You have Taliya to thank for this one. I was bored at work and asked for a prompt. It's not much, but enjoy.

Initiation in Pink

Takagi had not planned to attend the heist. Not that he wasn't curious. There wasn't a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police who had not heard of Kaitou Kid, the elusive magician in white who stole priceless jewels from impenetrable security systems and sent Nakamori raving into spittle-flying tantrums on a regular basis. No, Takagi was well aware of the phantom thief (and had even had his identity stolen once by said thief), but it also wasn't part of his job description to catch Kid. Murderers? Yes. Kleptomaniac magicians? No. In fact, there was no reason for him to ever get entangled with the thief again. No reason at all.

Except Conan had decided to get involved, and where Conan went, Takagi was sure to be dragged.

So there Takagi was watching puffs of pink smoke fill the hall while mocking laughter echoed around them. He listened to Nakamori swear when the dog-piling police realised they were clutching a dummy; he watched Conan dash up the stairs, small and quick like a flash of blue. And Takagi realised that he could just stand there and let the police's efforts to capture Kid fall apart in puffs of pink, or he could follow the tiny detective and see what happened next.

Takagi followed.

The rooftop was lit with the silvery light of the moon. Kid stood on the railing as if it was nothing to balance on such a thin ledge, his face shadowed. All that could be seen under the rim of his hat was the gleam of a monocle and a taunting grin. Conan faced the thief in an odd stance: one arm upraised so that his watch was pointed at the figure in white.

"I see you brought a friend," Kid said, catching sight of Takagi and dipping his head in a bow of greeting. "Inspector, so nice to see you again."

Kid's voice was soft and almost cooing. The smoothness put Takagi on his guard, despite how friendly the thief sounded. The last time he had run into the thief, he'd been shoved into a suitcase and had his clothes stolen. Conan didn't relax his stance either. If anything, the boy tensed even more.

"Kid!" Conan growled.

Kid dodged whatever the child had fired at him from the watch, laughing all the while. "We really need to work on your manners, Detective-kun," he said. "This habit of yours to shoot first before so much as a hello does not bode well for your future prospects."

Conan lowered his arm. "I'm sure I'll manage."

The thief smiled and removed his hand from his pocket, revealing a glittering emerald. He held the jewel up to moonlight, only to sigh. "Too bad," he said.

Takagi blinked as the emerald sailed towards him. He caught the jewel and stared at the thief in surprise. "Uh—"

"It's not the one I'm looking for," Kid explained with a shrug. "Be sure to return it to the curator for me."

Takagi opened and closed his mouth a few times. Conan was less stunned by the thief's eccentric behaviour and kicked a soccer ball from out of nowhere (seriously, where did the boy get those things?). Kid let out another of his mocking laughs and jumped off the railing, deploying his glider and flying off into the night.

"He just returned the jewel," Takagi said a bit faintly, "even though he just stole it."

Conan's mouth twitched into a smile. "You get used to it."

Takagi wasn't sure if he would, but he thought he could appreciate now why Inspector Nakamori went into spittle-flying rages and why clever little Edogawa Conan enjoyed attending heists. Kid might be a criminal, but there was no denying that the thief was as intriguing as he was aggravating.

Now if only Takagi could get rid of all the pink glitter and confetti stuck to him.