Ladies and gentlemen! I humbly welcome you to the seventh chapter of this story!

It's a heist chapter finally~ There will be a change of POV since I much prefer to show KID's tricks from an outside perspective - hope you don't mind too much~

With that out of the way, please enjoy and review!


To make sure everything went according to the plan, Kaito came to the museum two hours prior to the heist. He had to double check on his setup, which he left in the building, as well as make sure the police weren't doing anything funny and also to scout out Saguru, to know what he was up to and if he showed up at all. And he did. The guy made a short appearance an hour before the venue started, announced to the inspector that he couldn't take part in the heist but still hung around for another half an hour. He obviously wanted to be seen, so Kaito made sure to pay attention when he left and went for the stairs which lead to the roof, instead of exiting the building.

Kaito smirked. Saguru could have been more transparent for him only if he actually had a neon sign above his head saying 'I'll be waiting for you there to meet me'. The rooftop wasn't ideal, as he chose that path far too often for his escape and the police caught up on it, but he could make it work. Leading the police by their noses was becoming sort of his speciality after all~

The museum was a vast building consisting of four floors, two wings and the center part. The diamond, which KID promised to steal, was displayed in a decorative case at the center of a room on the ground floor at the end of the hall leading from the front door. The room itself had only one entrance, in the form of a wide, double door. There were decorative columns on both sides and in between them were other display cases, with other artifacts, connected in history to the diamond.

Kaito was occupied with adjusting his plans in his mind when suddenly his thoughts came to a screeching halt. He held tight to his poker face as he watched in horror a tiny child enter the room with his tonight's target and walk over to the inspector to speak with him about something. Kaito wanted to facepalm himself. This was probably the first time that he actually didn't take into account Meitantei, of all people, showing up to this heist. Normally, he would be thrilled to have him during his event. He didn't worry about Conan stopping his theft, as he had enough faith in his ability to manage it, but he knew that the guy could be a nightmare to shake off. On top of that he was too perceptive for his own good. And too nosy. He was probably the last person that Kaito would want to notice that there was something unusual happening around him.

One thing was certain - the first part of the heist wouldn't be boring for sure, he thought to himself while holding back a grin as he followed the piercing gaze of the tiny detective scouting the interior.

A few moments later there was one officer less in the room and Kaito idly wondered if anyone besides Conan would notice.


There were still five minutes left when the inspector ordered a complete lockdown of the building. It was nearly certain that KID had already infiltrated the museum but that at least meant he would be trapped inside with them. Or at the very least, had his movements limited. One could never be certain of anything when it came to KID, so when Conan heard the door shutting in the whole building he felt adrenaline fill his veins. He couldn't help but count down in his head, as the last seconds were ticking down until the announced time. And then pass it without anything happening.

Everybody looked around in anticipation and one guard actually yelped when there was a sudden power shortage which caused lights to flicker. Flicker but not die down… And still nothing happened? Murmurs of shocked officers filled the room as time passed in the following seconds, until one of them actually looked at the pedestal, which held tonight's target.

"Inspector! The diamond! It's gone!"

"Impossible!" Ginzo shouted and ran towards the pedestal to see for himself that the case was empty, "But there wasn't even a second of a blackout! He couldn't have taken it-!" the inspector argued but was interrupted by his radio.

"Inspector! This is Hanada speaking. We sighted KID running towards the east wing! We're in hot pursuit! Requesting backup!"

Already moving, Ginzo replied to the radio "Good! Don't you dare to lose sight of him!" He turned to his men, "He's locked here with us! We can't let him escape!"

Anticipating what would happen next, Conan hurried out of their way. And sure enough, with loud agreement, all of the officers followed their leader in hot pursuit after the thief. A few moments, after the last of them ran out of the room, a figure stepped from behind a column. They snorted a quiet laugh and walked towards the seemingly empty pedestal.

"Never change, dear inspector~" they whispered and reached for the case.

"You don't change either, do you? Kaitou KID."

The figure didn't flinch or show surprise in any other way and simply calmly turned to the detective, who coincidentally hid behind a different column.

"Ah, Taintei-kun(1), I was wondering where you went~"

With a grin on his face, the man grabbed the hem of his dark clothes and pulled, revealing with a flourish his signature white suit with the cape dramatically flowing behind him. The effect somehow ruined by it falling slopply on top of the case instead of gracefully behind the thief. Conan snorted at that but it didn't seem to bother KID in the slightest.

"Now tell me, how did you know I was here?" he asked with a pleased smile on his lips, as if happy to finally see his adversary.

Conan smirked back and flicked the cover of his watch, aiming the dart at the thief to make the bastard feel less secure. He couldn't use his soccer ball here and they both knew it. There were too many fragile and precious things he could accidently break.

"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth(2)," he quoted his favorite author and snorted. "The inspector was right. You couldn't have stolen the diamond before, meaning you made it only appear like it was gone. So, you just needed everyone to leave, in order to retrieve it. It was also too convenient how immediately after the discovery that the gem was gone it was announced that you were seen somewhere else. You're losing your touch, KID," he added with a chuckle.

KID hummed in amusement. "I wonder about that~" he replied with a knowing smirk never leaving his lips.

Conan narrowed his eyes. Did he miss something? "Now, step away from the pedestal," he growled while aiming his dart watch at the thief.

Surprisingly, the kaitou(3) raised his hands and did what he was asked, taking a few steps backwards, away from the case, "As you wish, taintei-kun~" he said politely and then flicked his wrist revealing the diamond in his hand and his face split with a wicked grin, "I already took what I came for after all!"

Conan fired his dart immediately, but his vision was obstructed by a sudden burst of smoke. Laughter was heard from the thief and the detective darted towards it, while covering his mouth from the smoke with a tiny gas mask which he had Hakase(4) to prepare for him. He was so sure that he kept his eyes on KID enough to prevent him from stealing the diamond but the moment he changed his clothes must have been enough for him to palm it. Or he did it when the detective was explaining his reasoning, he thought with annoyance.

He ran into the corridor, following the slight noise of running and stopped. He didn't actually see KID and the sly bastard knew how to be completely silent when he needed to. Meaning he was trying to send the detective on a goose chase, just like he did with the police. With a curse on his lips Conan started looking around. The sound was leading him towards the west wing but there wasn't any way for him to leave the building from there. With that in mind, he turned towards the unassuming door that led to the rooftop and ran there.

Unless KID had forced his way through Nakamori's lockdown, he had only two escape paths. Either through the basement or the roof. And given the choice, KID would definitely choose the latter. Especially on a night like this, when the police didn't have any helicopters at hand and the weather was good.

Sure enough, when he reached the top, he saw two guards sleeping near the door. He smirked victoriously and grabbed the handle to hastily make his way onto the roof, hoping to catch the thief before he left.

KID was there, alright. He greeted him with a broad smile and a galant bow. "Ah~ Detectives! Such a pleasure to have both of you visit my little venue~!"

Both? Conan frowned and immediately looked around, spotting Saguru of all people, staring back at him with shock evident on his face. "Conan-kun?" he mumbled with a bewildered tone.

"Hakuba…-niichan?" he choked out, barely remembering to use the right suffix, "What are you doing here? Why weren't you downstairs?" he asked suspiciously, recovering from his initial shock. And how come you weren't knocked out like the guards at the door? He thought but refrained from asking for now.

"I- I was. I told inspector Nakamori that I would secure the rooftop in case KID managed to get here. I hid here and came out when I heard the commotion at the door," he replied smoothly but Conan didn't buy it. If that was the case, he should have been able to apprehend the thief, the moment he stepped onto the roof, "I didn't expect you to show up, however."

He was about to reply, when he recalled the reason why he came to the roof in the first place and turned away from the other detective in search of KID. He found him standing near the edge, seemingly ready to make his escape. Seemingly without even bothering to say his farewells. Hastily, he hit the dial on his shoe activating it and shouted at the thief.

"Give back the jewel KID!"

The kaitou turned to him and crooked his head with a perplexed expression. "Jewel? Ah, you mean this?" He flicked his wrist making the diamond he stole appear in his hand seemingly out of nowhere. "Beautiful isn't it?" he said towards the jewel, while admiring it in the moonlight.

Conan ground his teeth. If he kicked the ball now, he could make the bastard drop the diamond over the edge. Still, there was something wrong. It was all too easy and the guy seemed to be far too distracted.

"You're off your game, KID," he said suspiciously, "The whole heist was just nothing but plain misdirection and not even a good one. What's going on?" He glanced at Saguru as he said it, suspecting that it could have something to do with him.

The thief looked at him with that unnerving smirk on his lips, as if mocking him and threw the stone at him, making Conan stumble to catch it and lose his focus.

"It was more than enough for the police and sadly I wasn't expecting to have any company today," he explained with a bored tone and then added with a smirk, "I promise to pose a better challenge next time."

Saguru stepped forward, reaching towards the thief, "KID, wait!" he shouted, sounding desperate, making Conan look at him with surprise, "I need to speak with you."

"Another time perhaps. For now I'll be taking my leave~" KID bowed at them with a sly smile on his lips and tipped backwards, falling off the roof and out of sight making Conan unable to kick a soccer ball at him.

Annoyed, he clicked his tongue and was about to curse the thief when he heard Saguru mumble something under his breath angrily and dash for the door.

"Hakuba-niichan? Where are you going?" he shouted after him and followed. He had a lot of questions for the guy.

Shockingly though, when he opened the door, Saguru wasn't there anymore and Conan couldn't hear him running down the stairs either. He seemed to simply have vanished.


(1) Taintei-kun - 'tantei' translates to 'detective', '-kun' is a suffix used in japanese when referring to a friend, Kaito usually uses the term 'tantei-kun' when referring to Conan (yes, this does mean he has essentially two pet names for one person);

(2) this is a quote from Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes;


Hope to see you next chapter *bows*