Special Request from CharmGirlLove, hope this is somewhat like you wanted! I know I changed it up slightly, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
The Truth Hurts
Kaito took off running, his legs trying to keep up with the momentum he had set. He could see the helicopter circling overhead, its search light bright and blinding each time it shined in his eyes. How this heist had gone so wrong, he would never fully understand. One moment he had been about to swipe the Pink Penelope Diamond out of its showcase and the next thing he knew, the lights were going out and the diamond was gone.
He wracked his brain, trying to explain the strange occurrence. Another magician perhaps? He wondered. Or maybe the police just wizened up after all this time? Still, he had failed the job and hadn't been able to check the diamond in the light of the full moon. What if it had been the one?
He shook his head, still running. His breath was beginning to thin and his legs were aching from all the acrobatics.
"There he is!" a voice shouted.
He looked back and startled at the proximity in which the cops were closing in. Leading their little hunting party was none other than Saguru Hakuba.
'Blonde twit,' Kaito mentally name-called as he sped up the best he could. His eyes took in the large gap just ahead of him. It was quite the jump, much larger than he usually attempted, but he knew he had to try or risk capture.
"Here goes nothing," he breathed as he dashed ahead and as soon as his foot felt the edge of the roof he was currently on, he pushed off and reached out.
"Kid!" Hakuba yelled behind him.
If Kaito wasn't so strained, he might have laughed upon hearing the concern in the blonde detective's voice, but he didn't have time to laugh. As his fingers reached for the distant ledge that seemed so close, yet so far, a shot rang out.
A sharp pain went through his shoulder and Kaito found himself falling. He tried to adequately catch himself before hitting the buildings fire escape, but his coordination was sloppy from that exhaustive run and the sudden pain that seemed to burn up and through his arm.
His head stuck the metal railing on the staircase and he knew no more…
…Or at least, he would have known no more, had a slap not suddenly stung his cheek and groggily pulled him back to the land of conscious thought.
"Get up! Someone is shooting at you and I can't carry you and run at the same time! Kid! Kaito!"
Kaito blinked and looked up into the concerned face of the same blonde twit that had just been chasing him.
"You… you chased me off the side of a building~" he slurred accusatorily.
Hakuba rolled his eyes as he helped the white suited magician to his feet.
"You can take your annoyance out on me later, but for now we need to move. Come on!"
Kaito grimaced at the pain that throbbed through his shoulder, but his head hurt even worse. Lifting a gloved hand to his left temple, he winced at the sudden sharp pain he felt there. Pulling his hand away, he stared in awe at the red smear that had come away.
"Blood, huh. Kind of pretty against the white~" he slurred again.
Hakuba looked at his companion in concern. Just how much damage did the phantom thief do during that fall?
As the shots of the cops who had been with Hakuba could be heard firing in the distance, Hakuba continued to make his way down the street at a slow, but steady pace. Though the magician needed a hospital, he wasn't certain that was the safest place to take him right now, not including the fact he was the freaking Kaitou Kid!
"W-Why are you helping me?" Came the weak voice of his concussed companion.
Hakuba looked at the shadowed face and sighed. Though his companion would never admit his identity, he had no doubt this was Kaito Kuroba, his classmate.
"Don't get used to it," he grunted, not wanting to go into the real reason behind his actions. The true depth of his respect for the thief was not something he would easily admit to, not even under threat of death.
Kaito hummed, but stayed strangely silent. This only served to make Hakuba all that more concerned about his unique companion. It was a very bad sign when the ordinarily spirited thief was choosing to be quiet.
After making their way further down the street, the sounds of weapons being discharged now a muffled rumble in the background, a new sound attracted his attention. The sound of a gun being prepped to fire.
"Hakuba-kun?"
He turned, stunned, to see Aoko Nakamori standing there.
"Aoko, what are you…"
"That should be my question, Hakuba-kun! Why are you helping him?! Are you hiding him from the police?"
Hakuba frowned. "Aoko, that isn't…"
Aoko shook her head, a gun raised in her hands.
"That thief keeps running my dad ragged, all over this city. If you don't turn him in, I'll do it myself."
Kaito, who was still a bit fuzzy from his clash with the railing, tried to focus in on his childhood friend. He could see the anguish in her eyes and the confusion. She didn't like guns though, so why was she holding a gun? Was she really that desperate? He felt a stab of guilt at the thought.
Hakuba stepped closer, his arm still wrapped firmly around the dizzy thief.
"Aoko, think about this, why would you take it to this extreme? The thief hasn't ever hurt anyone, at least not purposely and I work with your dad, Aoko-chan. He enjoys chasing the thief. Give me the gun, please."
He reached out his hand, his eyes hopeful and kind with a trust he had developed over the past year from being around these two particular classmates. While he wouldn't trust the thief with anything material, he would trust him with his life.
Aoko hesitated, her eyes suddenly sad.
"I'm sorry, Hakuba-san."
Hakuba smiled. "It's okay."
Aoko started to hand the weapon over, when a red dot suddenly lit up her chest.
"No!" Kaito shouted, but it was too late.
To his surprise however, Hakuba shoved him to the side and jumped for her just as the shot rang out. With a dull thud, the blonde detective collapsed to the ground and didn't move.
"Too bad, really, now it's your turn thief!" a voice taunted.
"You work with Snake right?" he called, turning to where the voice had echoed. His eyes narrowed in on a shadow. "Well you can give him a message for me then."
"Oh and what's the message?" the voice snarled.
"No one," he stated, his hat shadowing his eyes, "messes with my fans."
As the gun fired again, the thief had already moved and in the shadows, unseen, a thud could be heard just before the phantom thief rushed back to his two friends who worryingly, had yet to move.
"Tantei-san? Nakamori-chan?"
Aoko groaned as she sat up and blinked her eyes. Kaito let out a breath of relief to see her up and moving, but a pit seemed to grow when he didn't get any response from the blonde.
"Hakuba-san," he called again, shaking the detective gently on the shoulder.
"Hakuba?" Aoko called as well, ignoring the thief.
She gasped when she turned him over and stared down, horrified, by the growing puddle of red beneath his person. "Hakuba!"
Kaito frowned. He had to do something. The detective needed help now.
"Hakuba…" she cried again.
Clearing his throat, he reached down and pulled the communicator from the blonde's ear.
"Assistance is needed on Bellbrook Street! All available units, come at once. All available units! Shots have been fired, please contact emergency. Repeat, shots have been fired, come at once!"
As Kaito listened to the cops and heard them heading his way, he stood and replaced the communicator back in the blonde's ear.
"Help is on the way," he replied in his usual kid voice.
He had to fight his own pain from being verbalized.
Aoko looked up at the thief, her eyes red with tears.
"This is all your fault. They were after you! I will never forgive you for this, Kaitou Kid."
Kaito felt her words as though they were a knife through the heart, but he didn't allow his emotions to show on his facial expression.
"Take care of him," he whispered instead and vanished in a flash of smoke.
Standing above on a rooftop, he looked down as the police arrived and surrounded the area. Moments later, an ambulance arrived. Turning, the Kaitou Kid vanished into the night.
*Tales of a Kaitou*
Saguru Hakuba laid in a hospital bed later that night tired, but wide awake. The doctors had successfully removed the bullet and while a scar would remain just above his heart, he had been told he was lucky as that shot should have rightfully killed him. Fortunately, in the pocket of that suit just above the heart, he had stashed his notebook and pen he normally took case notes with. While the notebook hadn't stopped the bullet, it slowed it considerably and more than likely saved his life.
"It had also helped a cop had called for assistance immediately after the shooting. Any delay and you still wouldn't have been around to enjoy this little talk we are having," the doctor had said.
When he had inquired as to who the cop had been that had called in the shooting, no one could identify the man and for Hakuba, that was proof enough.
A slight breeze from an open window sent a chill through the pale, blonde haired patient as his attention directed itself towards the shadowed figure in the corner of his room.
"I thought you would come. Seems I have you to thank for calling in help at the right time."
"Don't thank me. You took a shot that should have originally been meant for me. It was the least I could do."
"I thought I took a shot for Aoko," Hakuba hummed.
Kaito scoffed. The blonde smiled, though it quickly turned into a wince.
The white clothed magician hurried forward, concern radiating from his shadowed form.
"I'm good," the blonde replied, sighing, "hurts now and again, but not that bad. Better than being dead."
Kid was silent.
"Those people who shot me, why were they gunning for you?"
Kid turned to the window.
"I should let you rest."
"No! No…" he grunted, the pain causing him to wince again, "You owe me right? So tell me, why?"
Kaito narrowed his eyes and stared at his classmate. He wanted so badly to admit the truth, but he knew doing so would be dangerous. Even more dangerous than that freak encounter had been.
"Sorry, Hakuba. I can't tell you. You are right though, I do owe you one and I will repay my debt, but not concerning them."
"Why won't you let me help you?"
"Because you can't help me. No one can."
Hakuba wanted to argue, but he knew doing so would be futile. He could hear it in the others voice.
"Is your head and shoulder okay?"
The Kaitou kid merely laughed as he stepped onto the ledge of the window.
"Nothing can take down a phantom."
With those words, he vanished from the window. Hakuba struggled to stand and hurried the best he could to the ledge. He looked out and saw no sign of the phantom thief.
"Keep your secrets, but someday I will get you to tell me," he whispered to the moon, before locking the window and making his way gradually back to bed.
Had the blonde looked down, he would have seen the Kaitou Kid laying spread eagle across the bushes of the hospital garden, his hat stuck on a branch just above his head and his monocle crooked from the fall.
"Lady Luck hates me today," he groaned as he stood and stretched, gathering his things. A sneeze escaped his lips and his arms suddenly began to really itch. If he had looked back, he might have noticed the small sign now lying bent, just beneath the tree.
Keep out of garden, poison oak.