DISCLAIMER: I do not own Magic Kaito or Detective Conan!

Chapter Five: I never wanted to involve you

Author's POV

It had been a long day for Inspector Nakamori. It may be true that it was him who suspected Kaito of being KID, but inwardly he hoped that would be proven wrong. Kaito was not only his daughter's best friend, he was like a son to him even more so after Toichi had died in that horrible accident.

He was exhausted. It had not been the thought of Kaito being KID that had shocked him, it was the thought of his 'son' being a wanted criminal.

He had not talked to Kaito since his arrest. He had tried several times, but every time he wanted to open the door to the hallway where the prison cells were located, it had been fear that stopped him. He was scared of the story Kaito would have to tell. He feared the reason that had turned this young boy into a thief.

He sighed as he opened the front door of his house. It was dark inside.

Is Aoko not home yet? He wondered, but did not really think anything of it. She could take care of herself. Had she been broken after KID was unmasked then he would have been worried and wouldn't have left her alone for even one minute.

It was true that she had been shocked and sad, but that was only for a few days. After that she still was not completely back to being herself, but she seemed strong again. He just knew that she would be alright.

What worried him more right now was what had happened earlier that day.

- Flashback –

"You are what?!"

Nakamori Ginzo thought he had imagined things. What would a man like the one standing in front of him want here?

"My name is Akai Shuichi." The man repeated calmly.

"I am an agent of the FBI operating in Japan and I would like you to hand over your prisoner – Kaitou KID – to me."

He had heard all sorts of stories about the leading police officer of the KID task force, but he had not expected him to be so dump.

"What do you want with him? I did not have the chance to interrogate him yet. You can talk to him once court case is over."

The inspector did not know what the FBI wanted from KID, but he would not let them have him. It was bad enough that Kaito would have to go to prison. As long as agent Akai refused to tell him why he was so interested in KID, he surely would not let them take him away.

The discussion did go on for a few more minutes until the police chief came in and told him to hand KID over. He neither gave an explanation nor any reasons. It was an order and the inspector knew that it would make the situation only worse if he asked questions now or continued his discussion with Akai Shuichi. He had no choice, but to let them take Kaito away.

- Flashback end –

Kaito's POV

It was quiet, far too quiet. It had been 10 minutes since I finished my story and no one had said anything since then. Now it began to get on my nerves. What were they thinking now that they knew the story behind the Phantom Thief?

"To tell the truth, Kuroba, I did not expect your story to be so …"

Hakuba was the first to break the silence, but at the end he seemed to lack the right words.

"You know …" he tried again.

"I may have always suspected you and I did wonder more than once why a teenage boy would want to become a criminal. Did you just enjoy showing off your skill or ridiculing the police? I did not know what to think of you at first. As I got to know you better and as we slowly became something like friends, I began to ask myself questions again. You always loved pranking people at school or drive our teachers crazy, but I could not believe that you would throw away your future just for that."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He sounded exactly like Mum would if she wasn't in the USA right now.

"You are skilled enough to become a famous magician, that's why I could not understand why you would choose to become a criminal instead.

I suspected that there had to be more to this, you had to have a really good reason.

Don't get me wrong. I do not appreciate what you did, but…"

Now he looked at me.

"… but I do understand why you had to."

I could only blink. Did he really just say that he understood me?

"The world is going to end now." was all that I could say.

Hakuba looked at me angrily and for a moment I thought that I could see a light blush on his cheeks.

"Really, Kuroba? Even now, even with Nakamori-san's live at stake you cannot stay serious?"

"I am serious. I just never thought to ever hear those words from you of all people."

Now it was my turn to look at him angrily. How could he think that I would not care about Aoko's safety?!

Before Aoko could reply, Shinichi cleared his throat as to remind us that we were not alone.

"Sorry to interrupt you." He said monotonous.

"I agree with Hakuba and I think I can speak for Akai-san as well."

He looked at the FBI agent for a second, before he continued.

"I did not expect this kind of story, but we don't have the time to discuss all this now.

Those guys are ruthless. They will not hesitate to kill Nakamori-san. We are lucky that Vermouth is the one in charge of looking after Aoko. If it was anyone other than her, Aoko might have suffered more injuries by now."

Hakuba and I exchanged a look. I saw it in his eyes. He – just as me – was missing an important part of information.

I may know more than him as he did not know about Conan being Kudo Shinichi, but I was still missing something.

Why would this person called Vermouth harm Aoko less than other members of the organization?

I am pretty sure that Shinichi did notice our confusion, but he still continued without an explanation.

"We have to come up with a plan as soon as possible. They want Kaito to do something for them, but we don't know what that might be. We have to think about saving Nakamori-san before we can think about their objectives, though.

"Actually…" I interrupted the teenager-turned-child.

"… I know what they want me to do.

They want me to steal something from them and I am almost 100% sure that they will try to kill me once I did my job that's the only reason why they kidnapped Aoko. They know that I would do anything to save her."

"I have to agree with the boy."

It was the first time that Akai-san had spoken since they learned about my story.

"Even if he did not know it, I think his profession makes it pretty clear.

I also agree with him on the second part. They will surely attempt to kill him, but not only him, they will kill the girl, too. That's the easiest way for them, they just have to erase every possible threat."

He looked at me with piercing eyes. I don't know where this sensation suddenly came from, but it send shivers down my spine. It struck me like lightning as realized where I knew this feeling from and my eyes widened in shock. It felt like all those times Snake tried to kill me.

"You are one of them!"