2: Early Bird

It was a bit out of his way, but Kaito was sitting at a small café, which he knew was dangerously close to the Mouri Detective Agency where Kudo Shinishi- Edogawa Conan- was currently residing. He half hoped that the shrunken detective would notice him, recognize him, and then (as usual) chase him while calling up police reinforcements on the way. Hell, he had even thought about contacting Nakamori-keibu and asking for assistance.

You see… he wasn't actually Kuroba Kaito right now. Nor was he KID the phantom thief. Kaito was undercover, incognito, anonymous; it was actually the dark clothes he normally wore when casing a location: a black t-shirt under an indigo blue jean jacket with worn black jeans and scuffed up black tennis shoes. At the moment the only things shielding his identity were his black baseball cap, drawn low to shadow his eyes, and some slight altering of his face using flesh colored moldable clay.

Kaito was hiding from Snake and the other Black Organization goons who accompanied him. The 'crows' had been surprisingly persistent in their following of him after last night's heist. Kaito sighed and dropped his chin onto his arms, crossed on the table. This wasn't how he liked to work: running until he was sure he had dropped any possible tail.

Dropping his prized poker face for a second Kaito yawned. These all-nighters were starting to get to him and the coffee in the mug mere inches in front of his nose didn't seem to be helping at all. He closed his eyes for just a moment.

"Late night?" Asked a childish voice from across the table. Kaito jolted awake blinking rapidly as his eyes tried to adjust to the light. A familiar bespectacled boy sat across from the lightly disguised thief, smirking slightly.

Kaito silently cursed how dangerously exposed he had left himself. A quick mental sigh followed before he adjusted his poker face appropriately for his current company. "It's not the nights, but the mornings that do me in tantei-kun." He said jovially. Internally he was trying to calculate how long he'd been dosing. Who knew what might have happened during that time?

He reached for his coffee and eyed it warily, watching Conan in his peripheral vision even as Conan was observing him. Lukewarm. Last he remembered his beverage had still been steaming slightly, so… 20 to 30 minutes? "So KID," Conan started rousing the tired thief from his musings, "why are you here of all places?"

Kaito paused to gather his thoughts for a moment, what had he been doing here again? Oh right, avoiding the murderers who had chased him into the early dawn. "First off, don't call me that right now," Kaito said, "I'm undercover, so call me… Kai-kun. "Second, I am here because they have good coffee. Last, ano… I can't think of a last point, but three is a magic number, so I figured it would be good luck to have three points instead of just two."

Conan stared at the thief in complete bafflement for a moment before just shaking his head and muttering something along the lines of, "woe was me, why is it always me who gets the crazy ones…" "Or the psychopathic murdering ones." Kaito added helpfully. Conan glared and Kaito grinned, mission: distract chibi from true purpose… success.

Or not. "So, why is Kai-nii-kun dressed like that rather than in less noticeable civilian clothes?" The not-child asked in a child's sweet tones, which truthfully set Kaito's teeth on edge. "Could it be that you are casing someplace nearby for your midnight job?"

Grimacing, but covering it up by taking a whiff of his nearly room temp beverage, Kaito decided it was best to go with a riddle and hope the young detective would let him leave it at that. Also… he probably shouldn't consume any of his drink, tantei-kun may have drugged it while he was out.

"You know the thing about my doves," Kaito started, watching Conan's eyes narrow, "they can be trained to do all sorts of tricks, they're more intelligent than they are given credit for. They help me steal many shiny things, but sometimes there are some very annoying crows. Crows like shiny things too, even if said shiny things aren't theirs, but they aren't nearly as gentle as my doves." Kaito shrugged, "sometimes it's necessary to ensure that the doves don't lead the crows back to their nest." He set aside the mug of chilled liquid. "And sometimes… it requires more than the gentle dove to chase off the big black crows."

Conan frowned as the magician counted out an amount of money on the table to pay for his half drunk coffee. "So you're heists mark your territory, but… another group is infringing on it. Are they after you or the gem you seem to be looking for?" Conan's eyes widened. Maybe he figured it out.

"The crows that hunt me and whom I hunt in return aren't the best kaitou predators I've seen, they are however nonetheless dangerous. It's best to take them down before they truly take to the sky. It's not a job Kaitou KID particularly enjoys, but as their target… I'd rather hunt than be hunted, but when I take them down I want it to be on my terms."

Conan frowned, "why don't you ask for help then?" Kaito lifted his hands in a helpless gesture, "crows have many roosts, if they perch in the shadows it's possible even I will miss a few. /The walls have ears/." He finished in English, sure that the eight year old would understand.

Conan grimaced, his own black organization was the same, "then is there anything I can do?"

Kaito laughed, "I wouldn't want you to get involved, I cherish my critics and prefer them undamaged, but… for today… thanks for waking me up. If it were one of them that had found me in such a position…." He allowed his signature manic grin to subside, "jail would have been the least of my worries."

Casting his eyes about for anyone dangerous, Kaito stood and stretched, wincing slightly at his sore muscles and fighting off the urge to yawn (or let himself just curl up right there on the floor and sleep for the rest of the week). No crows were around as far as he could see, so the magician silently walked towards the door. Conan didn't move, allowing the thief to leave.

Grinning slightly, Conan turned his attention towards the unfinished cup of coffee. "Baka", he muttered fondly, "if it's not during a heist with a chase then the catch has no meaning." Besides, Conan added to himself, it was rather amusing to see the untouchable Kaitou KID slumped over a table in a diner with dark shadows under dull eyes. Even funnier was how cautious the thief had been upon being woken up. He didn't even finish his drink, probably because he thought Conan might have spiked it.

"What a waste of perfectly good coffee." He groused, eyeing the mug longingly. Ran wouldn't let him have coffee because it apparently can stunt growth, but having been fond of the drink as a teenager Conan was sorely missing it. Glancing around and feeling utterly ridiculous at the prospect of what he was considering, Conan took up the cup and, throwing caution to the wind, took a gulp.

The actual coffee wasn't that bad, but he would have preferred it hotter and without the milk and sugar. Conan hummed thoughtfully and added 'sweet tooth' to his list of knowledge on the Modern Lupin before finishing off the rest.

With an inaudible sigh of bliss, Conan set the cup down and slid off his seat. Not even the sudden scream of "OH MY GOODNESS! HE'S DEAD!" could steal his joy at just having had coffee again.