He woke to a burning ache of pain in his knee and with the cold sweat of fear trickling down his back. Saguru jolted, reaching for his leg automatically as if massaging it would help when it was hurting this badly. Faint memories of a nightmare, like poor reflections from a rippling pool, lingered. A warm presence at his side made an unhappy sound, turning over to bury deeper against the couch cushions. Takumi. And it was the couch in Kudo's study. Saguru let out a tense breath. No wonder his knee was agony. Between chasing Kid at a crime scene, crouching on concrete, and then collapsing on it again with his panic attack, it was more careless use than he ordinarily put it through. Add on his mental state and, well, Saguru was fairly certain the worst of the burning sensation was purely mental. There was faint light filtering through the windows, so it was past sunrise, but still very early. He squinted at his watch. Six thirteen in the morning. He'd managed to get almost three hours of rest.
The house creaked, soft footsteps as someone moved upstairs. At some point someone had left a blanket draped over him, though it had fallen to his lap. There was one covering Takumi as well. He was curled tight against Saguru's side, his face pressed against the couch cushions, twisted in a way that looked uncomfortable. He grumbled again as Saguru shifted away, trying not to wake him.
Saguru levered himself upright, hissing at the pins and needles added to the achy knee. It felt like his whole leg had suddenly remembered it existed and was making its presence known with a vengeance. He was almost to the door when he tripped on a footstool, sending it screeching across the wooden floor.
Takumi sat upright. The blanket slid off his shoulders to the ground. So much for trying to let him sleep more, Saguru thought irritably. "Hakuba-sensei?" Takumi asked, voice thick with sleep.
"It's just me being clumsy," Saguru sighed.
"Kid?"
"I am on my way to find out."
Takumi wiped at his face. "Just a second… I'll come with you." He wobbled to his feet, yawning. "What time is it?"
"A quarter after six."
"Mm. Too early."
"Agreed," Saguru sighed. He would have a headache eventually, like he usually did when he missed large gaps of sleep.
"What happened to your cane anyway?" Takumi asked as he helped Saguru out of the room, leaning into Saguru almost as much as Saguru needed to lean on him. It seemed the social boundaries had broken down in wake of yesterday, be it that Takumi now felt that Saguru was safe to be casual with because he hadn't reacted badly or because Takumi still needed the comfort, Saguru wasn't sure. He didn't mind either way. He'd long since resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to be impartial to Takumi. He was Kuroba's son first, Saguru's student second.
The question gave Saguru pause, his mind blearily casting back to the mess of the heist and its aftermath. "I believe I left it with the glider remains," Saguru said. "Or perhaps at the bins." He hadn't thought about what he could or couldn't (or should or shouldn't) do after seeing Kid on the pavement. He'd forgotten about his knee entirely until he'd gone to use it to stand again. The cane was probably gone now. If Kudo had followed through on getting someone to clean the site up, then there would be little chance that something tied to him would be left there.
"I wonder if they have something you could borrow," Takumi said. They wandered out into the hallway. In the dim morning light, the manor felt much larger than it had at night. Now Saguru could see the high ceiling in the front room and the length of the halls. The Kudo manor wasn't as large as Saguru's childhood homes, but it was certainly large enough to lose someone in. Saguru thought the room they'd left Kid in was down the left hallway, but to be honest, he couldn't remember where he had gone when he had the panic attack only that it had been away.
There were quiet sounds of someone moving about to the left, and the smell of something cooking. The kitchen, then.
It seemed Takumi had the same thought as Saguru because he turned left without anything needing be said.
The kitchen was painted a warm shade of light gold that was made warmer in the early light. At the stove was the same woman who had held open the door the night before. He was sure now that this was Mouri Kogoro's daughter, now Kudo Ran. He didn't remember her well, but he knew he had seen her the few times his path had crossed the sleeping detective and the eerily sharp boy, Edogawa Conan. She looked up as they entered, exhaustion on her face mirroring their own. She offered them a smile all the same.
"Breakfast is almost done," Ran said. When she turned fully, Saguru noticed the bandage at the crook of her arm. She'd given her blood, then.
"Is Kid…?" Saguru trailed off, unsure if he wanted to end that sentence with 'alive' or 'stable.'
"He's recovering." She went back to slicing tomatoes and thin yellow pepper strips. On the stove was a large pan with eggs frying in it, and a small, covered earthenware pot on the back burner. "He hasn't woken up, but Ai-san managed to patch him up and his vitals are stable. He did have a bit of a concussion though, so she's keeping an eye on that."
Saguru relaxed a beat before Takumi did, sagging forward with the weight of relief. Thank goodness. If Kuroba died… His mind shied away from that train of thought.
"Sit down," Ran said over her shoulder. "You look like you're going to fall over. Is your leg okay, Hakuba-san?"
"Old injury," Saguru said, gratefully taking one of the offered seats. "Normally I use a cane but I seem to have lost it."
"Hmm, I think Shinichi has some walking sticks somewhere," Ran said. "I'll see if I can find them later."
"Thank you." Both of the Kudos were being so bafflingly welcoming. They were acquaintances at best from half a lifetime ago and considering the circumstances… "You seem awfully calm considering you have Kaitou Kid recovering under your roof."
Ran laughed, pulling plates from the cupboards and dishing out eggs onto them "There are a lot worse people out there than Kid," Ran said. She pulled a pan from the oven full of toast, adding those to the plates, and a bit of salad on the side. "Besides, it's not like he hasn't been here before. He used to pretend to be Shinichi sometimes when he needed to get somewhere that a detective could access. So he's been here before and the only thing that was hurt then was pride."
Whose pride, Kudo's or Kid's? Saguru wondered. Or perhaps it was Ran's pride that had been hurt? She didn't explain any further, setting two plates in front of them with a smile. Takumi's stomach growled loudly and he ducked his head.
Ran laughed. "Go ahead and eat. The others will be down in a minute."
Seven plates. Who else was there besides Kudo and Haibara? As if on cue, heavy footfalls stampeded down the stairs, thudding down the hallway. Two girls skidded into the kitchen only to freeze when they set eyes on Saguru and Takumi. Saguru was again struck by how much Kudo resembled Kuroba; the girls could have been Takumi's siblings down to the slightly rounder eye shape in the younger of the two that in Kuroba Saguru attributed to some bit of European ancestry on his mother's side.
"This is Hanae and Midori," Ran said indicating the older and younger girl respectively. "Girls, meet Hakuba-san and Takumi-kun. They're guests at the moment."
Hanae frowned at them, but Midori simply turned to Takumi and said, "You're sitting in my chair."
Takumi gripped his plate. "Um. Do you want me to move?"
"No." Midori moved around him and pulled out another chair. "You can be me today."
"Then who are you?" Takumi asked.
"Hanae."
"Then who am I?" Hanae demanded, stomping over to pull out the last chair.
"Tou-san," Midori said. "Because you're in his place."
Her sister thought it over, shrugged. "Okay."
Ran smiled and a tired looking Kudo wandered in. He looked enough like Kuroba, his hair mussed up in the back and relaxed stance, that Saguru almost did a double-take. Takumi paused with a bite of egg halfway to his mouth and blinked.
"What's wrong?" Kudo asked.
"Nothing," Saguru said. "You merely resemble someone we know."
Kudo's eyes flicked toward where Kid must be. "I've heard that I had a look-alike running around."
"Sure you don't have a long lost twin?" Takumi muttered. His shoulders hunched. "It's a little creepy."
"It's your hair," Saguru explained when Kudo raised an eyebrow. He was probably wondering why his appearance was only getting a response now.
"Ah." Kudo ran a hand through his hair to try and put it to order, but it was still messier than it had been when he arrived to help them.
"Tou-san, I'm you today!" Hanae said as her mother set breakfast before her and her sister. She knelt in her chair and leaned toward Takumi and Midori. "Today we're going to do puzzles," she said attempting to pitch her voice deeper.
"Um. Sure?" Takumi said. "Er, what kind of puzzles are you thinking about?"
"Eat your breakfast before games," Ran said, looking amused as her daughters started to dig into their breakfast. She pulled up a stool to the counter and Kudo leaned next to her. He grinned when Ran handed him a plate and a pot of coffee. He had the same bandage on the crook of his arm that she did from giving blood.
Fresh concern all but deadened Saguru's appetite. How much blood had Kid needed? How much had he lost that he'd needed blood from two donors? Saguru pushed a slice of tomato around his plate. He was dimly aware of the girls drawing Takumi into conversation, but most of his attention was focused on how pale Kid had been and the extent of his wounds… Had he done enough last night? How severe of a concussion had it been? Kid had blacked out, but from head trauma or from pain and blood loss? He should finish eating and go see for himself, except that seeing Kid still and quiet and bandaged, unconscious and unresponsive again… That would probably set him off again.
The clatter of a fork against porcelain jolted him from his thoughts as Hanae threw down her utensil. "Done!" she said as her sister stuffed the last wedge of toast in her mouth, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's. "To the library!" Hanae said, pointing imperiously. Midori swallowed her last bite with a swallow of juice.
"Plates in the sink," Ran said as both girls leapt from their seats. They hastily grabbed their dishes to abandon them at the sink before returning to grab Takumi.
"C'mon, since you're Midori, you have to help pick the puzzle," Hanae grunted, tugging at Takumi's arm. "It's tradition!"
"Uh." Takumi let himself be pulled from his seat, Midori's small hands joining Hanae's as they tugged him toward the door. He gave Saguru an alarmed, pleading look. Clearly he didn't interact with children very often.
"No fighting, and no puzzles from the top shelf," Kudo said, making no move to rescue Takumi. Kudo glanced at Saguru.
Takumi's alarm turned resigned as he was pulled out the doorway. Saguru hoped that playing with the girls would be a good distraction; Takumi looked like he still had Kid bleeding out behind his eyes. Sometimes doing something, anything, was enough to keep traumatic thoughts from gaining footholds.
"I'll take this to Ai-san," Ran said, plucking the last plate from the counter and exiting the room.
It felt planned except that Saguru didn't think that Kudo had intended his children to accost Takumi. Saguru met Kudo's sharp gaze, much more alert now that he had caffeine entering his system.
"So," Kudo said over his coffee.
"So," Saguru echoed. "Kid's injuries?"
"The gunshot wounds you know," Kudo said, eyes never leaving Saguru. "Road burn along his right side along with severe bruising. Bruised ribs, none broken. His shoulder was dislocated, but not his leg—the leg's a bad sprain. Moderate concussion at least. Still waiting to see how bad the effects of that are. He's woken a few times, but hasn't stayed awake long between what Haibara's dosing him with and the pain. He seemed lucid when he phased in, but it's kind of hard to tell since I don't know him much outside of heists."
"He can be a lot less calm or in control outside of heists," Saguru said. He didn't miss the way Kudo's gaze sharpened the slightest bit at his words.
"You know him pretty well, then," Kudo said, "inside and outside of heists."
"I do." No matter how much Kudo dissected him with his eyes, Saguru wasn't going to feel ashamed for becoming friends with Kuroba. "I was his classmate once, back in high school. We weren't friends then, but we weren't enemies either. We had each other's respect even if we could not see each other's point of view. I have only become friends with him in truth over the last few months."
"Even though he's a thief?" Kudo asked.
"Arguable," Saguru said, "Kid's greatest crimes are the property damage and mental health of the officers chasing him than his thefts. The stolen items are almost always returned. But I understand what you mean. Ten, even five years ago, the gray morality of it all wouldn't have mattered. Stealing was stealing, a crime was a crime." But Saguru had more insight now on what it felt like to be desperate and tempted to take illegal routes to get results. He'd had a very black and white viewpoint of right and wrong even as he had sought answers to motivations and even sympathized with the criminals on occasion. In the end, a crime had been a crime. "But with Kid, there's always been an exception," Saguru admitted. "With Kid there was always the code of honor after a certain point to catch him in the act and leave who he was outside of Kid alone. It wasn't like that at first, but it was different the more I grew to know him. I would keep track of his slip ups and secure that I was in the know. I never stopped being curious about him all these years, about what motivated him. I was relieved to meet him again and decide not to chase. We both needed someone then. Someone who would listen but not press what we couldn't talk about yet."
Kudo was quiet, weighing Saguru's words. If it was judgment lurking behind the thoughtful silence, then Saguru could only counter with questions of his own.
"And you, Kudo-san?" Saguru challenged. "You have been chasing Kid for more almost two decades, attended far more heists than I have. Your records show you've been closer than any other independent detective to catching Kid. Why help him?"
Kudo took a long swallow of coffee. "It's a lot like your code of honor," he said eventually. "I chase him, he runs, but we have truces and we've helped each other when there were larger threats before. We would be friends if we could ever let our guards down, but I can't stop wanting to fit clues about him together, and he is always watching to makes sure that he doesn't slip up, so we can never bridge that bit of a gap to reach that point."
"And now you've seen his face," Saguru said. He pushed his plate aside, not hungry for the remaining triangle of toast and bits of salad.
"I already guessed he looked like me," Kudo said. He shrugged. "He wore my face too many times over the years, including to cases where Nakamori-keibu pinched the crap out of it. He couldn't have been wearing a mask."
"And you've seen him up close before," Saguru theorized. He narrowed his eyes and Kudo shrugged again, neither confirming nor denying. Interesting.
"I work murders," Kudo said. "Almost every case I come across is a murder and ones I've been hired for besides. Compared to that, Kid heists are fairly low risk with a lot fewer corpses. Kid's a criminal but there are a lot worse people out there."
"Thus why you keep your arrest attempts contained to when you're on the job."
"More or less. Of course," Kudo smiled over the rim of his mug in a very Kuroba-esque look, "anything is fair game to use against him when we're next on the job."
"Including his family?" Saguru asked. Mild distaste turned his lips into a frown.
"No." Kudo set aside his coffee and plate. He had barely touched his food. "There are things that would be crossing the line too far."
Saguru studied him. Kudo was a detective, but that they were having this discussion showed he was willing to cross moral lines in a way most would not. "Would you if your family was at stake?"
"Would you?" Kudo returned.
If Kuroba was someone he'd never met? If he didn't know Aoko and Takumi and his father or mother's life was at stake? (If Mel's life had been at stake?) Saguru weighed his emotions and potential guilt and regrets versus what he knew of his family and himself. Even knowing what it felt to lose his most important person…how it hurt like a gaping wound, a gunshot never healed… "No," he said. Because it would be inflicting that pain inevitably on someone else, and he wasn't sure he or his loved ones would be able to forgive that. But for Kuroba in particular? "No, I couldn't do that, and it would hurt if by choosing to protect someone else's family mine was harmed. But I'd do everything I could to keep both safe if possible."
Kudo sighed. "And I'm not sure I would make that choice," he admitted. "Which is one more reason Kid and I can't cross lines like you're doing."
And yet, Saguru thought, so many lines had clearly been crossed already. There was history between Kuroba and Kudo that Saguru likely would never know of or understand. Things had happened between them that led to Kuroba leaving birthday wishes and trusting that Kudo would never aim a gun at him again. They meant that Kudo helped Kid live first and asked questions second and had no surprise whatsoever that Kid would end up injured to such an extent. Yet they weren't friends by their own words and Saguru was. Whatever their history, Saguru supposed he should just be grateful that Kudo had agreed to help and that Kid was safely recovering now.
"By the way," Kudo said, "how did you get my phone number?"
"Kid's cell phone," Saguru said. "I knew he must have your number since he kept track of you, and we were in Beika so even with you attending the heist, you were the closest possible source of aid. He sent you birthday wishes and believes you wouldn't do him harm outside of a heist," he explained, thinking back to his discussion with Kuroba in May. Kudo's eyes widened as if he either hadn't expected Kid to talk about him or he hadn't expected that much trust. He hid the reaction away again under a sigh and roll of his eyes.
"Of course he has my cell phone number. Despite having changed it again."
"He is quite thorough," Saguru agreed. "You're listed under 'biggest critic' in case you were curious."
Kudo smiled, both fond and annoyed. "He's never going to give that up is he?"
"As I was listed under a Holmes reference, no, he does hold on to first associations." Granted, Saguru had Holmsian jokes and references coming considering his choice of attire in his younger years. And he didn't really mind it. There were far worse parallels Kuroba could have drawn. In a way it was flattering to have Holmes attached to Saguru in Kuroba's subconscious. It would be more so if Saguru wasn't sure there was an edge of mockery in that association.
"Lucky," Kudo sighed.
Saguru shrugged. "So. We both agree that we can trust that our desire to keep Kid alive and whole is greater than the temptation to see him face justice for his chaos, correct?"
"Yeah." Kudo straightened, setting his empty mug aside. "And we're both in agreement that it would be wrong to catch him outside of a heist."
"Then I think we can get along fine," Saguru said, letting himself smile.
Sudden rapid footsteps made them both tense, turning to face the doorway as Takumi speed walked into the room, phone pressed to his ear. He looked almost as pale as he had been last night and for a moment Saguru thought the worst.
Aoko. Aoko dead chasing after Kid and running afoul of the sniper. Aoko injured and in the hospital. Kuroba being tied to Kid with the evidence left from their hasty retreat. Then Takumi looked at him, and it wasn't the sort of fear of someone you know being hurt; it was the sort of terrified guilty expressions Saguru had seen hundreds of times over the years on students who had made bad choices and were facing parental repercussions. Shit. They had both forgotten about Aoko.
It was nearing seven in the morning and with Kid's escape, the evidence that Kid was injured, and the missing gem, Aoko had probably only just gotten home after a night searching frantically for Kid. She knew Saguru's part in the heist, but she still didn't know that Takumi had been there. So she would have come home to no Takumi, no answer from Kuroba's cell phone or home phone, and probably assumed the worst. "She's going to kill us."
"Who?" Kudo asked as Takumi thrust the phone in Saguru's face.
"Here," he said.
Saguru took the phone from him like he would take a vial of particularly volatile chemicals. "Hello?"
"Where the fuck are you?" Aoko growled.
Saguru winced. Kudo looked on like a particularly interesting play was unfolding before him. "Safe," Saguru said, because that was the immediate concern to alleviate. He hurried on before she had the chance to start ranting at him like she had no doubt been doing to Takumi. "Last night Kid was shot down while escaping, as you no doubt have pieced together. Takumi and I happened to witness it and followed the trajectory. Neither Takumi nor I was harmed, but Kid required medical attention. Currently, Kid is stable and in recovery."
"Dammit, Hakuba," Aoko thundered down the other end, "give me a location!"
Saguru winced, glancing at Kudo who was listening in intently. He felt doubly like he was navigating verbal pitfalls. "I cannot. At the moment your presence would be inadvisable as well as a conflict of interests."
"Fuck advisability! You shouldn't have even been there. Takumi damn well shouldn't have! You told me that you would stay out of Kid related affairs—"
"I promised that I would no longer attempt to catch Kid. I promised a friend that I had no intention of even attending a heist." They both knew he meant Kuroba. "I did not want to be there. But never did I promise that I wouldn't step in to keep Kid alive."
"I don't want him dead either," Aoko said, audibly trying to reign herself in. "I want him alive and I want to cuff him with him aware that I'm doing it. Are you at a hospital?"
"Would a hospital stay silent about bullet wounds?" Saguru countered drily.
She swore at him, a few colorful phrases Saguru was sure she had picked up from her father and his Kid chasing days. He held the phone a bit away from his ear and let her vent. Heavy breathing came from the other end after a few moments of silence. "Fine. Fine, of course you're not at a hospital. You're protecting Kid. Fine. Honestly, I should have seen this coming. But for fuck's sake, Hakuba, don't you think that if I didn't want him to live through this whole bullshit, I'd have turned him in ages ago?" Saguru felt guilt sit heavy in his stomach alongside what was already there for forgetting to call. Aoko might get angry, but no, he didn't think she ever wanted Kuroba dead. She took another deep breath and let it out a bit too quickly for it to be effective as a meditative technique. "How much does Takumi know?"
"No more than Kid has been injured and that I believe it is safer for Kid's health not to go to a hospital."
"You're sure?"
"Yes." Saguru closed his eyes, feeling Kudo and Takumi's gazes on him. Too many people not in the know. "You need to talk," he said, letting his serious tone reinforce the implied topic.
"He doesn't need to know," Aoko said sharply, "and you're not going to tell him anything."
"I won't," Saguru said. He turned away from Kudo and Takumi, not that it would do much with them standing less than a meter away. "But you should consider that next time might not be so lucky." Because there would be a next time. And another and another because Kuroba wasn't giving up and neither were the mysterious snipers. Next time could be Kuroba bleeding out without friendly intervention. Next time could be a shot to the head. Saguru shuddered.
And Aoko knew that as did Kuroba, but they seemed to keep pushing that aside. "Fuck you," Aoko growled, much like Kuroba had responded when Saguru suggested that telling Takumi would be for the better in the long run. "It would only be more dangerous if he did know."
"Then history has a high chance of repeating," Saguru snapped back. He regretted it instantly. With emotions strung tight, now wasn't the time to press. None of them were being rational at the moment. "I apologize," he said stiffly to the ragged silence on the other end. "That was overstepping." He hoped he had not made her cry again.
"You're overstepping a lot, Hakuba-san," Aoko sighed after a moment. There was no presence of tears in her voice, just bone weary exhaustion that Saguru could empathize with. "You've put yourself right in the middle of everything with Kaito and Takumi and…Never mind." She sighed again. "Get Takumi back home soon. Keep Bakaito's secrets. It's probably safer the fewer people who know where he is anyway. You will tell me how he's doing. He's going to need some sort of excuse to cover this sort of injury…"
"Of course." He had fully intended to keep her informed about Kuroba's health. "I promise to return Takumi-kun within the day." He met Takumi's eyes and felt a flash of sympathetic amusement as Takumi winced.
"If he's not back by lunch, I'm using police resources to track his cell phone."
"I promise," Saguru repeated.
Aoko hung up without a goodbye, and Saguru disconnected the call. Takumi took his phone back and fidgeted with the case.
"So, his mother?" Kudo asked lightly.
"Yes," Saguru said before Takumi could say any names. "You have to be home by noon," Saguru added to Takumi.
Takumi's shoulders hunched and he stared down at his phone. "I'm grounded. And I'm not going to be allowed over at Tou-san's for a while because he's apparently a bad influence."
Well, that would let Kuroba recover a bit before he next interacted with Takumi. Probably. Although… "He didn't encourage you to go to a heist." Kuroba wouldn't. He knew how dangerous they had become. Kuroba probably wished Aoko would retire and stop attending.
"No, he told me to listen to Kaa-san." Takumi shrugged. "It's not really about if Tou-san did or didn't though. She just wants me where she can keep an eye on me. She's probably going to have another fight with Tou-san about it too." He sighed. "Tou-san hasn't even mentioned Kid in ages."
Saguru winced. Any fight right now would turn ugly fast. It was probably a good thing Kuroba wasn't going anywhere soon. Either way, Saguru would likely end up witnessing at least part of it whenever that confrontation came.
"Your mother doesn't like Kid?" Kudo asked. He had a hand on his chin, thoughts churning behind sharp eyes.
Takumi snorted. "That's an understatement. I don't think anyone hates Kaitou Kid more than Kaa-san."
"Hmm."
If Kuroba made it out of the Kudo household with his identity a secret, it would be a miracle. It was miracle enough that they'd avoided last names.
"If you're done blocking the doorway…" Haibara's monotonous voice said from behind Takumi. Her hands were full of dirty dishes. "Kudo, your guest has woken up."
*o*o*
At some point in the night, Kid had been moved to one of the guest bedrooms on the first floor. He had an IV taped to one hand, a brace on his right ankle and knee, and right arm in a sling. The T-shirt he'd been dressed in did nothing to hide the bandages on his arms or shoulder. He'd been given the courtesy of a half-mask to cover his face for what little good it would do when everyone but Takumi and the children had seen it, but it likely helped psychologically at least. Saguru was grateful that he had a moment with Kid to himself.
Saguru sat in a chair that had been helpfully left by the bedside, Kid's eyes remarkably lucid as they focused on him.
"Rough night, huh?" Kid asked, or more Kuroba asked with none of Kid's airs or masks at all. His voice was slurred a bit, likely from the pain medication.
"I'm not the one that looks like I've been through a meat grinder," Saguru said. He focused on Kuroba's hand on top of the sheets. There were scratches on it too, little nicks and scrapes and divots from the concrete.
"Maa, so serious," Kuroba said lightly. He was too still. Normally Kuroba would be playing with something in his hands, but they remained limp at his sides. "It's such a nice morning too." He tilted his head toward the sunlight streaming in through the bedroom window. Saguru didn't turn to look. Kuroba's strained smile slid off his face. He sighed. "So on a scale of one to ten, how screwed am I?"
"Within what parameters? With the police? Your health? With Kudo-san? With Aoko-san?"
Kuroba winced. "Start small, work bigger."
"I'm sure you've been informed of your health." Kuroba still wasn't moving any more than he had to. What pain medications was he on? At least, Saguru thought, still watching the IV drain into Kuroba's veins, there wasn't the incessant beep of a heart monitor to add to the unpleasantness. "I am curious how you will explain these wounds away this time. Another fall? Car accident? Hit by a bike messenger and knocked down a flight of stairs?"
Surprisingly, Kuroba didn't fill Saguru's pause with a flippant answer. Saguru couldn't bring himself to look at what sort of expression he had right now, so he continued as if he hadn't paused at all.
"For now, Kudo-san is holding a truce. He will provide medical care for as long as you require it, and not use anything he sees or hears during this time against you. You can get a promise of that out of him later. Kudo and his wife seem to be more comfortable about having you in their home than I ever would have expected." Kuroba's hand twitched and Saguru shifted, now examining the slight rise and fall of Kuroba's chest as he breathed. "Aoko-san is angry and worried. You were aware that Takumi-kun was at yesterday's heist?" He watched the rise and fall of Kuroba's chest pause as his breath stuttered for a second. "Or perhaps you weren't aware," Saguru said. "He saw you shot down." Blunt because there was no way to say it kindly. "He is still unaware that you are Kid."
"Shit…" Kuroba's fingers clenched in the sheets.
"Aoko-san is forbidding Takumi-kun to visit you for a while."
"Of course she is." A glance showed that Kuroba's eyes were closed and his mouth twisted in a grimace. "Is she also on her way to arrest me?"
"She doesn't know where you are," Saguru said. "And I've done my best to keep your family name from being mentioned."
"It probably doesn't matter. Kudo's had hours to think and draw connections by now," Kuroba muttered. "Thanks for trying."
Saguru made a noncommittal sound in his throat, brushing the thanks aside. "The police are aware that you have been shot, but no more than that so far as I am aware. Kudo claimed to have sent a friend to clean up your crash site. As such, hopefully there will be no evidence to be found from there. And as for your mysterious sniper," Saguru said, examining the way Kuroba's clenched fist turned his hand almost bloodless and made the IV stark against it, "no one seems to have a clue. They've vanished, but at least they didn't find you before I did."
"Of course," Kuroba repeated. "Were there any other casualties?"
"Not that I heard." Kudo or Aoko would have mentioned if someone had died last night. "There were likely injuries, but no one died."
Kuroba's hand clenched a fraction tighter before relaxing slowly. "Good."
Tentatively, Saguru reached out. His fingers brushed the back of Kuroba's hand and something tight within him relaxed when Kuroba's hand turned under his so that their palms could touch. "How are you feeling?" Saguru asked, finally focusing on Kuroba's face. Tired eyes blinked behind the white mask.
"About as shitty as I look," Kuroba said. "Opioids are great at making your head float, but even they don't stop you from feeling a bullet wound. I don't want to stay on them either."
Saguru winced in sympathy. Having one bullet wound was bad enough, let alone multiple…
"I don't think I'll be going anywhere fast for a while," Kuroba sighed.
"I would say not."
Kuroba squinted at him. "You don't look too good either."
Saguru grimaced. "Yes, well…" He shrugged.
"How many crime scenes have you been around since…?"
"A few." During the investigation of Mel's murder at least.
"…Guess we'll both have shit sleep for a while."
Saguru smiled wryly at that. Trust Kuroba to lighten the mood rather than digging to make it deeper. "I'm glad you're alright," he said. It came out too raw, all the emotion he was trying hard not to look to closely at lurking in the roughness of his voice and the way he couldn't help but grip Kuroba's hand the slightest bit tighter. Saguru closed his eyes feeling vulnerable. "I can't watch you die."
"Hakuba…"
It was unnerving how much things overlapped with the memories of Mel's death. Sniper fire, theft case, suspicious gaps in security, sniper location unclear… A broken body and trying to keep it from bleeding out… He was gripping Kuroba's hand too tightly considering his wounds and the IV in it. He made to pull away, to retreat and regroup his emotions, but Kuroba followed his hand even as it forced him to use abused muscles.
"Hakuba," Kuroba said again, serious. Saguru couldn't look at him.
He wasn't ashamed. There wasn't shame in feeling fear for being hurt by loss. There wasn't shame in caring for Kuroba either. If anything, Saguru felt more like a child that had been caught doing something unadvisable; embarrassed and guilty, and a bit scared of potential consequences. "Yes?" he mumbled, looking firmly at a point half a meter to the left of Kuroba's face.
"I can't make you any promises," Kuroba said. That was fine, Saguru didn't expect promises.
"Well," Saguru said, trying to diffuse the growing tension in the air, "I am sure you do not want to die any more than I want to see you dying." Kuroba shouldn't be comforting him. Not when Kuroba was the one who had brushed against death yet again.
Kuroba took a breath and then let it out as there was a soft knock on the door. Ran peeked inside, the heavy earthenware pot from earlier supported in a potholder in her hands. Saguru sat straight as Kid's masks made a valiant effort to return to his face. Surreptitiously, he slid his hand back into his lap.
"Kid-san," Ran said with a small smile, "Haibara-san says you can have something to eat. I made okayu. It should be easy on your stomach in case the anesthetics bothered it."
"Thank you, Ran-chan," Kuroba said with a shadow of Kid's usual grin. "That sounds wonderful."
"Would it help if I fed you or…?" She held out the bowl. Kuroba's left hand flexed and he tried moving his arm. None of the pain showed on his face, but Saguru plucked the bowl from Ran's hands before he could do more than lift it a few centimeters.
"I'll make sure he eats," Saguru said.
"Thank you, Hakuba-san." She left them without even the thoughtful look Kudo would have given him. Saguru wasn't sure if he was relieved about that or not.
"I could probably manage," Kuroba said.
"You were shot, you shouldn't be moving either of your arms."
"Grazed," Kuroba corrected. "The only direct hit was my leg."
"You lost a chunk of your shoulder," Saguru said. "It was a bit more than a graze." Kuroba didn't protest further as Saguru held out a spoonful of the rice porridge to him. He swallowed without complaint, moving as little as possible. He must be in a horrible amount of pain if he was letting Saguru win that easily.
Kuroba ate about half the bowl before he grimaced and tilted his head away from another spoonful. Saguru set the bowl aside. He half expected Kuroba to fall asleep, but he stayed awake and aware, thoughts turned inward.
"How much do you remember about last night?" Saguru asked after a while in silence. With a concussion there was no way of knowing how Kuroba's head would be affected. Memory loss was only the surface of what a head injury could affect.
"Most of it?" Kuroba said. "There was hours of setup, infiltrating the scene… The power glitch went off fine. All the traps on the case were disarmed pretty easily. Too many people so they had some trouble coordinating with each other…" Saguru nodded. That had been a predictable weakness. "I got the stone and the fireworks went off. I had a rig to make it look like I vanished but that failed…" Kuroba paused. "A bomb went off?"
"That's what it seems to have been," Saguru agreed. "I was not in the building so I couldn't say exactly what happened."
"There was more than one," Kuroba continued. "The explosions cut off my planned escapes so I headed up." His eyes went distant, glazed over as he tried to remember. "The winds were good… Did anyone get hurt?"
"I don't know." The repeat in question probably meant Kuroba wasn't quite as lucid as he looked, or maybe he was just thinking out loud as he remembered. Saguru should have asked Aoko when she called. Or Kudo, though Kudo had skipped out on the heist aftermath and might not know all the details either. "Aoko sounded healthy enough over the phone at the least."
Kuroba nodded, accepting that. If someone was injured, it hadn't been at his hand and he'd long since come to terms that there would be collateral damage no matter how much he didn't want there to be. When everything was all over he could examine the guilt and deal with it properly. "Kudo might have been on the roof. It's a little fuzzy. I checked the stone…" Kuroba jerked upright, winced, and fell back into the pillows looking almost gray from pain. "Shit."
"What?" Saguru had one hand out, to help Kuroba up or keep him from trying to sit up again, he wasn't sure.
"The stone. Hakuba. Hakuba, it was the stone."
"…the one you've been looking for?"
"Yes!" Kuroba started shaking and for a second Saguru thought he was having the start of a seizure before breathy, hysterical laughter made it past Kuroba's clenched jaw. "I've been looking. All this time. And it's been buried for more than a thousand years." Kuroba grimaced. Laughing clearly was more painful than not. "What the hell."
"Kuroba…"
"Where's the stone?" Kuroba asked, hysteria shoved aside as fast as it came.
"…You don't have it?"
"It wasn't in my suit pocket? Wait. No. I hid it? I think? Because I knew I could get shot and I couldn't give it back and I don't have anything to destroy it yet." Kuroba squinted at nothing as he strained his brain to remember. It made Saguru reach out, like that would make it easier, but he waited for more. It took a moment to realize nothing more was coming.
"Is it safe where you put it?" He asked.
"Yes," Kuroba said slowly. "They aren't likely to find it without me leading them to it. They probably think I still have it. But on the off chance I don't, they'll probably have the museum watched for a while. It wouldn't be safe to retrieve it anyway."
Saguru nodded, not pressing any further. Kuroba looked strained around the edges now, eyes glassy and one hand gripping the blankets with white knuckles. "You found what you were looking for though. And you lived through it. That's the important part."
Kuroba huffed a laugh that sounded about as painful as it looked. "It's far from over though. God. Almost eighteen years, Hakuba. I've been Kid a decade longer than Oyaji played the role." He lapsed into silence and Saguru let him. It was a private emotional pain on Kuroba's face mixed with the physical. It felt like speaking would be the same as walking over a grave. Kuroba's eyes opened. "But living through it is the important part."
"Quite." Saguru cleared his throat and reached for the okayu again. "Speaking of living, eat a bit more?"
"Sure, I'd love to feel even worse." Kuroba shook his head. "No, I'd probably throw up. I don't think either of us wants that to happen."
"Rather defeats the purpose of eating." Kuroba's blinks were becoming heavier, energy already spent from the brief conversation. Saguru didn't want to leave, but it was in Kuroba's best interests to let him rest. "I'll take the rest of this back to Ran-san."
"Thanks, 'Kuba," Kuroba said. His eyes slid shut, blinked open, slid shut. "…Takumi's ok though?"
"He was uninjured. Mentally…I assume he hasn't run into anything like last night before?"
"No. Tried to keep him safe. Have a normal life."
"…I'll look after him as best I can." How he'd manage this with school out could be determined at a later date.
"Thanks." Kuroba's eyes stayed shut this time.
"Rest up, Kuroba. I'll be back later." He got a hum in response as Kuroba drifted closer to sleep again. Hopefully it would help with the pain.
