-FIRSTS-
Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.
Warning: (Really) Slow developing KaiShin relationship.
Author's Note: I profess I know next to nothing regarding medicine.
First Visit
Not a week later, Kaito held another heist in retaliation. The target was a small, inconsequential stone, aptly named the Tiny Dreams, that has been forgotten by the owners. It is quite unlikely that the stone would be a potential Pandora but it was an excuse.
'Although I swore to only steal for the sake of good, this is for the good of my mental health.' He justified as he crawled through the air ducts. The target is currently held in an office owned by the jewel owners. He had spotted the Meitantei earlier in the entrance as he patrolled as a disguised officer. He was quite certain that the detective had recognized him but had choose to say nothing as Hakuba was also with him at the time. It looked as though they were deeply engrossed in a discussion about their shared obsession.
'Let's see which trap you'll fall into Meitantei.' He grinned even though no one was watching. He was conflicted at how to go about his revenge, to put the detective in a bunny girl costume or dunk him in chocolate syrup. In the end, he set up both traps and decided to leave it up to fate. (He made sure to set up a couple of cameras along the corridors to make sure he had something nice to add to his growing collection of newspaper cuttings on his critics and heists.)
The room holding the jewel was devoid of life and when the time for the heist came, KID had easily picked the lock to the safe and managed to take the jewel from its protective casing. The whole setup was too easy, even with the police and Hakuba bursting into the room when he was about to leave.
"Better luck next time Keibu, Tantei-san." He said as he threw a smoke bomb to cover his escape. Adrenaline was singing in his blood in anticipation. There was little comparable to the thrill of the chase and he was looking forward to meeting the Eastern Detective on the roof.
He was quite disappointed when, even after waiting for some time, the Eastern Detective did not show. He had no choice but take flight on his glider when he heard the stomping footsteps from the police. He decided to make a house call and turned towards the Kudo Manor.
Inside the Manor, everything was still. Not a sound except from the ticking of the standing grandfather clock. KID slowly and carefully made his way to the detective's bedroom. There was still no sign of him. But checking the drawers revealed the lack of wallet and watch, meaning the detective had not returned. It was strange to see the detective on the site of the heist but had not participating in the heist. He slowly walked over to the bed, sitting down and intent on waiting out the detective.
He managed to fall asleep and by the time he woke up, the sun was just peeking through horizon. Kaito scratched his head and yawned, dislodging his top-hat and making his hair more of a birds nest than it could be. He could not believe the detective stood him up! He wasn't worried though, it was highly possible that he was caught up in a case and was held back in the station.
'You're lucky Meitantei.' Kaito thought to himself as he checked over the bed and the room, taking care to leave no trace of his entrance behind. He carefully locked the window he exited. 'Maybe I'll give you a reprieve since your bed is comfortable.' He whistled lightly as he strode down the sidewalk, clad in his reconnaissance black outfit but without the hat.
Three weeks and three heist, not one did the Meitantei show his face. Granted, the detective never had much interest in thieves, but Kaito thought KID was different. Especially after the Conan incident. Now, the afternoon after his forth heist, he decided to confront the blond detective during lunch. He was reluctant at first but the two detectives seems to be good friends, surely he would have some information. If this doesn't pan out, he'll go with his backup plan, which is to look for the little scientist that was always with Conan.
"Hey Hakuba," Kaito stood in front of the blond's desk seconds after the bell rang. The seated blond had a look between exasperation and resignation, thinking that he was going to be pranked or at least highly embarrassed.
"What do you want Kuroba? Shouldn't you be tired after yesterday evening?"
Kaito ignored the KID accusation.
"You heard anything about Kudo?"
"Why are you so interested? Shouldn't you glad that he was not present at the heists?"
"Look here, I'm not trying to pick a fight. I'm just..." Kaito warm so sure how to finish the sentence. Was he worried? Concerned? Dare he say he missed the Eastern Detective?
"If you really want to know," Hakuba sighed, "I haven't heard from him since the heist of Tiny Dreams, which, by the way, has yet to be returned by KID."
'Since the revenge heist?' Kaito thought back to three heist ago. He had intended for the Eastern Detective to return the gem for him but the detective never showed.
"Did something special happened at the heist?"
"He was there in the beginning, but after the arrests, he disappeared."
"Arrest?" This was the first time he heard anything about an arrest. Even when eavesdropping the station, no one had said anything.
"Yes," there was a look of confusion on Hakuba's face, "you mean you haven't heard? Kudo-san managed to prevent a snipping at the KID heist. He had recovered the rifle, which matched a lot of the casings in previous KID heists. The sniper was a young male, who died during transportation. The police wanted to believe he committed suicide since there was no trace of outside influence."
'So not Snake. But they have begun to hire people.'
"Kudo-san opted to stay at the scene of crime to look for clues. But disappeared soon after. When the forensics arrived, he wasn't there, they did find traces of it gun powder residue and blood along with scuffle marks. Unfortunately, there were no footprints or anything for the police to follow on. Last I heard was Division One has been called onto the case."
"Oh, if it's about Kudo-kun," Aoko injected. She turned from her seat to face the talking pair. She had been listening into the conversation, "Aoko heard from tou-san that he was found lying on the streets last week. They admitted him into the hospital and thought he would recover but there had been complications and Aoko heard Kudo-kun fell into a coma. Tou-san said Division One had been frantic and nervous for some reason but no one was saying anything."
"That's strange for Division One to be involved..." Hakuba had a contemplative look on his face. "They suspect an attempted murder?"
"Tou-san didn't say anything else on the arrest. Only that Division One requested guards to be set up in the hospital room Kudo-kun is in. Aoko thinks they suspect someone is trying to kill Kudo-kun, that's why Division One is anxious."
Kaito listened with widened eyes, he barely managed to control his face from losing colour.
"It's possible that Kudo-san escaped and that his pursuers are trying to finish the job."
Kaito's blood boiled. How dare they attack one of KID's detectives! He quickly went to gather his things from his desk.
"Kaito? Where are you going?"
"Tell the teachers I've got an emergency." Without looking back, he dashed out of the classroom.
As he approached the room the detective was housed in, he overheard the nurses's conversation, there had been an abrupt change in the detective's health this morning. He frowned, something sounds wrong. Normal coma patients rarely worsen. Either they wake up or continue to sleep. Outside of the room, he was stopped by Takagi-keiji from Division One. He was skeptical at first but a phone call to the station and to Hakuba to confirm his identity, he was allowed in.
Inside, the detective was hooked into a variety of machines. It shocked Kaito to see the usually smug detective so pale and vulnerable. As he walked closer to the bedside, he heard a distinctive click.
"Why KID?" A young voice came from the brunette sitting on the chair in the shadows. It seems as though she was keeping watch over the sleeping detective. "Your heists were supposed to be safe for him to appear. Why did you let him be captured?"
"Ojou-san." He had considered refuting the accusation as KID but the child scientist had the gun trained on his chest. He had a suspicion that if he denied as KID, he would be shot. "How is he?" He wanted to ask how the little scientist know about his identity but he was more concerned about the detective.
Haibara stared straight into his eyes, giving him the chills. The glare was cold and harsh, one that people usually give to the scums of the Earth.
"Grazed gun shots, bruises, and fractures was what he came in with. I knew he was reckless but to think that he would take on another organisation when our battles are still ongoing. It's just stupidity." The girl shook her head. Gun still not lowered, a telling sign for Kaito that he wasn't trusted. "You were supposed to be a safe haven KID, not bring out the nasties."
"I would love to apologize to make you feel better, but I don't think it'll work."
"No it won't. I'm still blaming you for the fact that you hurt him however indirectly." Both turned their gaze to the sleeping detective. Eyes softening as each were lost in their own thoughts.
"What happened?" Kaito asked softly, not wanting to startle the trigger happy scientist. Even with the curtains drawn and low lighting, he could see the girl take in a big breath as though to prepare herself.
"He wanted to go to your heist, to have fun he said. I voiced my suspicions on who you might be working for. He disagreed and went ahead. I thought everything would be fine until he sent me a photo message of two badly dressed individuals and asked whether I know them. I recognized it from my previous employment. The two groups aren't related at all but we were given the alert that it may become a problem or result in a turf war. I told him such and he went silent for a full fortnight." She sighed, somehow giving Kaito an impression of a very weary person. "We tried to track him but came up empty. It was pure luck that we managed to come across him last week. It seems he had been taking and chasing that other group but was discovered. I'm not sure whether he was kept in captivity or just forced to be on the run but at least he was coherent and conscious."
"Then how come he is in a coma now?"
"He fell into coma two days after being admitted. No one knew how but the police were called in to investigate."
"They were finishing the job."
Haibara nodded. "The professor and I came as soon as we heard. After analysis, I concluded that Kudo-kun had been forced into a chemically induced coma. But I believe this was not the intention. It is highly possible that the combination of the previous poison, the antidote, and whatever mixture he had been given had pushed him into a coma instead of dying."
"And the worsening condition?"
"Someone managed to sneak in here as a doctor or nurse and tried to off him again. We were lucky this time."
"So you're setting up watch now."
"I'm not trusting others with Kudo-kun's life. He's the only one who can bring the Organization down."
"You're crushing on him aren't you?"
"No." The answer was very definite. "He is family. If anyone were to harm him, let's just say I would revert to my old colours no matter how much Kudo-kun hates me to."
"You're very honest ojou-san."
"Life is too short for lies." There was a fond look on her face. "You would do well to remember it KID."
Kaito knows when he is dismissed. He would just have to come back after hours. And maybe he'll keep watch just in case there would be a repeat.
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After hours, he entered the room through the window in full KID garb. He was careful to not have his cape caught on the windowsill as he hopped down, also mindful of his footsteps. The moment his feet touched the floor, he knew something was wrong. The room was too quiet. He crept towards the bed, noticing the young scientist was missing from her designated place in the flimsy plastic chair. His heart nearly stopped when he found the bed to be devoid of the detective. His first thought was to panic and hit the call button. But he then noticed the scientist to have taken the place of the detective, with the heart monitor hooked up to her pulse instead.
'Why go through the trouble of abducting him if they only wanted to kill him?' He looked around the room, there was nothing out of place. He may not be a detective, but he could at least read the environment and it's telling him that the Heisei Holmes left the room on his own accord.
A quick peek into the corridor revealed a sleeping police officer, most likely knocked out by the tranquilizer watch currently missing from the scientist's wrist. He wondered where the detective would be.
'I don't think he would leave the hospital just yet. He did not push the call button on purpose and took out the guard so he wanted some alone time.' KID made his way up towards the roof of the building.
The moment he opened the metal doors, careful to keep it quiet so not to startle anyone unnecessarily, he was hit with a sense of déjà vu. The detective was sitting on the small concrete ledge on the wrong side of the fence. How a recently coma woken patient managed to climb up the 2 meter tall fencing designed to keep people on the premises is beyond him.
"You do know that you are not supposed to startle someone in such a position right?" It seems as though the detective have eyes on the back of his head.
"You should be in bed, resting." KID made his way towards the sitting detective, who finally turned his gaze away from the starry sky and towards the white clad thief.
"You have questions." It was more a statement rather than a question directed towards the thief.
"I can wait." KID was wondering if he could inconspicuously attach a safety rope onto the detective. But before he managed to figure out the logistics, the detective decided to spare him and climbed back over to the correct side of the fence. KID breathed in relief to see the detective was somewhat safe.
"But you won't." He approached one of the benches littered on the roof space. He waved KID over and invited him to sit down. KID moved towards the sitting detective, but he remained standing.
"You wanted to know why I did it?" Shinichi looked up towards the thief, trying to assess the limited range of emotions on his thief. The only thing he could see, under the limited lighting conditions, was concern. "I couldn't let them sully the heist. Your heists are supposed to be blood-free." His anger boiled underneath the relatively calm exterior as he remembered the events of the night.
"Meitantei..." KID reached over from the back of the bench to hug the detective on the shoulders.
"I wasn't about to let them hurt others." Shinichi leaned into the hug, unconsciously seeking warmth. KID was quick to notice and draped his cape over him.
"You shouldn't have gone chasing after them." KID reprimanded, hugging the detective closer into his chest.
"They would have hurt you if I hadn't acted. Though, they thought I was KID when I knocked out the sniper." The detective snickered at the memory. "Then they thought I was you."
KID was confused. He wasn't sure if the detective was under the influence of medication. He was not making much sense. Shinichi could easily read the confusion from the body language without looking at KID's face.
"They mistook me to be Kuroba Toichi's son, taking me as insurance for your behaviour. Thinking my disappearance may have large impact on your performance. But you didn't change. Two heists in, they realized their mistake and tried to dispose of me. I took this as a chance to escape."
"You were missing for nearly a month."
"It was difficult trying to lose them. Your group of baddies are quite apt at tracking. Though not really good at the actual criminal side of things." There was a wry smile on the detective's face. "Which is all the better for me since it means they make mistakes easily."
"Meitantei, your should have told someone. Left a message or something."
The detective gave the thief an incredulous look. "I'm supposed to be keeping a low profile."
KID thought it was a moot point seeing as the reporters made a huge story of the last event.
"Were you worried?" He turned around from his seat to fully face the standing thief behind him. "Worried about a detective?"
"You're..." KID hesitated, why should he care about a detective? But he could not bring himself to say he wasn't worried.
"I'm?" There was a slight knowing look on the detective's face, as though he can read inside of the thief's mind. He smiled and nodded to himself, satisfied with the silence from the thief. "It doesn't matter. Though I do regret not having been able to bring those people to justice."
He rose from his sitting position and draped the cape over the bench's back. Knowing that he should probably get back to his room before he caused an uproar.
"Thanks KID." The smile he gave to the thief was soft and warm.
KID stood, not quite sure what he was given thanks for. But he knew he would have to come visit again in the morning, just to see the detective again under the daylight.
-TBC-
-OMAKE-
"After him!" Nakamori shouted the moment smoke bellowed from the floor. Coughs and stomps were abound as officers ran out of the room. Nakamori did not follow the group but stayed behind to make sure the thief really did steal the jewel. Carefully, he opened the glass casing with the spare key given to him by the owners.
Nakamori knew he should have expected something to happen when the case was opened. He did have one of his hands covering his mouth, and true enough, he was greeted with a burst of grey smoke, instead of the usual white to cover an escape. It was also because he covered his nose and mouth when a barrel of gunk was dumped onto him that he managed to breath. The gunk plastered over his hair was thick and gooey, he faintly smelled something sweet as it dribbled down his face, covering his eyes. When he removed his hands away from his nose and mouth, he felt an extra something dropped on his head, too small to be a bucket. Reaching up, he plucked out the offending object from his head.
"KID!" He shouted, scaring the remaining officers in the room. These officers were also trying hard not to laugh, he could tell by the muffled snickering. Nakamori flung the offending fake cherry to the ground. "YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!" He stomped out of the room. One of the officers with more common sense rushed after Nakamori, asking him to at least clean up first or the owners might complain about this.
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Hakuba ran out the moment smoke erupted inside the room. He instinctively knew KID would be heading for the roof and it would be useless to stay inside the room without the piece to be protected. He remembered the shortest route to the roof area and took the first right turn towards the staircase. What he didn't expect the moment he turned the corner was to be bombarded with a flock of doves and another of the smoke bombs. He felt pecking and clawing from the flock of birds, he tried shooing them away but they gave a peck on is hands instead. So he did the next best thing, move away from the flock, but they followed still (and was pecking with more vigor). The moment the smoke cleared, he knew something was very wrong.
His first thought were of his pocket watch, as KID had the tendency to take it and most likely had trained his doves to pickpocket him. But he realised he was divested of his jacket he had been wearing. Something was not right and he really did not want to know but he knew he would have to face it. Looking down, not only his jacket was missing, so were his shirt, trousers, socks, and shoes. They were all replaced by a black bodice, white above-knee stocks, and jet-black heels. There was even a blood-red bowtie on his neck. He reached above his head and felt a pair of rabbit's ears attached to a headband. Looking behind, and true enough, there was a bob of fur attached to his backside.
He breathed in, then out, then in again, before letting a long and large breath out. He calmed himself. 'Should have expected this, should have expected this.' He chanted inside his head. 'Keep calm. Walk back. Pretend nothing happened. Grab the change of clothes in the control room.' Hakuba closed his eyes and tried the calming technique again. 'Think happy thoughts. Hot tea, fireplace, Baaya's biscuit.' He probably needs to skip school for the next two days to overcome this trauma.
