The second time they met, Hakuba Saguru didn't recognise him.
It was hardly his fault. Several months had passed since the first time he had met the thief and he was far from looking for him.
In fact, he was on the train heading towards where he had first met Kaito. The thief had been right, Ekoda felt like home, but he found himself travelling quite a bit. He had come to help his father, a judge, and discovered the need for his schooling and services as a lawyer. Wills to be drawn up, contracts to negotiate, disputes to settle. He had been helping the police back east occasionally as an amateur detective and found himself doing that here as well, although the lack of intimate knowledge of the surroundings did cut back his efficiency. Most of the larger cases were handled by Hattori Heiji and Kudo Shin'ichi anyway.
Although rumour on the wind had it that something had happened to Kudo recently, and the Detective of the East was currently in hiding.
He had boarded the train, heading towards the back of the train to be away from the black soot that billowed from the smokestack. The only other occupant was a blond haired woman in a blue-violet dress that had been last years fashion back east. He ignored her for the most part, pulled out a newspaper that someone had been foolish enough to leave behind at the train station and started reading it to catch up on what had been the most current events in the east as of week ago according to the paper's date.
The train chugged along for a while as he read, caught up in the world of current events until it slowed down and came to a stop. For the most part, he tuned out the noise and confusion that people getting on and off the train caused until he heard some rather loud voices talking and noticed a couple of salesmen, dressed up for a pitch.
He glanced over at the woman, who also had a newspaper out that she was pursuing, then glanced back at the salesmen, who had also noticed her.
He picked up his small travel bag and stood up, walking over to the woman. "Is this seat taken?"
She looked up at him, one blue-violet eye visible from under the tilted hat that covered her face, then looked at the salesmen walking her way and looked back up at him before motioning for him to have a seat. "Please."
"Thank you."
He placed his bag between them and sat. "Hakuba Saguru."
"Yoshida Nobara. Pleased to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine."
Introductions done, they went back to their papers.
If it was one thing Saguru was good at, it was being a wall. The salesmen got the hint and sat on the other end of the car, for which he was grateful for.
The train started up again, it's rocking jostling them before they adapted to it once more.
Time passed while they read. She finished her newspaper first, and without a word, he set part of his paper on top of his travel bag. she nodded, exchanging the papers, and they continued reading. He finished his paper shortly there after and traded it with hers.
It was a local paper, from farther west than Edoka.
He flipped through it, his eyes falling on an article featuring a recent escapade of a familiar character.
The Cyote Kid.
He skimmed the article, then pulled a small notebook out of his vest pocket, flipped a few pages and began to scribble down various facts with his fountain pen.
This gained Miss Yoshida's interest, who watched him with a puzzled air. "You are interested in the Cyote Kid?"
"Eh, sort of." He shrugged gamely. "I had the dubious honour of meeting him once and have been trying to learn more ever since. Unfortunately, my information is lacking, to say the least."
"I did too" The blond woman's head tilted slightly as she smiled. "He saved my life."
"Your life?" He echoed.
"Yes." She smiled at him, fingering the dress she was wearing. "He hijacked the stage coach I was riding in, knocking out the driver and taking us to town via a different route. It turns out there were some bandits ahead waiting for us. If he hadn't done that, all of us would have most likely died in the ambush."
Interesting story. The Kid was known for robbing trains and the occasional stagecoach as well as banks, but this was the first time that he had heard of a reason other than borrowing someone's belongings.
On the other hand, the Cyote Kid didn't kill anyone either.
"Perhaps I might be of some assistance to you." Miss Yoshida offered. "I've been looking for more information on him as well, and the interesting facts don't always make it to print."
This was true. Oftentimes information was left out to make it easier for the sheriff to find the actual person rather than a copy cat.
And while he wasn't much of one for idle gossip, it would be an interesting way to pass the time.
"Alright." He flipped through his small book. "Most of what I have here is where he's been, what he's stolen, but I don't have much back history. Where he got the name 'Cyote Kid', and the like."
"Name I can help you with." She smiled, a friendly gesture. "You have heard of his real name?"
"Kuroba Kaito." He nodded.
"There was a clerical error, about the time he first started making a name for him." Yoshida explained. "Kaito, 'K-A-I-T-O' became 'K-A-I-O-T', Kai-ot. Or Cyote, like the Indian trickster spirit, the Coyote."
"Whom he obviously takes after." He added wryly. "With his attitude and propensity towards mischief."
The smile was approving. "Exactly. They'd actually been calling him a Coyote for about a year before the name 'Cyote Kid' stuck."
"And the 'Kid' part? He is not that young, nor has he been doing this for that many years."
"More years that you would think, actually." Her expression turned older. "There's a very old rumour that his father, Kuroba Toichi, was a thief many years before Kaito was born. His father was the head of a travelling entertainment troupe. There was an accident, and he died, about eight years ago. The name 'Kid' was created by Kudo Yusaku, the father of Kudo Shin'ichi, the Detective of the East."
"I've heard of him." Hakuba nodded. "A Dime-novelist, writes the Western Mystery series 'The Night Baron'. The series is very popular back east."
"That's him. Kudo Yusaku occasionally tried to catch the original thief, and the sheriff would occasionally draw him into their meetings. During which, an assistant had added up the amount stolen and returned adding up to 1,412 dollars. Mr. Kudo had noticed and commented that with the assistant's sloppy hand writing, it looked more like 'K-I-D', and commented that perhaps the Night Baron should go up against 'Bandit Kid' in his next book. The name stuck, for lack of a better identity."
"So Bandit Kid was the father of Cyote Kid, passing the name down." He mused. A family of criminals.
Miss Yoshida nodded, the smile back on her face. "The name was added after it was revealed that Kuroba Kaito was the Kid, a couple of years ago in Edoka."
"I never heard about how that happened." He confessed. He had met both Nakamori and his daughter, who was everything Kaito had said she was, but he had felt reluctant to pry too deeply into the subject. Especially considering Sheriff Nakamori's outburst upon learning they had met.
And Kaito's mother, who lived not far away from town, was a very nice lady. They had helped each other on several occasions.
"Ah, yes." Miss Yoshida sat back on the uncomfortable bench. "It happened when the town bank had received a new safe from back East, one that was supposedly unpickable and unbreakable."
"A small boy somehow managed locked himself inside, didn't he?" He mused. Kaito had mentioned something about it when they had first met. .
She nodded. "Exactly. The whole town had come out to see the new safe and it caused a panic, everyone trying to figure out how to open the safe without killing the boy. Now keep in mind that the Cyote Kid had been quiet for several months, people were thinking he had been killed or retired."
"For her, right?" Pieces began to fall into place. "He mentioned that he had once had a sweetheart, the Sheriff's daughter. He had given it up to stay with her."
"So rumour says." She agreed. "Rumour also says that he had a package with him that day, to be mailed off on the train. He opened it, knelt down and began to work on opening the safe. The whole town watched as he did so, watched and timed him open the unpickable safe in record time, the open box next to him. And when they looked in the box-"
"The Cyote Kid's affects." He finished. They had had him, lock, stock and barrel.
"Precisely. The Sheriff pulled his daughter away from the thief who had just saved a small boy's life and from what I understand, things got a crazy after that. Kuroba took the box and left, never to be seen around Edoka again." She eloquently spread her hands, signalling the end of her tale.
"Fascinating story."
The topic of discussion turned away from the Cyote Kid and towards other subjects after that. Articles they had read in the paper, local politics, current events, things to look forward to. The rest of the trip passed by reasonably quickly, until both of their stops came up.
He helped Miss Yoshida disembark the train and gather her luggage, offering to share a carriage with her to the local hotel to save on costs. She looked at the horse pulling the carriage and shook her head, declining the offer.
"One thing before you go, Mr. Hakuba." She placed a hand on his arm, stopping him. "Say you do catch up with the Cyote Kid, what will you do?"
The question had taken him a bit by surprise, and he pondered it for a moment. "Ask him why he does it." He finally answered.
She smiled at him, then reached up and cupped his face with a hand. "Thank you." She said, reaching up and kissed his cheek.
And then she vanished into the crowd with out a trace.
It took a few moment for the shock to wear off before his feverishly spinning mind informed him that under that concealing hat, Miss Yoshida's eyes were a rich violet up close.
A language of smiles.
Dislike of horses.
When he had frantically looked around after that, Miss Yoshida, the Cyote Kid, had completely disappeared
-fin-
Yoshida is Ayumi-chan's last name.
Nobara means 'Wild rose'
The character Yoshida Nobara was greatly inspired by Rosalind (Rose) Hawkins, from 'The Fire Rose' by Mercedes Lackey and Dr. Sarah Gay from the Star Trek: TOS novel 'Ishmael' by Barbara Hambly. Most of the train trip was inspired by the former, the switching of newspapers inspired by the latter.
The story takes place in our mind roughly the last half of the 1800's. Fountain pens were invented in 1849, and with all the legal stuff that Hakuba does, it makes sense that he would have one. (wow, we did research!)
We have been Informed that in this story line Yoshida Nobara is a relative of Ayumi-chan and did in fact meet the Cyote Kid when he took over the stagecoach that she was riding in. She gave him the dress that he is wearing in this story, as a Thank You for keeping them from being robbed/killed. ^^
Next chapter:
"The third time they met, Hakuba Saguru caught him."
It was hardly his fault. Several months had passed since the first time he had met the thief and he was far from looking for him.
In fact, he was on the train heading towards where he had first met Kaito. The thief had been right, Ekoda felt like home, but he found himself travelling quite a bit. He had come to help his father, a judge, and discovered the need for his schooling and services as a lawyer. Wills to be drawn up, contracts to negotiate, disputes to settle. He had been helping the police back east occasionally as an amateur detective and found himself doing that here as well, although the lack of intimate knowledge of the surroundings did cut back his efficiency. Most of the larger cases were handled by Hattori Heiji and Kudo Shin'ichi anyway.
Although rumour on the wind had it that something had happened to Kudo recently, and the Detective of the East was currently in hiding.
He had boarded the train, heading towards the back of the train to be away from the black soot that billowed from the smokestack. The only other occupant was a blond haired woman in a blue-violet dress that had been last years fashion back east. He ignored her for the most part, pulled out a newspaper that someone had been foolish enough to leave behind at the train station and started reading it to catch up on what had been the most current events in the east as of week ago according to the paper's date.
The train chugged along for a while as he read, caught up in the world of current events until it slowed down and came to a stop. For the most part, he tuned out the noise and confusion that people getting on and off the train caused until he heard some rather loud voices talking and noticed a couple of salesmen, dressed up for a pitch.
He glanced over at the woman, who also had a newspaper out that she was pursuing, then glanced back at the salesmen, who had also noticed her.
He picked up his small travel bag and stood up, walking over to the woman. "Is this seat taken?"
She looked up at him, one blue-violet eye visible from under the tilted hat that covered her face, then looked at the salesmen walking her way and looked back up at him before motioning for him to have a seat. "Please."
"Thank you."
He placed his bag between them and sat. "Hakuba Saguru."
"Yoshida Nobara. Pleased to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine."
Introductions done, they went back to their papers.
If it was one thing Saguru was good at, it was being a wall. The salesmen got the hint and sat on the other end of the car, for which he was grateful for.
The train started up again, it's rocking jostling them before they adapted to it once more.
Time passed while they read. She finished her newspaper first, and without a word, he set part of his paper on top of his travel bag. she nodded, exchanging the papers, and they continued reading. He finished his paper shortly there after and traded it with hers.
It was a local paper, from farther west than Edoka.
He flipped through it, his eyes falling on an article featuring a recent escapade of a familiar character.
The Cyote Kid.
He skimmed the article, then pulled a small notebook out of his vest pocket, flipped a few pages and began to scribble down various facts with his fountain pen.
This gained Miss Yoshida's interest, who watched him with a puzzled air. "You are interested in the Cyote Kid?"
"Eh, sort of." He shrugged gamely. "I had the dubious honour of meeting him once and have been trying to learn more ever since. Unfortunately, my information is lacking, to say the least."
"I did too" The blond woman's head tilted slightly as she smiled. "He saved my life."
"Your life?" He echoed.
"Yes." She smiled at him, fingering the dress she was wearing. "He hijacked the stage coach I was riding in, knocking out the driver and taking us to town via a different route. It turns out there were some bandits ahead waiting for us. If he hadn't done that, all of us would have most likely died in the ambush."
Interesting story. The Kid was known for robbing trains and the occasional stagecoach as well as banks, but this was the first time that he had heard of a reason other than borrowing someone's belongings.
On the other hand, the Cyote Kid didn't kill anyone either.
"Perhaps I might be of some assistance to you." Miss Yoshida offered. "I've been looking for more information on him as well, and the interesting facts don't always make it to print."
This was true. Oftentimes information was left out to make it easier for the sheriff to find the actual person rather than a copy cat.
And while he wasn't much of one for idle gossip, it would be an interesting way to pass the time.
"Alright." He flipped through his small book. "Most of what I have here is where he's been, what he's stolen, but I don't have much back history. Where he got the name 'Cyote Kid', and the like."
"Name I can help you with." She smiled, a friendly gesture. "You have heard of his real name?"
"Kuroba Kaito." He nodded.
"There was a clerical error, about the time he first started making a name for him." Yoshida explained. "Kaito, 'K-A-I-T-O' became 'K-A-I-O-T', Kai-ot. Or Cyote, like the Indian trickster spirit, the Coyote."
"Whom he obviously takes after." He added wryly. "With his attitude and propensity towards mischief."
The smile was approving. "Exactly. They'd actually been calling him a Coyote for about a year before the name 'Cyote Kid' stuck."
"And the 'Kid' part? He is not that young, nor has he been doing this for that many years."
"More years that you would think, actually." Her expression turned older. "There's a very old rumour that his father, Kuroba Toichi, was a thief many years before Kaito was born. His father was the head of a travelling entertainment troupe. There was an accident, and he died, about eight years ago. The name 'Kid' was created by Kudo Yusaku, the father of Kudo Shin'ichi, the Detective of the East."
"I've heard of him." Hakuba nodded. "A Dime-novelist, writes the Western Mystery series 'The Night Baron'. The series is very popular back east."
"That's him. Kudo Yusaku occasionally tried to catch the original thief, and the sheriff would occasionally draw him into their meetings. During which, an assistant had added up the amount stolen and returned adding up to 1,412 dollars. Mr. Kudo had noticed and commented that with the assistant's sloppy hand writing, it looked more like 'K-I-D', and commented that perhaps the Night Baron should go up against 'Bandit Kid' in his next book. The name stuck, for lack of a better identity."
"So Bandit Kid was the father of Cyote Kid, passing the name down." He mused. A family of criminals.
Miss Yoshida nodded, the smile back on her face. "The name was added after it was revealed that Kuroba Kaito was the Kid, a couple of years ago in Edoka."
"I never heard about how that happened." He confessed. He had met both Nakamori and his daughter, who was everything Kaito had said she was, but he had felt reluctant to pry too deeply into the subject. Especially considering Sheriff Nakamori's outburst upon learning they had met.
And Kaito's mother, who lived not far away from town, was a very nice lady. They had helped each other on several occasions.
"Ah, yes." Miss Yoshida sat back on the uncomfortable bench. "It happened when the town bank had received a new safe from back East, one that was supposedly unpickable and unbreakable."
"A small boy somehow managed locked himself inside, didn't he?" He mused. Kaito had mentioned something about it when they had first met. .
She nodded. "Exactly. The whole town had come out to see the new safe and it caused a panic, everyone trying to figure out how to open the safe without killing the boy. Now keep in mind that the Cyote Kid had been quiet for several months, people were thinking he had been killed or retired."
"For her, right?" Pieces began to fall into place. "He mentioned that he had once had a sweetheart, the Sheriff's daughter. He had given it up to stay with her."
"So rumour says." She agreed. "Rumour also says that he had a package with him that day, to be mailed off on the train. He opened it, knelt down and began to work on opening the safe. The whole town watched as he did so, watched and timed him open the unpickable safe in record time, the open box next to him. And when they looked in the box-"
"The Cyote Kid's affects." He finished. They had had him, lock, stock and barrel.
"Precisely. The Sheriff pulled his daughter away from the thief who had just saved a small boy's life and from what I understand, things got a crazy after that. Kuroba took the box and left, never to be seen around Edoka again." She eloquently spread her hands, signalling the end of her tale.
"Fascinating story."
The topic of discussion turned away from the Cyote Kid and towards other subjects after that. Articles they had read in the paper, local politics, current events, things to look forward to. The rest of the trip passed by reasonably quickly, until both of their stops came up.
He helped Miss Yoshida disembark the train and gather her luggage, offering to share a carriage with her to the local hotel to save on costs. She looked at the horse pulling the carriage and shook her head, declining the offer.
"One thing before you go, Mr. Hakuba." She placed a hand on his arm, stopping him. "Say you do catch up with the Cyote Kid, what will you do?"
The question had taken him a bit by surprise, and he pondered it for a moment. "Ask him why he does it." He finally answered.
She smiled at him, then reached up and cupped his face with a hand. "Thank you." She said, reaching up and kissed his cheek.
And then she vanished into the crowd with out a trace.
It took a few moment for the shock to wear off before his feverishly spinning mind informed him that under that concealing hat, Miss Yoshida's eyes were a rich violet up close.
A language of smiles.
Dislike of horses.
When he had frantically looked around after that, Miss Yoshida, the Cyote Kid, had completely disappeared
-fin-
Yoshida is Ayumi-chan's last name.
Nobara means 'Wild rose'
The character Yoshida Nobara was greatly inspired by Rosalind (Rose) Hawkins, from 'The Fire Rose' by Mercedes Lackey and Dr. Sarah Gay from the Star Trek: TOS novel 'Ishmael' by Barbara Hambly. Most of the train trip was inspired by the former, the switching of newspapers inspired by the latter.
The story takes place in our mind roughly the last half of the 1800's. Fountain pens were invented in 1849, and with all the legal stuff that Hakuba does, it makes sense that he would have one. (wow, we did research!)
We have been Informed that in this story line Yoshida Nobara is a relative of Ayumi-chan and did in fact meet the Cyote Kid when he took over the stagecoach that she was riding in. She gave him the dress that he is wearing in this story, as a Thank You for keeping them from being robbed/killed. ^^
Next chapter:
"The third time they met, Hakuba Saguru caught him."