Title: That Which Remains
Author: fluffypuppykins
Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan and the other anime.
Genre: Supernatural, Crossover, Angst
Pairing: eventual Kaito/Hakuba and some regular fannish other anime shounen ai pairings
Summary: Grabbing the Raven's Blood Ruby was a routine heist for the Kaitou Kid until Kaito delivered the heist note, then things got strange...

Teaser: The game begins and Kaito gets a few surprises...

The Raven's Blood Ruby was not known in any jewel catalogues. In fact, the name was just a nickname the owner had given it as far as Kaito could discern. It was the size and shape of a small bird's egg and so rough cut that it looked more like a hunk of worthless reddish-black crystal. Kaito saw it first on that faithful heist four months ago...

xxx

"Hatanaka-san, long time no see!"

Oh, no! Not again...

It was easy enough for Kaito to act bored as Mitsukuri Seichirou would have been. The seconds seem to crawl like snails, till he felt he wanted to scream for eleven o'clock to come, damned it. Wearing a traditional kimono was bad enough, but getting his ears talked off by repetitive business talk was just plain torture.

This is the last time I'm going to pose as the son of a business man in a "working" party...

Taking names and mingling with the business crowd was as boring as it sounded even if they were technically in a tea house with geishas in attendance.

"Mitsukuri-san, it's been awhile isn't it? How's your business coming along?"

Fine, really fine...Fujimiya Industries has taken a new contract with us recently...

"Fine, really fine...Fujimiya Industries has taken a new contract with us recently..." On cue, Mitsukuri-san said the words that he'd been uttering all evening. The man definitely had very little imagination.

Kaito's attention drifted to Hatanaka-san and by long habit started casing the man. Hatanaka was a middle aged man in a brown kimono that matched the impression of cheerful ordinariness around him, he wore no jewelry, just a lackluster watch, in a word boring.

Hmmm...does he have a companion?

Most business men, Kaito observed, went to these parties with a child to parade about their associates.

One can only say so much about one's business before boring someone else with the trivialities...Ah there she--um, he?-- is...

His eyes alighted on a teenager with long red hair and emerald green eyes, he or she looked to be the same age as Kaito.

Now, this one's interesting. Looks like a gaijin with that combination...I wonder that's dyed or natural...if so, I want to know what was used...

The hair did not look dyed from what Kaito could see in his role as a disguise expert but cartoon red hair was definitely strange when coupled with completely Japanese features. Kaito noted the angles of elbow and shoulder under the leaf-green kimono that matched the brilliant eyes and determined that the person was male.

And he looks feminine enough to pass for a girl...especially in that kimono which is a pity, he could give Akako quite a competition in prettiness department...

Suddenly, as if reading his mind, the redhead winked saucily at him.

Why the...

Kaito had to control himself from grinning and settled for a lazy smile.

The interchange was lost in the usual round of business talk exchanged. Finally, Hatanaka-san presented the teenager.

"This is my stepson, Minamino Shuuichi, Mitsukuri-san and this is Mitsukuri Magbei of Mitsukuri Enterprises, Shuuichi-kun.-1-"

Ah, right on the button...he is a guy!

"Ah, I have heard good things about you Minamino-kun, top of the class and set to follow your late 'Tousan's footsteps into medicine..."

"Thank you, Mitsukuri-san." Shuuichi murmured respectfully and bowed, looking very much a demure young lady as he did so.

Kaito could give the other brownie points for his act. Anyone with intelligence would have been bored stiff of this mockery of a party but he looked positively interested.

He's got a Poker Face of his own...

"This is my son, Mitsukuri Seichirou."

"Pleased to meet you." Kaito drawled as expected of him and bowed.

"And I you." A pendant dangled as the redhead bowed again, in it was a dullish red stone.

Funny, I didn't notice it before...

It was not like him to be distracted from a jewel after months of wearing his father's white rig but then, the owner was a lovely as the prize itself.

If that's not a ruby, I'll eat my top hat!

Very few could have spotted the stone for what it was, it was so rough and almost raw but it had the same feel about it like the most valuable stones Kaito had the privilege to hold in his hands.

I think I just found my next target. Minamino Shuuichi...I'll remember that...I'll have to look him up and see what I can make in terms of plans...

The night went quicker after that.

xxx

"A gentleman's agreement would you say, Kaito-kun? Just you and me play a game with the Raven's Blood as the prize. Try to steal it while I safeguard it with whatever protections I can muster on my own. No police, no human security guards.

Kurama"

Kaito blinked owlishly, dumbfounded. The printed note glared accusingly on his desk in his bedroom, not three days from when he had sent the heist note to Minamino Shuuichi. It seemed straightforward enough for all the oblique references.

The Raven's Blood must mean the ruby and Kurama is another way to read the name Shuuichi ... It can be the name Minamino-san uses in everyday life, considering his stepbrother is also named Shuuichi... But how did he find out who I was?

He considered aborting the heist.

Nah, that might annoy him enough to tell on me...he has an advantage of me at this point. But what will annoy him more? Not playing or playing and winning? Is he really a gentleman as he claims, or not?

Kaito remembered the wink from the party a week before and grinned.

He seems to be a good enough sport...Not that I have a choice in the matter... if it's a game he wants, then it's a game he gets...

And so it began...

Author's Notes:

-1- Had an irresistible urge to call him Shuu-chan but I doubt if his stepfather does that, especially in public. I think his mother is the only one allowed to that without getting a flesh-eating plant in the face (This reference is a nod to "The List of Top Ten Fanon Myths of Yu Yu Hakusho").

I'm half tempted to make a companion fic entitled "Sly As A Fox" with Kurama's point of view.