kid.

Slowly, the Kid un-tensed, carefully removing his hand from his mouth. "Let's go." He whispered. "And keep quiet."

With un-natural ease, the Kid continued to move forward inside the ducts, making sure that the detective stayed with him. Hakuba stayed silent, sensing the need for stealth that over weighed the urge to capture the elusive thief.

Finally they emerged from the maze of tunnels on to the roof of the building. The Kid looked around carefully before climbing out, and then allowing the blond to follow. "Alright." The Kid let a relived sigh, the tenseness leaving as the smiling mask slipped back up. "Well, this is where we say Good Night."

"Wait!" Hakuba moved to grab him again, only to have the Kid's glider snap open and carry the phantom thief out of reach, into the night sky.

He growled in frustration, cursing at himself for following the Kid instead of grabbing him in the air ducts, before marching downstairs to join the rest of the police force.

Only to be stopped as several officers ran through the corridors with first aid kits. One of the security guards had been shot at by a second group of thieves who had been using the Kid's appearance as a distraction. It had happened in the room below where the Kid had silenced him.

A cold shudder ran through him when he realised just how close he had probably come to being either killed or severely injured. The Kid's intervention had probably saved his life, no one would have thought to look for him in the ducts had he been shot in there.

Which brought around the disturbing question of 'why'.


***


'Whatever I've done... I've been staring down the Barrel of a Gun...'

The words flashed through the Kid's mind as he stared at the gun pointed at him. Being a Phantom thief, he'd learned that it wasn't the weapons he needed to be wary of, but the person holding on to it.

He looked up past the dark abyss the gun barrel held into the cold, expressionless eyes of Hakuba Saguru. The Detective would fire without hesitation if he moved. And with Hakuba's marksmanship and their close proximity, there would be no way he would miss.

The detective wouldn't shoot to kill, either. He'd do far worse, shooting an arm or a leg in order to wound or maim him, which would lead to an inevitable capture and imprisonment.

They stared at each other for in innumerable amount of heartbeats, neither of them moving.

Then without changing expression, Hakuba put the safety back on the gun, turned on his heel and walked off without a word.

Kid stared after him, long past the time he should have moved to make his way home.

What the hell had just happened here?!


***


The drift to wakefulness was slow, but constant. The first thing he was aware of was a slight draft across his chest. It wasn't chilly, just slightly below comfortable. He wasn't wearing a shirt. His shoes were missing too, as was his hat, but to his relief, he still had his monocle and gloves.

His shoulder throbbed, informing him un-necessarily that it hurt. So did his head. Everything else appeared to be in working order, but to really be sure he would have to move, something that he wasn't sure he wanted to do.

He strained his other senses, still immersed in the daze of not-wake, but aware of something being 'not quite right'. He was lying on some sort of mattress, or bed, but it didn't smell like his bedroom, nor the hidden lair under the house that was his father's workshop, where he occasionally fell asleep when working on a project. It was quiet, so it wasn't Jii's place either, with the noise of people chattering, the crashing of billiard balls and the acidic stink of cigarette smoke.

Someone moved next to him, and something passed his cheek, pressing on the soft surface under his head, causing him to turn slightly towards it. He opened his eyes a crack, to find himself gazing into piercing amber eyes just inches from his face.

They stared at each other for a moment as his brain did a hard boot and started to work. It primarily went around in confused chaotic circles wondering why he was on a bed. With no shirt. And Hakuba leaning waayyy to close to his personal space for comfort. Hakuba, for his part, was pretty much un-readable. He wasn't moving closer, but he wasn't backing off either.

Finally the Detective broke the silence. "You." Hakuba Saguru said slowly, taking care to pronounce each word with deliberate care, "Are an idiot."

The intellectual response that came out of the Kid's mouth was "Nnngh?"

It wasn't quite what he had intended to say, but that was about the only thing he could get out.

Hakuba let out a soft sigh, then shifted to help him sit up. He would have protested, on pride alone, but found he had his hands full just keeping from getting dizzy at the movement.

"Drink." Hakuba ordered, pressing a bottle into his hands.

He stared at the bottle in his hand, his mind furiously working as his arms refused to move. Actually, compared to normal conditions, it probably was a snails pace, but it felt frantic. The water could be drugged, or poisoned, and WHAT THE HELL WAS HE DOING HERE?!

Hakuba moved to help him drink and he twitched, his body finally obeying his commands to move.

"I can do it." He muttered, his mouth dry and cottony. A part of him continued to whisper that it might be poisoned or drugged, but it passed and he took a slow careful sip from the bottle. Hakuba watched him from his perch on the side of the bed the entire time, saying nothing.

The water felt good going down his throat, bringing welcome moisture to the otherwise parched tissue and he quickly finished the bottle with out realising it. Hakuba took it from him as his arm dropped woodenly. "Good." He said, looking pleased as he rose from the bed.

The Kid blinked, vertigo over taking him for a second, then his vision cleared and he took the opportunity to glance around. He was in a small bedroom that could have been a modified closet. There was a bed, which he was sitting on, a small table, two chairs, one with his missing clothes folded neatly on it, and not much else in the room. White walls, no windows and two doors, one which was shut and the other that led to a small bathroom, where Hakuba was re-filling the bottle.

"Where?" He croaked, his voice cracking despite the liquid he had just consumed.

"My laboratory." Hakuba said calmly. "I use this room occasionally when I'm working late and need a nap. No one else knows you're here."

That was either an extremely good thing or an extremely bad thing.

"Here." Hakuba walked back and handed him 2 pills and the now full bottle. "Pain killers. You probably need them. In addition to knocking yourself out, you managed to dislocated your shoulder."

Squinting a little, he made out the words 'aspirin' on them. Unless the English detective had taken up carving words in little white pills with toothpicks, it was most likely exactly what he said it was. And right now, this was exactly what he needed. He tilted his head back and swallowed them, taking a few sips of water to follow them down.

Hakuba watched him as he did so, his posture and expression betraying nothing. Kid sighed, closing his eyes for a moment as he rested his head against the wall. "Haven't seen you lately." He finally commented, cracking his eyes open a slit to watch the detective through his eyelashes.

"I've been keeping an eye on you." Hakuba crossed his arms, his face falling back into the stern expression he had woken up to seeing a few inches from his face. "You are an idiot."

He had said that already. "Why?"

"During the past 2 weeks, you've faced off against the police, a black sorceress, some mobsters after your head, some different gun men after your head, some security officers, the police a few more times, the sorceress AGAIN and the mob once more tonight." The detectives voice got progressively louder as he talked. "I'm amazed you're able to stay awake in class at all with the amount of hours you've been putting in lately."

Kid shrugged. "No guts, no glory."

"No brain, same story." Hakuba snapped back.

The Kid stared at him for a second. "... Did you just crack a joke?"

Hakuba shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe?"

"Heh." He grinned tiredly. It hurt to smile, but to see Hakuba break out of character it was worth it. "So.... what happens now?" He ventured. "You've caught me... right?"

Hakuba's eyebrows came back down, the uncertainty fading away to be replaced by something fierce. "I'm trying to capture the International Criminal 1412, not some idiot playing chicken with buildings."

Playing chicken would explain why he felt so sore. Sometimes the wind was NOT your friend...

"And you-" Hakuba jabbed a finger at him. "-are going to stay there until -I- am completely satisfied that you are well enough to go to school without mishap. And if that means I have to pull out the welding torch and chain you to that bed, so help me I will!"

He simply stared at Hakuba. That had to have been one of the -weirdest- things he had ever heard the English detective say.

And there was not a doubt in his mind that Hakuba meant it too.

Brows furrowed, he opened his mouth to ask but the detective cut him off again. "When you are finally caught, it will be by ME. MY capture, on MY terms, when -I- decide and not a moment sooner. No one else is allowed to beat you before I do. Is that clear?" Hakuba snapped, the venomous in his voice surprising.

"I'm not planning on allowing my self get caught." He shot back, ignoring the touch of vertigo that accompanied the bite in his voice.

"Good." To his surprise, Hakuba shot him a partial grin. "It wouldn't be worth the challenge if you were. And right now, even Sleeping Kogoro could capture you while awake."

"Hey! That's a low blow!" Especially considering that Mouri Kogoro was only a front for the one person who had come the closest to actually capturing him... not that he'd tell Hakuba that.

"Heh." The detective crossed his arms, flashing him a smug expression.

"But then, of course, you do realise that this is all the matchbook's fault." The Kid said conversationally, abruptly changing the topic. The detective was starting to get a bit too smug there, it was safer to have him at least a little off balance.

"Matchbook?" Hakuba echoed, puzzled.

The Kid gave a half nod before realising that it probably wasn't the best idea to do because it made the world spin around a bit more than it should have. "Found a it one day with the words 'You too can be a criminal mastermind!' written on the inside cover. Poof! The next day I discovered I was Kid the Phantom Thief."

Hakuba raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding."

"Completely." The Thief amiably agreed, shifting his arm to a more comfortable position. "When are the pain killers supposed to kick in again?"

"About another 20 minutes..." Hakuba shook his head. "You're insane, you do realise that?"

"You're not the first to say so."

"Nor will I probably be the last."

"True. But then one definition of insanity is to do the same thing as everyone else, but expect a different result."

Hakuba's eyebrow rose again. "And this is the reaction you expected from playing chicken with a building?"

Let's see... Wake up in Hakuba's lab, bandaged, missing clothes and having a halfway decent conversation with the English Detective-? "Not really, no. I would have expected to win."

The comment brought about another grin to the Detective's usually serious face. "Well, you'll be sad to know that you lost twice tonight. I found the jewel in your pockets and already gave it back to the police. They've already disposed of the fake you left behind."

"What?!" The Kid straightened up too fast and grimaced as the world decided to do loop-de-loops around him. "You idiot! The object of tonight's heist was to put back the real one!"

That got a blank look from the normally stone-faced detective. "Huh?"

He groaned. 2 weeks of work down the drain, just like that. "That gang you were talking about stole it first, I stole it back from them then staged tonight's heist to return it without anyone being the wiser. That 'fake' I left behind was the original stone."

"Wait... You stole a large and expensive gem -back- from a bunch of thieves and murders, just to simply give it back to the original owners with out anybody realising it!?" Hakuba looked completely confused by the idea. "Why?!"

He sighed. "That's what Phantom Thieves do, Hakuba, they protect stuff. It may be an ass-backwards way of doing it, but it works. Most of the time anyway."

"And what do you protect?"

The Kid smirked. "You're the Holmes nut. You figure it out."

"Heh." Hakuba snorted, amused. "Fine. I will. With out any 'helpful' comments from the peanut gallery if you would. I'm going to figure you out on my own."

"Mum's the word." He agreed. Raising his un-injured arm, he pressed his fingers against his lips and whistled. His coat, hanging on the back of the chair, almost seemed to disappear in a small cloud of white as several doves flew out of it, cooing all the while.

Hakuba gaped in surprise as they flew to the thief, using him as a perch, landing on his head, shoulders, arms and legs, cooing all the while as their claws and feathers tickled him. It was a re-assuring sensation, one that brought a measure of peace and comfort. There hadn't been a time in his life when there hadn't had doves around him, their soft noises lulling him to sleep most nights.

"I didn't find a single one when I checked your jacket." Hakuba commented in amazement. One of his bolder birds decided that Hakuba's head was the perfect perch, and landed there, much to Hakuba's irritation.

He smiled, checking them over for injuries and petting the ones who demanded attention. None of them seemed injured, just bored from being cooped up for so long. "I'm not surprised." All his birds were well trained to stay hidden, even when things got strange.

"You're still a nutter." Hakuba commented, reaching up and awkwardly attempting to untangle the bird from his hair. Doves were different than hawks, however, and he didn't have much luck. "Watson's in his roost for the night, if I open a window, can they find their way home?"

He yawned, his limbs very heavy and not just from the slight weight of the doves on them. He was tired and still sore, but on some level he knew he could relax and sleep to heal without worrying. He didn't exactly trust Hakuba per se, but the British Detective pretty much already knew who he was, even if he couldn't exactly -prove- it, and he'd already proven that his sense of honour wouldn't let him take advantage of a fallen enemy.

"Yeah, no problem."

Hakuba nodded once, then disappeared, leaving him alone for a moment with the comfort of his doves. Feeling exhausted, he slowly lay back down, the doves adjusting to his movements, temporarily becoming a warm living feathered blanket.

He relaxed, drifting off until a soft footstep marked the entrance to his host. The doves also stirred, watching the detective. "The bathroom window's open, if you think they can get to it."

Cracking open an eyelid, he noticed with some amusement that Hakuba still had the dove in his hair. With a lazy toss of his good arm, he threw the dove resting on it into the air. "Home."

With a flapping of wings and a mournful cooing sound, they took off into the air, flying around the room until one of them discovered the breeze from the bathroom window and they funnelled out.

"Smart birds." Hakuba commented, impressed. "Not a single one of them hit the window."

He was vaguely insulted that the other boy would expect anything less of his birds and he briefly wondered if he had set it up so that the birds would hit the window. While his birds did tend to be smarter than most, they still weren't the most intelligent creatures around. "Of course." He commented loftily, allowing his arm dropping back down next to him.

The blond detective snorted to himself, and wandered off. The Kid breathed a small sigh, his body relaxing into the mattress as he began to drift off.

He was surprised to hear Hakuba's approach a second time, and even more surprised to feel a blanket tossed over him, and carefully settled. The British detective snorted, muttering wryly to himself. "Never thought I'd end up doing this for an enemy."

Kid opened his eye a fraction, his eyelids too heavy to open wider than that, but silently grateful for the warmth and measure of security the soft blanket brought. "I'd rather prefer to think of us as rivals instead of enemies."

Hakuba's eyebrow rose. "Really? Why is that?"

"Because rivals make better friends."

"That doesn't mean that I'm going to stop chasing you."

"We're all chasing after something." The thief said, his voice taking on a dreamy tone as he drifted off to sleep again. "You chase the thief, I chase a myth at the bottom of a box, and Nakamori-kun chases the phantom of someone long dead..."


****


"Oi! Hakuba-kun!" The detective glanced up from his book in time to see the wild haired thief suddenly trip and land face down in a sprawl inches from where he sat, leaning against one of the trees on the school campus.

Kuroba lifted his head from the ground, spitting out a blade of grass. "That's not funny, Koizumi!"

The burgundy haired girl snickered and wiggled her fingers in greeting from the background. The witch and the thief shared a strange sort of relationship that Hakuba felt much safer not inquiring too deeply about.

"You," He said slowly, using a slip of paper as a bookmark "Remind me of an albatross. Graceful in the air, but completely awkward on the ground."

"Yeah, well..." The thief sat up, brushing leaves and grass off his clothes with a grin. "You know what they say about flying. It's just throwing yourself at the ground and missing."

Hakuba raised an eyebrow. "I'd say you failed."

"This time." Kuroba corrected. "Anyway. Aoko and some of us were thinking of heading down to the mall. You wanna come?"

When he had decided to 'rescue' the Kid several weeks back, it had had and unforeseen result. The thief had been serious about their being both friends and rivals. The mental battles between himself and the Kid were fiercer now, played smarter and trickier than before. Riddles that had once been aimed at Nakamori's intelligence level were now aimed at his. The challenge that he had sought after was taken to a new level.

The Kid also seemed to be taking great delight in giving the object of the heist back by slipping it into the pockets of either Nakamori or himself.

But when the Kid didn't have a heist in the works, things had changed between Kuroba and himself as well. As absurd as it sounded, he and the thief were slowly becoming... friends. That didn't stop them from bickering or fighting between each other, but the thief was making an honest attempt to include him in their group's activities.

And it was working.

He smirked. "You just want another guy to come along too, don't you?"

Kuroba shrugged gamely. "They're just jealous because I happen to look better in a dress than they do."

Although he still wasn't exactly sure about Kuroba's sense of humour at times. He was joking... wasn't he?

"Alright." He shut his book and rose to his feet, the thief flipping to his feet in an acrobatic way.

After all, they saying went, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

Right?

-fin-

Hakuba = White Horse, Kuroba = Black Feather. Black + White = Grey

Because of 'Golden Eye', Hakuba went from a pervy Kaitou fancier who was jumping the Kid to wrestle handcuffs on him to an interesting character. The question of why Hakuba, who is the Kid's self-proclaimed rival, would help him bugged me.
So Hakuba went from a shallow perverted character to one with some depth, but a rather large stick up his *ahem*.

Hakuba's element is Earth.

Each of the 'Mixed with Black' stories has had a song that's helped defined the character. Akako was 'What Lola wants', Aoko had 'Wild Child' by Enya, and for this one it was a Depeche Mode song 'Barrel of a Gun'. o_O Too many fan art pics of Hakuba with guns I guess...


... there's also a Japanese Yaoi click called 'Black or White' for the Hakuba/Kuroba pairing. ^_^