Scene Four: Quick Explanations and Decisions (To Postpone or Not to Postpone...)


You know, there's always the simple, easy solutions to life. When you're hungry, you eat. When you're thirsty, you drink. But what if someone was just plain stubborn and wouldn't eat when he was hungry just because he claimed he would never eat the only thing he had in stock? Or that the only thing he had to drink wasn't entirely a good thing to drink? If one was truly hungry and thirsty, this wouldn't matter. The point is that stubbornness always gets in the way at times until one becomes truly desperate...which is why finding a solution for the heist and the wedding was difficult to determine.

Even with Hakuba and Hattori's help.

"A whole month?" Hattori asked the two of us, looking incredibly unsure of the situation. I knew he was thinking I might have somehow talked Kudo into playing a prank on the two of them, but since when has Kudo listened to me? Definitely not that night.

"Twenty-eight days," mused Hakuba, looking over to me with a fairly amused expression. "Well, you've found a gem whose legend is apparently true for once."

I rolled my eyes. "Ha ha, okay, that doesn't deserve a response." I continued just before he could interrupt me, "So you guys actually believe that we've kind of did a switch rather than my talking Kudo here into a prank that involved a switch. I know that's a thought that's been tempting you to believe."

Kudo snorted, obviously thinking the same thing about that theory as I did. Utterly ridiculous really.

Hattori waved my words off without much worry. "Even though the thought did cross my mind, I know that neither of you would go for that because even though you like to disguise yourself as people, Kuroba, you don't like people disguising themselves as you."

"Besides," Hakuba added drawling, seeming to enjoy the predicament we were in, "Kudo would never go along with something like that...unless he was truly bored by the heist." He glanced over to Kudo, who managed to have enough sense to be sheepish at this.

"Look," he said to defend himself, holding up his hands--my hands...I was starting to get annoyed at this stupid switch, "I was only trying to catch Kaitou Kid--"

"Going out on a limb isn't the best way to go about that," Hakuba pointed out with a serious look. "You could have gotten yourself killed if Kid didn't know what was below you two. You weren't thinking, were you, Kudo? Just admit it and we can get on with your...present situation."

Kudo shook his head in submission, while I gaped.

"That is so not fair!" I exclaimed, pointing at the blond-haired detective. "I've been trying to get him to admit to that since we got out of the freakin' pool and you got him to do that within ten minutes!"

Hakuba merely shrugged, looking over to Hattori with a grin.

Hattori coughed into a fist, quickly getting rid of his own grin--I suppose this was all very amusing for them. "Anyway, we should probably go over the facts about what happened," he said, pushing for us to focus on the case at hand. He then turned to me and asked, "You know the legend behind the Daughter of the Sky gem, right? We could start from there."

I sweatdropped. "It's not a nice legend," I informed them. "No happy ending, I promise."

"Just tell it," Kudo said with a tired sigh as he went to sit down in a chair. I winced at the sight of myself sitting boneless in the chair.

"Okay, fine," I said with a frown, "but don't get over-agitated because of the ending. Just because it happened to them, doesn't mean it'll happen to us."

"Them?" Hattori asked, immediately sharp-eyed and quick-witted.

So I began to tell the story. "Well, think of that old story...what's the title, Hakuba? Where the royal guy switched with--"

"The Prince and the Pauper," Hakuba supplied with a surprised look, "though I'm surprised how you would know of it."

"Well, it has to do with the legend," I retorted smoothly. "The difference is that this legend had to do with a princess and a poor girl. And the princess didn't get to have her crown at the end because the poor girl liked the station so much and chose to punish the princess for her selfishness in giving up a position of power when she could have done something for her people."

Even Kudo seemed troubled by this summary of the story, and I smiled nervously. "Well, I did say there wasn't a happy ending to it." I quickly dove into the story before they could really react:

"Well, in the beginning, the princess was that selfish girl that wanted to get out of her smothering, yet loving, environment. She was supposed to be getting married to a young prince from another kingdom but thought he was rather unpleasant to look at. So to escape her marriage, she sought the help of an old witch that lived outside of the kingdom. The witch gave her a jewel which was said to be able to help two people change places without anyone else knowing. They had twenty-eight days in which they would live as the other person. Only after exactly twenty-eight days could they switch back, otherwise it was a permanent arrangement. Not entirely heeding the old witch's words, the princess sought out in her kingdom, a young maiden she could switch lives with.

"She found the maiden to be a good-looking and kind girl who, though poor, could probably marry up into another class if she so wished. When she approached the girl with the offer, however, the young girl burst into tears and immediately agreed. So that night, they went back to the witch who helped them perform the switch. They both entered a lake and when told they had to be completely surrounded by water, they both obeyed. Then the witch dropped the gem into the lake. The switch occurred then, and both of the girls very happy, they went on to each other's lives.

"But immediately, the princess detested her new life. The poor girl's father was a cruel man and had already arranged a marriage to a cruel, elder friend of his. Horrified, the princess fought and fought to get out of the marriage, but it was arranged to occur before the twenty-eight days were over. She ended up marrying the man, thinking all the while that the poor girl would be stuck with him when they switched back. When she approached the poor girl on the twenty-eighth day, however, she discovered that this was not the case.

"The poor girl had fallen in love with the princess's betrothed and they had gotten married as well. Not only that, but the king was ill and dying, which meant that the poor girl and the prince would soon by ruling the kingdom. So when the princess came to call on the poor girl to switch places, the poor girl immediately proclaimed the switch would not happen. The princess didn't listen, though and arranged with the witch to have the ceremony readied once more. When the night came and went, however, the princess realized that the poor girl really had no intention of trading places again and would come to be the new queen on the day her father died. So, for the rest of her life, the princess lived as the poor girl and never heard from the queen again."

...I don't know why people consider silence as golden. I find it to be eerie as hell.

I sweatdropped when I saw the others' expressions. They all seemed pretty stunned by the legend behind the gem, and Kudo looked ready to fall out of his seat. I was quick to reassure everyone, "But that won't happen with us because neither Kudo or I want to be switched like this for the rest of our lives, that right, Kudo?"

"A-Aa..." was all he could managed to say for the moment.

Again I smiled sheepishly. "If I would have known this would have been the reaction, I should have saved it for when you were really mad at me," I said lightly, laughing a bit in hopes to lighten the atmosphere.

It got some people to start moving, if anything.

"Kuroba," Hakuba asked while gazing steadily at me.

"Heh?"

"Why must you always go after things that get you into trouble?"

Again I sweatdropped. "Well, I didn't really look into the legend," I quickly explained, "and I didn't really believe it anyway because all the other legends I've run across have been false, so you can hardly blame me for--"

"No one was blaming you, Kuroba," Hattori interrupted before I got too agitated, which I realized had been about to happen. "Really, I think it's both of your faults, so we need to figure out how to get this fixed."

Hakuba looked to be deep in thought. "Well, considering the legend, we should just wait until the twenty-eighth day--"

"But what about the wedding?" Kudo burst out, seeming to come out of his stupor quickly, "And the heist? There is no way that Kuroba's going to that heist looking like me!"

I rolled my eyes. "Master of disguise, Kudo," I muttered.

He pointed a finger at me. "And there's no way I'm going to the wedding looking like him!"

"We could postpone both of them--" Hattori began to suggest.

"NO!"

The Osaka detective shrank back at the exclamation from Kudo and me. "Well, it was just a suggestion," he muttered sourly.

"It was a good one," Hakuba stated firmly before looking to Kudo and me. "You're both being stubborn. Kuroba, just redate the heist. Your letter hasn't been sent yet, has it?"

"No," I said, looking pained, "but it's already with the person that going to deliver it and I won't be able to take it back from them or else they'll get suspicious. That was the whole purpose of doing it this way!"

"All right, fine," Hakuba said flatly, obviously annoyed by my thinking ahead. "Then, Kudo, what harm is it to push the date of the wedding back just a few days? It can't do any harm to let Mouri-san know that there's difficulties with the date set--"

"I was the one that pushed for that date, Hakuba," Kudo pointed out, a depressed look on his face. "If I ask Ran to hold the wedding back a few days, then she'll think that there's something wrong with me or that I might want to change my mind or she'll start to change her mind. I don't want any of those things to happen."

Hakuba put his face into his left hand in exasperation. "You two," he proclaimed, "are the worst at getting yourselves into impossible situations."

Heh. Looking back, I think I should have burst out laughing at the truth in his statement.

Instead, I took the childish approach to the situation and pointed at Kudo. "It's his fault!"

"What!" shouted Kudo with indignation. "This is not my fault, Kuroba!"

"It is too!" I retorted. "You shouldn't have followed me onto that pole!"

So began the argument of whose fault it was--Kaitou Kid versus Kudo Shinichi, round one. Ding!

"You shouldn't have gotten onto the pole!"

"You shouldn't have had Hattori cut the wiring in my cape!"

"You shouldn't have tried to escape in a cloud of smoke!"

"You shouldn't have followed me onto the roof!"

"You shouldn't have run to the roof!"

Hattori tried to interrupt us, "Kuroba...Kudo--"

"You shouldn't have used that stupid bow tie!"

"You shouldn't have disguised yourself as a police officer!"

Hakuba shook his head at the two of us before saying to Hattori. "It's useless to interrupt," he said, though my mind was on the argument on hand. "Just let them have at it."

"You shouldn't have been so eager to go to the heist!"

"That has nothing to do with you dressing up as an officer of the law!"

"Yes, it does!"

"No, it doesn't!"

"It does!"

"It doesn't!"

"It does!"

"It does not!"

"It does--"

"Shinichi?" We all froze as knock came at the door. "Shinichi, is everything okay in there?"

Kudo opened his mouth to answer, but I quickly ran over and smacked my hand to his face. "Everything's fine!" I answered, getting a glare from Kudo. "Kuroba and I are just talking!"

Ran-chan's voice sounded vaguely confused when she replied, "All right...sure...but could you keep it down? Kazuha, Aoko, Sonoko, and I are trying to work on the arrangements."

"Sure thing!" I responded before pausing to listen to her footsteps walk away from the door. I let out a sigh of relief, glad that the ruse had worked because I was used to having to change my voice in order to impersonate someone.

Kudo said, voice muffled by my hand, "Ah mfate eyew..."

I grinned, looking down at him. "What was that, Kuroba?" I asked mockingly, still playing my role to get a rise out of the meitantei. " 'A fate...ew?' 'A mate for you?' That's not very nice."

He shoved my hand away and glowered. "I really can not stand you, Kuroba," he stated firmly.

I smiled brightly. "It's only because you love me so much, Kudo," I said, patting him on the shoulder before quickly moving away, laughing at his expression.

Hakuba shook his head. "Are you done now?" he asked patiently.

"Yeah," I answered once I was finished with my laughter, sitting in a chair, mimicking Kudo's positioning. "But it still wasn't my fault that this all happened."

"Well, it wasn't mine," retorted Kudo, glaring at me from across the room, shifting in his seat.

I did the same, smiling the whole time. "Whatever you say, Kudo."

Hattori looked between the two of us before blinking. "Okay, you two are too much alike for your own good," he said before scratching his head a little in confusion. "And why didn't we just tell Neechan what's going on?"

I waved a hand before sitting up and acted as if I was shaking hands with someone. "How do you do? I'm Kuroba Kaito, but you might know me better as Kaitou Kid."

Hattori scowled at this. "You know," he said with some annoyance, "you being the Kaitou Kid really causes a lot of trouble."

I threw my hands up into the air. "I'm sorry, all right!" I exclaimed, tired of hearing this from everyone that knew. Sarcasm seemed to come out of me without my thinking of it as I then said, "I'm so sorry that my family has a history of kaitou that steal only to return things to embarrass people. I'm so sorry my father was hired by the Black Organization to find the Pandora. I'm ever so sorry that my father was killed by those people because he went against them. I'm really very sorry that I actually want to find Pandora before anybody else does!"

Then I went quiet, looking to each of them with a firm gaze.

They actually seemed to be surprised I had lost my cool. Except for Hakuba.

Sometimes it feels like Hakuba's the only one that understands how I feel about being the Kaitou Kid.

"Kuroba..." Hattori attempted to say, obviously feeling guilty for being the one that had been the last straw.

I smiled a bit, waving off his words. "It's all right," I said lightly, acting as if I hadn't just showed them all a sore wound to my heart. "I know I'm a pain as the Kaitou Kid. A big pain, really."

Especially to Aoko and Nakamori-keibu...

I refused to look over to Kudo as I said, "So what do we do to get around Kudo's and mine stubbornness?"

I don't really know why I couldn't stand to look at Kudo right then. I guess that I didn't want to see if he was feeling guilty as well or if he pretending nothing had happened like I had. Either reaction would have left me feeling more uncomfortable than I already was since it would be on my own face rather than his.

I don't know...maybe I was afraid of someone actually understanding...

He was the one who answered my question, however. "We'll think of something," he insisted firmly. "We got two weeks to figure out the first problem and then some more time to figure out how to fix the wedding."

I suddenly found a grin on my face at those words. The others noticed and looked curious. "I've got an idea," I stated proudly before lifting a finger. "We'll fix the wedding!"

Kudo frowned. "That's what I said."

"But it's not what you meant," I countered gleefully before rubbing my hands together. "We fix it. We delay it because of unforeseen events--"

"You can't do that!" Kudo protested.

"Would you prefer me marrying Ran-chan?" I asked him seriously, receiving a glowering gaze in return. "Thought so. If Ran-chan ever learns about this situation, then she'll forgive us, but until then, she'll think it was just an unfortunate event that couldn't be helped."

Hakuba smirked. "There's an idea," he said with some appreciation, "that might actually work."

Hattori agreed, as did Kudo, though reluctantly. Soon the three detectives were starting to plan out the 'unfortunate event' that would befallen the wedding in twenty days. I, however, remained where I was, thinking over what Hakuba had said. I sweatdropped. "What do you mean, 'might actually'?"

So you see, my dear audience, it isn't a simple matter to fix our situations. The heist would go on because I refused to have myself get caught trying to stop the letter from getting to Nakamori-keibu, therefore exposing me as the Kaitou Kid. And Kudo refused to push back the wedding date himself because he was the one that insisted on having the wedding on that day--it's very true, too. Right after the Black Organization incident, he was very determined to have the wedding within a month.

But, as Hattori said, Kudo and I are too much alike for our own good and our stubbornness was part of the reason we were in this situation in the first place. Maybe we should have just admitted to that rather than use it as a button to start an argument afterward...

...maybe not. What would be the fun in that?


End of Act One



Author's notes:
Ah...-sweatdrops- Kaito persona wanted to show you all why there was a big problem with the heist and wedding...plus, he wanted to say how stubborn Kudo and him are. -shrugs- Don't ask me. I write what I'm told. I have no opinion. :P Anyway, I want to thank Lucathia Rykatu for their wonderful reviews. Those are the kind of reviews I love and crave. They make me happy and is part of the reason my Kaito persona wanted to get this out before the seventh review for the last chapter. (That's been our posting-limit, if you haven't noticed.) Anyway, I hope you all have enjoyed! Ja!