Blue Shadow

A new thief is in town who's stealing KID's targeted jewels before the Moonlight Magician even gets to the scene! Who is this Blue Shadow? What does Akako know? And...does Aoko have an alter ego?

ooo

"Good morning, Kuroba-kun," came the sultry voice of Koizumi Akako.

"Yo Akako," was the easy reply of the prankster from behind a newspaper. The headlines read that another KID heist was taking place this week. After a few minutes of chuckling to himself, Kaito lowered the paper.

"What? Is there something on my face?" He raised an eyebrow at the witch still smiling at him. God, it was getting creepy.

"Nothing, nothing at all! Ohohoho!" laughed Akako as she moved to another classmate.

"Excited for the next heist, Nakamori-san?"

The messy haired girl seemed to be taken aback by the question. "Eh? No way! But KID better watch out!"

"Oh? And why is that?" Akako pressed on with a devious smile.

"C-cause my dad will definitely catch him this time!" Aoko answered a little flustered.

"Yeah, right. Your dad couldn't even catch a cold!" laughed Kaito from his desk.

"Why you..." started Aoko. "BAKAITO!"

"Only kidding, Aoko!"

And their routine mop chase began.

Akako sat down on her chair, with a smirk on her lips. "A blue shadow comes forth and eclipses the moonlight," she murmured. "And the game of hide and seek begins."

ooo

"Otousan! I brought you dinner!" chirped Aoko as she walked to her father, well, more like skipped.

Inspector Nakamori was checking the gallery's security for any bugs. Tonight's heist was an enormous amethyst on display. It was nestled in a glass case protected by a 6 digit pass code. Kaito smirked. This was going to be easy.

"Good luck dad!" He heard Aoko say.

Kaito eyed his childhood friend warily. "Well someone's happy," he commented.

"Hmm? Oh! That's because I got this!" the messy brunette exclaimed. She proudly presented a long rectangular box. It was large enough to fit a rifle in.

"What is it?" Kaito asked as he tried to grab the package. Aoko easily snatched it away from his fingers.

"It's a secret!" she told him gleefully. "Don't worry! Maybe I'll get to use it tonight!"

"Come on! Let me see!" he whined. Aoko promptly bonked him on the head with the box.

"Nope. You'll just have to wait."

"Fine fine," he said defeated. Kaito looked at his watch. 7 minutes til the time of his heist. He was about to excuse himself to go to the bathroom when he realized Aoko had disappeared.

"Aoko?" he called out, looking around. Oh well. Less hassle for him, he shrugged. Kaito made his way to the bathroom and began his preparations.

As he finished changing into the task force uniform he borrowed earlier, the lights of the building turned off.

"Just in time," KID smiled to himself. He exited the stall and slipped into the main function room.

"Don't panic!" barked Nakamori-keibu. "The generators should kick in any ti-" And right on cue, the lights flickered back on. However, the amethyst was gone.

What?! Kaito gaped. But he hasn't even activated the switching mechanism he installed in the case! A fake gem was supposed to be on the pedestal at a push of his remote, leaving the real one in the secret compartment he set up. How could it have vanished?

Was this all part of Nakamori-keibu's plan?

"Damn that Kaito KID!" the inspector cursed.

That answered Kaito's question. Someone else got here before he did and stole the jewel! But how?

Dressed up as an officer, the Phantom Thief inspected the glass case. It seemed to be untouched. But the case could only be opened by entering the pass code which only Nakamori-keibu and the museum curator knew. (Well, him too of course. Kaito had cracked the code days ago.) His thoughts were interrupted by the shout of the inspector.

"What? You spotted someone on the roof? Team A, get there now! Team B! Cover all possible exits!" the man barked.

They all rushed out of the room, except for one officer by the display case.

What the hell is going on?

ooo

Kuroba Kaito was in a sour mood the next day. All over the papers, the headline raved about the new thief in town. This new bandit stole the same jewel Kaito had his eyes on but only hid the treasure. Later it was discovered in Nakamori-keibu's jacket pocket wrapped within a note:

"The amethyst is safe. Let the KID go back home."

Kaito scratched his head and furiously stuffed the newspaper in his bag.

"What's wrong, Kuroba-kun?" It was Akako smirking at him.

"Don't mind him, Akako-chan," Aoko answered with a smug smile. "He's just bitter that his hero lost last night!"

"KID didn't lose!" Kaito defended. "Who's this new thief anyway?"

Just then, a girl in glasses came rushing into the classroom. "Keiko?" Aoko looked at her friend. "What's up?"

"Someone got a picture of the new thief!" Keiko squealed. "And it's a girl!"

"I'd love to see the look on KID's face! Beaten by a girl!" Aoko giggled.

Kaito scowled. Damn it! A female thief? "How did you know it was a girl?" he demanded.

"Look here," Keiko said as she flipped open her cellphone. It was a picture of a figure dressed in a tight deep blue outfit. The person was jumping down from a building, a long ponytail streaming behind.

Keiko zoomed in on the picture and focused on the mystery thief's chest. "See? Those are breasts! Even if they're small, that's definitely a girl!"

"Are you alright, Nakamori-san?" Akako raised a knowing eyebrow at her. "Your face has gone red."

"N-no, I'm fine!" Aoko waved her hands in protest. "I'm just happy KID didn't get to steal anything last night!"

"But it said in the paper that KID gave a notice to come back for the amethyst tonight!" one of their classmates announced. "He'll get it for sure this time!"

"No way! The Blue Shadow's gonna outwit him again!" Keiko retorted.

"Blue Shadow?" Kaito asked dryly. "Is that her name?"

"That's what they're calling her! They say she had a sword like a ninja! Isn't she cool?" a boy from their class praised. "A fan club's forming already!"

Kaito gritted his teeth and tried not to lose it. Poker Face. Poker Face. Poker Face. He chanted to calm himself.

"Looks like you're being upstaged," Akako snickered at him. "Did your girlfriend finally get fed up of all your heists?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he told the witch innocently. "But I can tell you this, KID's going to win for sure!"

ooo

"Hey, you're still carrying that thing around?" Kaito pointed to the long box Aoko was holding.

"Oh this?" the girl smiled. "I didn't get a chance to use it yesterday. Maybe later I'll get to."

"What is it anyway?"

"It's a secret!" Aoko sang. "Bye Kaito! And don't be too sad, KID's a no-good thief anyway," his childhood friend called as she exited the classroom.

"Keh. Don't scare the animals with your face!" was the prankster's reply. Aoko has been going to that volunteer program thing for how long now? Five? Six months? Kaito lost track.

Who'd want to help out in a pet store anyway? (No! He wasn't scared of the f-fish there! He just had better things to do than clean out cages and give cats a bath.) Plus, the store was all the way in Beika. He definitely had better things to do.

Like say, find out how he'll outsmart this so-called Blue Shadow. What a lousy name! Pshhh. He'll show her!

Kaito exited the school grounds with a determined look on his face, just as the sky began to darken.

ooo

Fifteen minutes until the heist and Kaito had everything set. He slipped into the gallery as an old janitor and made his way to the function room.

To his surprise, everyone was on the floor unconscious. The lights were out and only the lightning from a high window illuminated the room every now and then.

"What's going on here?" he asked aloud.

"Time for you to go home, KID," came a velvety voice from somewhere in the room. The acoustics in the place made the voice bounce around. Kaito smirked and took off his disguise, revealing his trademark white suite and donning a matching top hat.

"Pleasure to finally meet you, Blue Shadow," he announced smoothly. "But I'm afraid I'll be taking that amethyst now."

"I'm afraid not," the voice replied.

Kaito then pulled out his card gun and in one swift motion, fired at various points in the ceiling.

"Ouch!" Blue Shadow exclaimed. "You'll pay for that!"

Kaito smirked but he still couldn't tell where she was. He had to keep her talking. "Apologies, Blue Shadow. Won't I even get to see your lovely face?"

"Your sweet talk won't work on me!"

Gotcha! And Kaito aimed to his left when he saw something glisten. There was flash of lightning and he almost missed it. Blue Shadow had fired a tranquilizing needle at him. Kaito shot a card to intercept the dart and leapt to the second floor railings of the room. As he hoisted himself up, he sensed another dart coming right at him.

A tumble.

A shot.

Another.

And a turn.

KID stood in front of the window; his card gun at the neck of the girl in blue, and her sword's tip poised above his stomach.

He could see her face now, the lower half covered by a mask and eyes shining in the moonlight. They were blue- no black- no, violet. Kaito wasn't entirely sure. The darkness was playing tricks on his mind.

But he saw clearly the pain and the determination in those eyes. He couldn't look anywhere else.

"Hello, beautiful." He broke the heavy silence. Her eyes went wide with surprise, as if she rarely heard that complement. Kaito cast her a disarming smile. "What brings you here?"

It took her a moment to answer. "I'm stopping you from stealing the jewel." And suddenly she ducked and jabbed her weapon at him. Kaito easily avoided it and backed up. He noticed that her sword was still in its sheath, there was no glint from a blade.

Blue Shadow then unexpectedly lunged at him, thrusting her sword as he danced around it. This was practically as hard as dodging Aoko's mop-and that wasn't too difficult for the Phantom Thief.

Then it dawned to him.

This fighting pattern, those eyes. Could it be?

WHACK!

His opponent's weapon made contact with his side. He mentally cursed himself for being so distracted. Kaito then grabbed the sheathed sword and pulled, causing Blue Shadow to fall forward.

He caught her and dipped her low. His hand snaked around her waist and he grinned. Her eyes were shocked and then out of nowhere, she maneuvered a take down. Blue Shadow started kicking and punching relentlessly while KID ducked and dodged.

Okay. So this can't be Aoko. Aoko doesn't know karate.

Kaito then jumped over her and shot his grappling hook to the window. He raised himself up and avoided the sleeping needles coming from...the end of the sword? Now that was new.

"Get back here, coward!" Blue Shadow challenged.

He grinned at his enemy and held up the amethyst to the small patch moonlight. He pick-pocketed it from Blue Shadow when he had caught her. KID held his breath and waited for what always felt like a lifetime. No tears of immortality appeared.

So this wasn't Pandora.

He tossed the gem back to Blue Shadow and tipped his hat to her. "Consider it as a parting gift, my lady."

And with that, he opened the window and disappeared into the night.

ooo

Kaito descended from the window and dashed to the park behind the gallery. He changed back into his regular clothes and exited from the trees, mingling with the heist spectators outside the building. Thunder and lightning clashed in the sky but still, there was no rain.

The prankster had just decided to head home when someone hit his head from behind. "Hey!" he protested. Kaito turned around and found his childhood friend laughing at him.

"Gotcha! What are you doing here, Kaito?" Aoko asked. She was still carrying that same box from before.

"I came to watch the heist but it looks like it's going to rain. I'm heading home," he replied. "So when am I gonna find out what's in the box?"

"Oh. Well, I guess it's okay to bring it out now." Aoko opened the box and took out...

Blue Shadow's sword. Complete with the sheath and all.

Kaito's eyes doubled in size. "Where did you get that? Aoko, are you-"

His sentence stopped short when she unsheathed the sword and revealed an umbrella. Aoko popped it open and gave him a bright smile.

"Isn't it cool? My friend from the pet store gave it!"

Kaito facefaulted but recovered with a jibe. "That's it? You've been keeping an umbrella a secret from me?" He let out a hearty laugh. Truth be told, he was just relieved that his childhood friend wasn't Blue Shadow. And how could Aoko ever be a karate-fighting-thief-of-the-night?

Look how harmless and cute she is! (And no. NO. He didn't mean that in a Aoko's-cute-and-funny-and-kinda-adorable-and-maybe-even-a-little-pretty kind of way. He just meant that she was so innocent and carefree.)

Ahem.

"Hey! Don't laugh at my umbrella!" Aoko pouted.

"Alright, alright. Your sword umbrella's kinda cool," Kaito said with a smile.

Just then, it started to rain. The crowd in front of the gallery began to dissipate and a sea of umbrellas took over. The two childhood friends made their way back home.