Chapter 8

A/N: I'm using the term "omake" to mark any section of this story that has a point of view other than Shinichi's. So yes, the mysterious woman will have a part in this fic.

Irritation bubbled up in Shinichi as he endured his pat-down at the hands of one of the rougher guards. He deduced the man responsible as he waiting for it to end; his girlfriend had just left him and he had an inferiority complex and was power-hungry, if the insulting way he addressed Shinichi was anything to go by. He hoped the guard eventually came across his dad. Dad would probably get a kick out of embarrassing him.

Soon enough, he was finished and pushed through to the visitor's room where Dad was waiting. Smiles broke out on their faces at the same time. "Junior!" Dad threw himself at Shinichi, who caught him in a hug. "It's been way too long, kiddo. How are you? Have you been eating regularly—Goemon gets on my back when you don't eat regularly."

"Hey Dad," he whispered, emotion leaking into his voice without his permission. He hadn't realized how much he missed his family until he saw his dad. It made him ache to see the rest of them, or at least hear Papa's voice. "I missed you."

Lupin shifted and the hug became softer, more comforting. But they let go quickly; they were well aware of the mirror in the room, of who was behind it. They sat down, the visiting room surprisingly containing moderately comfortable couches. Dad draped himself across one half, looking far more smug and in control than anyone in prison had a right to look. "So, what brings you to this side of town? I doubt this is a social visit."

"They want me to interrogate you about where the rest of my family is." He was originally supposed to have an earpiece to feed him the answers, but Gramps had decided against it, knowing Lupin would know that he was being interrogated through his son. Shinichi was glad that they'd scrapped the idea, otherwise his eardrum would have popped from how much they were probably yelling at him. "The idea that you would ever give them up without a substantial amount of money is ridiculous."

"Now, now, it's not that bad. I'd also give them up in exchange for purging my criminal record! Geeze, Pops, I thought you knew me better than that!" Dad yelled at the mirror, laughing. "So, kiddo, how have you been? One of the guards let slip you were going to high school, has it been treating you well?"

Shinichi perked up. "High school's great. Well, the material is pretty easy, even though I think I'm in the advanced class, but I like it because I made some friends."

"YES!" Shinichi flinched back as Lupin bolted to his feet throwing his hands in the air. "Ha! I won the bet! In your face, Jigen, I told you he had social skills!"

"You guys made a bet on whether or not I'd make friends!?" He wanted to be offended, but this honestly seemed like something his family would do. And worry about.

"Of course we did. And your Papa was stupid enough to bet that you wouldn't make any friends. Ha! Don't worry, kid, I share my winnings with you." Finally calmer, Dad sat back down, a grin stretched himself across his monkey face. "So, tell me about them! Who's hanging out with my kid?"

He told him about Kuroba and his magic tricks, Nakamori-chan and her… aggressive tendencies, and Hakuba, who Shinichi described as his best friend. It was an exaggeration, because as close as they could be, Shinichi was still holding back on telling him… anything, really. But Hakuba was watching from the other side of the mirror and he needed Hakuba to trust him as much as possible, even if he was going to shatter that trust when he escaped. Lupin listened thoughtfully, nodding his head every once in a while to show he was still listening. Finally, when Shinichi could no longer think of anything to say, Lupin said, "It sounds like you really like it here."

"Yeah…" He looked away, unable to meet his dad's eyes.

"I'm glad. Don't look so shocked! I always knew that all our traveling wasn't good for you. It makes me happy that you're enjoying yourself so much, Arsène."

"…Thanks, Dad." Shinichi smiled weakly.

Lupin smiled back. "No problem, kid. Now, since you live in a police chief's house, have you noticed anything suspicious? The ICPO agents around here have been chasing their own tails after something and it's definitely not me."

"You know you could probably just ask them to tell you what's going on."

"That's no fun! Besides, it's not going to affect me in here, now will it?" Lupin gave him a pointed look. "Ask. Please. You know how danger always follows you; I want you to be prepared. If you don't, I'll call your Aunt Red and make her pick you up so you can stay with her."

"Fine, fine. I'll ask, but I doubt whatever it is will bother me. Interpol and Hakuba have been keeping a solid eye on me." Shinichi waved off his concern, appearing nonchalant about the whole thing when he was trying to hide how curious he was. Something had to be pretty bad to rattle Dad this much… But he wouldn't concern himself with it. He didn't want to stay with Aunt Red, not with what happened last time… "I went to a KID heist yesterday."

Dad raised his eyebrows. "That sounds fun. Anything interesting happen? See any ideas we could steal?"

"Eh, it was pretty basic. He did end up flirting with me though."

"What!?" If looks could kill… "He has to be at least forty! What the hell is he doing, flirting with kids!?"

Shinichi was fairly sure that Kaitou KID was actually closer to 14 than 40, but he wasn't going to correct him. It was kind of funny that his normally brilliant Dad didn't actually know the truth for once. "Oi, I'm not a kid…"

"I'm going to kill him," Dad concluded, ignoring what Shinichi just said in favor of plotting death.

"No, you can't kill him, you're in jail."

"Then you're Papa can kill him!"

Shinichi sighed. Really, the people he was family with…

A/N: If anyone can guess who Aunt Red is, then I'll tell you who the woman was in the omake last chapter.