Hello all! I bet you all thought I was dead, right? Well, no, I'm not dead, and neither is this fic, it was just on a very long hiatus. A very, very long one. Sorry about that. Cheers go out to "Kaitou Kid" (I did read your badge dear) who glomped me at acen 2004, who made me start working on this again then, and also my trip to Japan, which somehow ended up inspiring me on how to write this chapter. It was a really difficult one to write too! Pity me!

Er, yeah, I'll shut up now and let you get on with the fic.

Almost.

FIRST! A very important dedication. This chapter is dedicated to Ysabet, my favourite DC authoress, may she feel very much better as soon as she can.

(I don't know if she's ever read this humble little fic, but even if she hasn't, you should go read her fics. ESPECIALLY Windfall (although of course you have to read all the stories leading up to it) She is the absolute mistress of writing Kaitou Kid, and I bow before her superior talent.

Okay, now I'm done, you can all read the long-awaited chapter now:

Moonlight Shadow

Chapter 08:

See You in Heaven One Day

It wasn't the first time Saguru had been to the Koizumi home, he had gone there a few times, on various pretences, but on all those occasions he hadn't been allowed any further than the sitting room. He was surprised, therefore, when Koizumi-kun kept walking down the hall. He stopped outside the sitting room door and when she realized he wasn't behind her she turned around and motioned to him to follow. Saguru was so busy cataloguing the details of the house's interior that it took him until they reached the kitchen to notice the change in Koizumi-kun herself. Now, Saguru was a logical man - to a fault, some might have said - but he also subscribed to the teachings of the great Sherlock Holmes, and he had seen Akako-kun ride her broom before. Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains - however improbable - must be the truth. He had come to accept that Akako-kun was not only a pagan by her chosen mode of worship, but was also a witch according to both sides of his heritage. He had become accustomed to the slightly unearthly appeal she projected, and even knew that it was a glamour (which was not to say he was unaffected by it by any means, but he had learned early on to shunt away most of its effect on his hormones). Well, he noted, however it had been created, the glamour was gone now. He decided it was probably better not to mention it, however; Akako was, after all, a very private person. Besides, if he brought it up and it was something she didn't want to talk about she would be less likely to tell him about the things he wanted to hear.

Akako sat down at the table, and then pushed a chair out with her foot. "Have a seat." she invited him.

"Thank you." He sat in the chair offered.

She pushed a plate of crackers and cheese over to him. "Please feel free, I can tell you haven't eaten properly today, and it's distracting." she said, not unkindly, and he noted that even her voice had changed somewhat.

Saguru took a cracker, placed a slice of cheese on it, and popped it gratefully into his mouth. Akako was right, of course, he'd only had a piece of toast and a couple of glasses of orange juice since waking up half an hour ago from his nap. The flavour of the cheese caught him by surprise, and he raised an eyebrow at Akako. "Havarti? Where do you get good havarti in Japan?"

"You'd be amazed what you can find if you're willing to look, and aren't concerned too much with the cost."

"I'm sure, but how did you ever acquire a taste for it?"

"I have some cousins in Europe, and we visited them once when I was young. I picked up quite a few odd tastes from them." Akako said with a reminiscent smile. "Well, I suppose I should start on my play-by-play of last night's events..."

Saguru ate his crackers quietly - well, as quietly as one can eat crackers - and listened as Akako laid out the events of the previous night before him. He tried not to let his shock show on his face, but Akako's description of Kaitou Kid's wound made him almost physically sick. But then, he never had been able to wrap his intellect around vigilantism.

"You tell me he was badly injured, and yet I saw Kuroba-kun this morning and he moved without even a hint of a limp." Saguru objected

"There's more to the story yet." Akako pointed out.

"You're right, there is. I apologize. Please, continue." he said politely.

Akako continued her tale, describing the Kid's getaway with Aoko and their landing on the roof. She didn't say which roof it was, or even what part of town, but then that was to be expected from her, so Saguru didn't push. Her expression when she described how Aoko had cared for the Kid was somewhat haunted, and as she told him how they had kissed, Saguru had been disturbed to see tears begin to trickle down Akako's cheeks. He had never ever seen her cry before. Silently he offered her his handkerchief. He wished he could do more, but they had never been close in that way and he didn't want to offend her. She took the small square of linen gratefully and dabbed at her eyes.

"Sorry, I thought I'd gotten all of these out of my system already." she said, trying not to sniffle.

"No need to apologize, I know of your infatuation with Kaitou Kid." They had both agreed, early on in their interactions with each other, that although both of them firmly believed Kuroba Kaito to be the Kaitou Kid, until there was incontrovertible concrete evidence to prove that belief they would refer to Kid and Kuroba as two different people in their little chats. Saguru wondered if Aoko's sudden change of attitude toward the Kid would count as solid enough proof. He decided he'd bring it up later, and concentrated on his food while Akako regained her composure.

After a minute or two, Akako had managed to stem the tide of tears, and she handed the handkerchief back. "Keep it." he shrugged.

Akako raised an eyebrow, then shrugged herself, folded it up and put it in her pocket.

"Now to my mind, the most important part of the evening is what happened next. However, I want your solemn oath that this won't go any further. It could put all of us in danger." Akako said firmly.

Actually a little taken-aback at Koizumi-kun's serious expression, Saguru bowed formally. "Everything you tell me will be kept in the strictest confidence, I swear on my Sherlock Holmes collection."

Akako smiled, she knew that was a promise he would keep.

"You remember how you expressed surprise at Kaito-kun's healthy condition this morning? Well, it turns out Kaitou Kid being hurt was a trigger for something Aoko-chan had kept hidden within herself. If I hadn't seen it myself I never would have believed it, but our Aoko-chan is a miko - a very strong miko - whose talent seems to be healing. She healed a critical bullet wound as if it was nothing, and - here's the strangest part - the Kid wasn't even surprised by it. In fact, when I went to reassure him everything would be fine after Aoko-chan passed out, he said he'd been expecting this."

If the police were surprised to see Nakamori-keibu at work, it was only surprise that he had waited so long to come in the day after a Kid heist. He explained that he'd needed to have a discussion with his daughter. No more explanation was needed, they had all seen Aoko up on the roof the night before, and since she was the darling of the department, they had all been worried as well.

"So, what have we learned from last night?" Nakamori asked.

"Not much that we didn't already know about Kaitou Kid, besides the fact that he apparently likes J-pop." one officer sighed.

"That's not entirely true," countered another officer. "We did learn that he has an enemy or enemies beside the police."

"That's true." the first officer admitted.

"We managed to get a recording of the Kid's radio conversation." one of the technicians piped up.

"Good," said Nakamori. "I want everyone to listen to it. Maybe someone might be able to pick a clue out of it. I'll go first."

Sequestered down in the AV Forensics lab, Nakamori put on a pair of headphones as the tech started the recording. Due to that strange property loud music has of amplifying background sounds, he was able to hear quite a bit of the police cross-talk, but for quite a while he didn't hear anything from Kaitou Kid. Just as the song was drawing to its close, however, it abruptly went from stereo to mono, and in the other ear, Nakamori heard something which made him blanch.

"Aoko, c'mon, that way." he heard a familiar young male voice say, "I might be able to get a shot off at him from there."

He knew that voice very well indeed. Part of him wanted to pass it off as Kid using a voice familiar to Aoko in order to reassure her, but as he continued to listen, his suspicions were all but confirmed by hearing again - more clearly - the argument he had overheard at the time, combined with his memory of Minami's words the night before. The real question was, what was he going to do about it? He had some serious thinking to do. He handed back the headphones to the tech as the tape ended.

"Tell the others that if they glean anything from this they are to come speak to me in my office." he instructed, then walked off without another word.

Nakamori actually managed to contain his urge to swear until he got to his office.

"#& Toichi, so that's why you made me swear to watch over them! You could have been a bit more considerate, damn you!"

Akako was highly amused by Hakuba's reaction to her news. She could literally see the cogs turning in his brain as he assimilated the idea of Aoko-chan having metaphysical powers. She enjoyed making him stretch his perceptions and understanding of the world, especially since, as long as his logic could be made to fit to it, he was surprisingly willing to accept the unusual.

The kettle whistled on the stove just then, startling both of them, and Akako got up to make tea.

"Earl Grey, right?" she asked him.

"If you don't mind."

As Akako walked by him to take the kettle off the heat, Saguru caught a whiff of her scent and turned to look at her quizzically.

"Koizumi-kun, why do you smell of lavender... and roses... and... apple blossoms?"

Akako blinked. "Do I?" she asked casually, "I hadn't realized it would carry. It's nothing really, just a spell," she shrugged, hiding her shock as well as she could. Why could he smell it? Why him, of all people? Mister stodgy cold fish Brit himself? Maybe the scent was just really strong and others would notice it as well, that must be it.

"A spell… Alright then," he shrugged. "So what are we going to do about all this?"

Akako returned with two teacups and a full teapot and set them down at the table, then sat back down herself to think.

"Do you know, I'm not even sure what we can do. I had planned to do some research in my library to see if there was anything I might learn about miko of Marishiten, but that's about the extent of my planning thus far. As far as the Kid is concerned, this shooter worries me. I've sensed a dark presence around him for a long time, but this is the first time they've showed their hand so openly. I hope it isn't some sort of turning point," Akako shook her head.

"As do I," Saguru agreed, "The lack of concern for others clear in the shooter's actions doesn't bode well, for the police or the general public at a heist. What truly worries me, though, is that this is going to cause the Kid to change his methods; to move underground, and thus make him even harder to predict and catch."

"I definitely think there's something else going on here," Akako frowned. "I propose that for now, we concentrate on finding out all we can about this enemy or enemies of the Kid."

"I agree," Saguru concurred, "That's more important right now."

The conversation started to peter out then, neither of them being able to think of anything immediate they could do, and they just stared at each other as Akako poured the tea. Finally, it was she who broke the silence.

"Um, would you like to help me search the library?" she asked, a little hesitantly.

"I can do that, if you tell me what to look for," he agreed, "Besides, I wouldn't be able to start looking for the other information today, since it's Sunday and the city library's microfiche won't be available."

"Come on then, the library's this way. Feel free to bring your tea with you," Akako picked up her own teacup and headed deeper into the house.

Nakamori Ginzo sat in his office with the door closed and the blinds drawn, trying to come to grips with what he had just realized. He had a sheet of paper out in front of him, and he was writing out facts as they occurred to him; all the little clues that had taken far too long to add up to a solution. The paper read something like this:

Point: Toichi's international travel - check for coinciding Kid heists.

Point: Toichi an expert at slight-of-hand, Kaito as well.

Point: No heists after Toichi's death (how did I ever miss that one?)

Point: Break long enough to allow Kaito to grow up.

Point: Both of their &#! names, even!

Point: Minami's reference to Kaito and the Kid being two halves of a whole.

Point: Kaito being able to comfort Aoko when she was having a nightmare/vision about the Kid.

Point and point and another damned point! Far too many points for him to ignore, let alone overlook. He kept waiting for some other young officer to burst into the office crowing about his sudden revelations as to the identity of Kaitou Kid, but they never came. In a way, that made it even harder, placing the entire burden of knowledge on his shoulders, along with the necessary decision of what to do with that knowledge.

'Well, first things first, let's figure out the first Kaitou Kid.' he thought to himself. 'Knowing Toichi, it was probably all something of a lark at first, a bit of fun and an adrenaline rush. What else could have caused an otherwise scrupulously considerate citizen to steal jewels in his spare time? Then somehow he got tangled up with that crime syndicate. I can certainly interpret Kaitou Kid's comment the other night about them having "taken someone dear to him" as meaning that they caused Toichi's death.'

Nakamori shook his head sadly. If only he'd known! But then really, what more would he have - could he have done?

'So then we fast-forward eight years, Kaito grows up, and somehow discovers the truth about his father's death. Instead of coming to me or some other police personage, he insanely decides to take up his father's mantle - or rather, his monocle - and does magnificently at it with seemingly no training of any sort. The whole thing is almost too much to be believed!'

And to think, just the other day he'd been thinking about how Kuroba Toichi had taught him how to do a simple switch and pawn an object, and he'd been contemplating using that skill to steal a jewel! No wonder Toichi had been so reluctant to teach him! An international jewel thief teaching slight-of-hand tricks to the police inspector leading the special taskforce sworn to capture him? Toichi must have been appalled! Then again, Toichi'd always had such an amazing sense of humour; he'd probably laughed himself silly about the whole thing...

Come to think of it, Nakamori had sworn his enmity of the Kid numerous times, but the Kid (neither of the Kids, he mentally corrected himself) had ever actually reciprocated that enmity back to him. Had he been looking at this the wrong way all this time? Now that was a deeply frightening thought!

Back at his own house, Kaito was busy helping his mother clean out the attic. He hadn't yet figured out why they were bothering, but he still felt guilty enough about the scare he'd given her last night that he didn't protest. His mind wasn't really on the job, though. No, his mind was a few houses away where - presumably - Aoko was learning the deep secrets of becoming a miko.

"Tell me again why we're cleaning the attic?" he called out to his mother as he stifled yet another sneeze.

"Because I think Toichi might have stored some things up here. Not Kid stuff that was obvious, but other stuff, and I thought maybe you'd find it useful." Meimi explained.

"If you say so, but it feels like a make-work project to me," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Meimi glared at him suspiciously.

"I said Dad did like to make things a lot of work," Kaito covered himself.

"That's true, he really did, didn't he?" she laughed, "But he always made sure it was fun at the same time."

Kaito laughed and shook his head, then got back to lifting and dusting off old cardboard boxes before stacking them where he had already cleaned.

Many sneezes and about half an hour later, his foot made an unexpected hollow "thunk" when he stepped into the place he had just cleaned, and Meimi's head shot up from where she was examining the contents of one of the boxes.

"That sounds like something," she said, "maybe there's a loose board?"

Kaito checked, carefully moving all the boxes from around the hollow spot until he had a good three feet clear on each side. He carefully examined the floor, blowing the dust away gently and looking for anything that dust outlined that might be a catch of some sort. It took him over a minute to find it, and then he only found it at all because he was well-trained in what to look for. A thief, after all, is a kind of detective too; he needs to be able to find what's hidden, since no person leaves their valuables out in clear view and without anything to protect them.

The catch was next to a knot in the wood, but Kaito knew his father better than that. There had to be a second catch, one that would need to be released in concert with the first, and that was the difficult one to find. He finally located it - a slightly raised nail on the very end of one of the boards - and he grinned and winked at his mother as he reached out and pressed the two simultaneously. With a quiet "pop" the board lifted up just enough that he could get his fingers under it and pull it up the rest of the way.

He gently set it aside and his mother handed him a flashlight. The beam revealed a dusty hollow space in between two of the beams, and in that space there was a long, flat box. Kaito checked thoroughly for additional traps which might be triggered by the box's removal and didn't lift it up and out of the space until he was sure there weren't any.

"Well, what's in it?" Meimi asked impatiently.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there!" Kaito waved her off, examining the box.

He quickly realized that it wasn't a "normal" box at all; it was a puzzle box, where certain parts of the box had to be pushed and slid different ways in order to be able to get inside it.

"Well, whatever's in here, Touchan wasn't making it particularly easy to get into," Kaito observed even as his nimble fingers were working over the box, pushing and sliding with speed, but also gentleness, waiting for the "ping" of the release catch.

"Alright, now I want you to relax and just let your mind drift," Minami was saying to Aoko. "Focus on the Tenshi no Namida and try to sense its aura and soul."

"Its soul?" Aoko asked, confused.

"Even a stone has a soul," Minami pointed out, "And this one especially, since it is no ordinary stone.

"Okay," Aoko nodded, and closed her eyes. She tried to empty her mind of everything except the stone, but somehow Kaito's smiling face kept taking the place of the jewel.

Minami snickered and Aoko's eyes shot open.

"What? It's not easy to just focus on one thing, I've never done this before, remember?" she objected.

"Oh, but I'm pretty sure you are focusing on just one thing, only it's not the thing you're supposed to be focusing on," Minami winked.

"How did you...I mean, I am not!" Aoko shook her head, "I'm not trying to focus on Kaito, his face keeps popping into my head, but how did you know?"

"Besides the fact that I'm clairvoyant? It was written all over your face - literally - you kept turning bright red. You really do blush prettily, but then I'm sure he's told you that hasn't he?" Minami was grinning openly at her.

"Yes, he has," Aoko admitted, feeling her face go even redder, "but if you keep bringing him up, there's no way I'll be able to concentrate on anything else!"

"That's alright; I've decided to change my focus for the day's lesson just slightly. After all, why make you frustrated and thus make you less receptive? No, this time I want you to clear your mind and I want you to focus on that young man of yours. See what you can sense about him."

"O...okay," Aoko said a little nervously. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, letting her thoughts filter down to just one thing - Kaito's face. At first it was her memory of the smile he'd given her when she came downstairs this morning, a smile both lazy and intense at the same time, but then the expression began to change to one of intense concentration like he got when preparing a magic trick.

"There! That should do it!" Kaito announced as he heard a faint click from the box. One final twist and the lid was off, revealing the inside of the long, slim box. It was stuffed tightly full of paper, mostly faintly yellowing newspaper clippings, and Kaito set it down on one of the larger storage boxes they had been moving and began to lift the papers out, scanning each one briefly as he did. It was a mixture of newspaper articles and stories about Kaitou Kid and also the great magician Kuroba Toichi, in reverse chronological order. Or rather, it was clear that they had been placed into the box chronologically, and he was now moving backward through them, the way an archaeologist digs down through the strata, from modern to ancient, back in time.

A remarkable number of articles had been fit carefully into the puzzle box, and Kaito ended up covering the tops of four larger storage boxes with clippings, being careful to keep them chronological. At the very bottom there was a small but obvious false bottom, and under that a magician's wand with a letter wrapped around it and addressed to...

"Nakamori-keibu?" Kaito asked disbelief in his voice. He examined what he could see of the letter, but it wasn't wrapped in such a way that he could read anything other than "If he starts asking questions which have to be answered" below the detective's name.

Aoko could feel her face going red as she concentrated on Kaito but she forced herself to ignore her embarrassment, determined to do well at this task her aunt and now teacher had set her.

"He's...surprised about something," she murmured, "I don't know what, Kaito's hard to read at the best of times, and he usually shuts up tighter than a clam if he gets surprised. I think it's some kind of self-protective measure or something," she shrugged.

"No doubt," Minami agreed, "What I want to know, though, is the impressions you can get of his state of health, not his mood; although the fact that you could get that much is interesting," she said encouragingly.

"His health? Okay, I think I can do that..." Aoko concentrated again on Kaito, trying to remember what it had been like last night to be aware of what in Kaito needed to be fixed. She felt the information come to her in a wave of sympathetic sensation.

"His arms and back are sore like he's been doing a lot of lifting, and he's a little stressed but also a little..." all of a sudden her face turned bright red and her eyes snapped open as she recognized the warm frission of sensation passing through her second-hand.

"Ah yes, that," Minami laughed gently, "don't let it bother you dear, it's perfectly normal for a boy his age - happens all the time, often without their even having an outside trigger. Although in his case I suspect the last day or so's time with you has more than a little influence."

"Gah! Minami-san, you're not helping!" Aoko exclaimed, clapping her hands to her burning cheeks.

"I'm sorry dear, it's just; the two of you are too cute!" Minami patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, the lesson is done for today, and you've done very well. I believe your father has some things to talk to you about when he gets back, and I don't think I particularly want to be part of that, so I'll head off now and look up that little witch friend of yours, just to make sure she's clear about the situation," she said, standing up and bowing politely, "I'll see myself to the door, and I'll see you next Sunday. In the meantime, I want you to spend half an hour to an hour a day on meditation; as long as you can manage, alright?"

"Alright, I'll try my best!" Aoko bowed, then straightened up when she heard the door close. "My father has things to discuss with me, ne? That doesn't sound encouraging," she shook her head.

Over at the Koizumi household, Akako and Hakuba were deep in the bowels of the library, hunting for references to miko of Marishiten - not an easy task, by any stretch of the imagination, but they did have one advantage: the Koizumi family owned arguably one of the best collections of books on spiritual and magickal subjects.

As Akako already knew, however, and Hakuba was quickly finding out, having one of the best collections of any kind of book does not by any means guarantee that you will find the information you're looking for quickly. Especially when you don't really know where in said collection you should look. All that being said, they were either extremely lucky or something was looking out for them, because they were only two hours into their search when Hakuba came across the first reference to the Tenshi no Namida and its miko. His eyes widened and he carefully marked the page before he went looking for Akako.

"Koizumi-san," he called up to her, "I think I've found something; you'd better come and read this and tell me what you think."

"Alright," Akako nodded, tucking a couple of books beneath her arm and descending to follow him. "You really don't need to be so formal, you know," she said conversationally, "Akako-san is just fine. After all, we are partners of a sort, aren't we?"

"I guess you've got a point," Hakuba laughed depreciatingly; "we are kindof partners now, aren't we? Alright then, I'll call you Akako-san if you'll use my proper name as well. No one ever seems to; I think it would be nice to hear it now and then."

Akako laughed. "Okay then, Saguru-san. I suppose you won't relax enough to let me call you "Sa-chan", will you?" she batted her eyelashes at him coquettishly and laughed when he blanched and tried to back away while still leading her to where he'd left the book.

"I don't think I've ever been that relaxed in my whole life, and I doubt I will be anytime soon," he shook his head. "Here, read this," he changed the subject, handing her the book he'd been reading open to the pertinent page.

She took the book, sitting down as she read and nodding slowly. "Yes, that does sound promising - very promising."

"Especially considering that Kid's latest heist was a moonstone called the "Angel's Tear" as well," Hakuba pointed out.

"Yes, I was definitely taking that into account," Akako nodded. "There's another, more interesting factor here, though; one I don't think you caught," she said, holding up the book. "This book isn't just any old book of magickal history; this is a part of the annals of my own family! So somehow we met or knew this Tenshi Miko at some time or other."

"Perhaps other books from the same source might have more information, then," Hakuba suggested, "are they all stored in the same place?"

"They should be," Akako nodded distractedly as she continued to read.

Hakuba went back to the shelf where he'd found the family history book. There was a row of books there, all with very similar binding, and he'd randomly chosen one from the middle last time, so this time he picked up what looked like the first of the series, as well as the next couple, and took them over to Akako.

"Alright; assuming that the family history is arranged chronologically, these should be the earliest," he said, handing her the first one and taking the second for himself.

"I'll let you know if I find anything," Akako agreed, marking their first reference again and opening the earliest volume. There was silence for less than a minute before Akako's shocked gasp made Hakuba look up.

"Find something relevant?" he asked.

"Very," she nodded, "Listen to this: 'This account of the lives and experience of the family Koizumi is undertaken by me, Koizumi Ichiro, upon the insistence of Nakabara Keiko, appointed healer to the Chrysanthemum Throne and the present Tenshi Miko, to be a record of the connection between our two families.' So, these..."

"So these are exactly what we need," Saguru raised an eyebrow.

"Seemingly. Now what I'm really wondering, though," Akako frowned, "is why I was never told about this before." She shook her head. "Why did my parents never say anything about this? Did they even know about it?"

Saguru shook his head firmly. "That isn't at issue just now; you can ask them when they get home, can you not? Right now I believe our most important task is to learn as much as we can about this 'Tenshi Miko' as quickly as we can, so as to be of some help to our classmate."

"Always so cold and logical," Akako sighed, "but unfortunately you're right. I don't have time to be wasting on brooding over what my parents have or haven't told me, it's much more important to get reading."

"Well of course I'm right! I would have thought you'd be used to it by now," Saguru rolled his eyes.

"Did you just make a joke, Sa-chan?" Akako said sweetly. "That's really quite cute!"

Saguru shuddered and somehow managed to blush and blanch at the same time.

"What do you think, should we start at the beginning or the end?" Akako asked, acting as though nothing had happened, "And how many books were there exactly? This one is dated Heian 59. Wow, that's a long connection if it continues up to the present!"

"It is," Saguru agreed, only too glad to pretend nothing had happened. "No doubt this book is a copy then," he observed.

"I don't think so. It looks more like a scroll that's been cut up and bound," Akako noted as she turned the first page.

"Interesting," Saguru said. "Since you're starting at the beginning, I'll start with the last book. I do find something intriguing though," he observed as he headed back to the shelf.

"What's that?"

"I find it intriguing, with the apparent history of connection between your two families, that you and Nakamori-san should end up as classmates."

"Yes, that is interesting, isn't it? One might almost say suspicious. Yet another thing I need to ask my parents about sometime," Akako agreed.

Saguru made a noncommittal sort of sound as he sat back down: already buried in a volume of the history (presumably the last one).

"What's the date on that one?" Akako asked.

"Nineteen Sixty-nine."

"So if it still has information about the Tenshi Miko, it should have information about Aoko-chan's predecessor," Akako said.

"Mm-hmm." Saguru was already back in the book. He flipped quickly, scanning the pages for any reference to the Tenshi Miko or the Tenshi no Namida.

About a quarter of the way into the book one eyebrow raised, and a few pages later so did the other...then he seemed almost to growl before sighing and setting the book down open in front of him.

"Akako-san, you said that it might be dangerous if we talked to others about Nakamori-san being a Miko...why did you say that?" he asked.

"Pardon? Oh, I just remembered being told many times by my parents that if I ever encountered a miko of Marishiten I should be careful who I talked to her about, and I should guard her identity, since some people might consider her a commodity to be used. Obviously there was a reason for this, at we can see."

"Oh, I suspect there was a very good reason indeed," Saguru said, pushing the open book toward her, "You see here..."

But he didn't get to finish pointing out what he'd found, just then the doorbell rang, making them both jump.

"Who on earth...?" Akako frowned.

"I'll come with you," Saguru said firmly.

"I'm quite capable of taking care of myself in my own home," Akako objected, "you can stay here and read."

"No, I think I'm going to have to insist," he said, standing in front of her, blocking her way, "Just for the sake of my own nerves, if nothing else."

"Fine then, come along and play Paladin if you must," she shrugged, heading for the door. The doorbell rang again and she sighed. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" she called out, hurrying a little more.

When she got to the door, Hakuba stood - almost loomed - behind her.

"Yes?" she said, opening the door. A woman stood on the step, a smile on her face and her unusual dark purple-blue eyes twinkling.

"Koizumi Akako-san?" she asked.

"Who wants to know?" Hakuba asked belligerently.

"I'm sorry, how remiss of me, you're absolutely right, I ought to introduce myself first. My name is Minami, and I'm an aunt… Well, more like a second cousin of Nakamori Aoko's. I believe she's a classmate of yours? I wanted to talk to you about some things Aoko mentioned, but perhaps I should come back when you don't have company?" Minami raised an eyebrow at Hakuba, who glowered untrustingly back at her.

"Does this have anything to do with last night?" Akako asked.

"Actually yes, it does."

"That's fine then, come in," Akako invited; backing up…right into Hakuba, who still hadn't moved. She sighed. "It's okay, mister British Bulldog, she's not lying," she said. To Minami she said, "This is another classmate, Hakuba Saguru. Feel free to be open around him, he knows what happened last night as well."

"Ah. I could have wished fewer people knew…"

Hakuba nodded to himself, remembering something he had skimmed over in the book he had so lately been reading. "Wait, you're the Miko Minami – the clairvoyant?" he asked.

"Yes, but how did you… Ah, I see, you've been doing some reading. I had wondered if you were part of that Koizumi family, Akako-san."

"If you mean the Koizumi family which has connections to the Tenshi Miko, then yes, apparently I am."

"Ah good, that makes things quite a bit easier. When Kaito-san told me you'd been there last night when Aoko-chan come into her power, I had to come to make sure that wasn't going to be a liability, just in case."

"You said Kuroba told you?" Hakuba asked; a gleam in his eyes.

"Yes, apparently he was there as well," Minami nodded.

"How…interesting…"

"He didn't tell me any details, but I understand he followed Aoko-chan and the Kaitou Kid when they left."

"Of course, of course," Hakuba nodded, but his eyes showed that he didn't believe that story for a second.

"Please come and we'll sit in the parlor and discuss this like rational people," Akako rolled her eyes, leading Minami (and dragging Hakuba) into the parlor which was just down the hall from the door.

"Indeed, it would be nice to sit, seeing as how we have a few different things to chat about," Minami agreed.

Nakamori Ginzo was tired, frustrated, and altogether appalled at the lack of members of his taskforce who had managed to pick up on the vital pieces of information to come to that same startling conclusion he had. He had waited until quite late, but still no one came to his door, no officer was heard screaming through the corridors that he had solved the mystery of the Kaitou Kid's identity.

But then again, he did possess not only a superior intellect (or so he liked to think) but also extra clues and background knowledge that other taskforce members just didn't have access to… After all, he had, so it seemed, been quite good friends with the original Kaitou, and raised his daughter to be friends and now something more (and ohhhhh how that rankled!) with the present one. Speaking of which, he really ought to go home and discuss a few things with his daughter. Yes, he really should do that. And then he was going to go over to the Kuroba house and talk to young Kaito… A feral grin bloomed over the inspector's face. He was going to have an awful lot of fun talking to Kaito, especially if he could find a way around Meimi-san.

He hadn't forgotten that he had made an agreement with the Kid to cooperate when it came to keeping Aoko safe (and how on earth had he missed the Kid's protective concern there too! Had he been walking around half-blind? Apparently so!) but he could certainly claim to have upheld his part of that agreement. In spades, as Toichi would have said. After all, he'd known about the truth of the kid's identity for a whole FOUR HOURS and he hadn't said a thing to anyone…Which was really starting to drive him crazy, which was another good reason to go home and have that little chat with Aoko

Decision made, he stood up, walked to his office door, and calmly walked out. "I'm going home to ask my daughter a few more questions about the Kid, see if she remembers anything more," he explained, "I should be back in tomorrow, but call me right away if you come up with any new leads."

"Just like always," the officer on duty agreed, waving at the inspector's back as he headed out at a determined pace.

Okay, and seeing as how this is a rather nasty cliffhanger, let me assure you, I will do my absolute best to get the next chapter out in under two years. No guarantees on it being under a month though, since I hve some pretty major stuff going on in my life right now (including househunting, oh gods that's scary!) Will Nakamori manage to do Major Bodily Harm to Kaito before he can get a word in edgewise? We shall see!