.

.

epilogue.

"Kudo, Kaori?"

Natsuki Mouri fervently glanced to the seat next to her, suspiciously empty and devoid of life.

There was an unsettling, awkward pause as a couple of the kids in class started to whisper and giggle to themselves, the teacher left looking bereft in the overwhelming silence.

"Kudo, Kaori?" She called again, flatly.

With no further answer, she moved on. "Mouri, Natsuki?"

"Here." The young girl raised her hand.

"Nanabi, Shun?"

Natsuki pursed her lips. This was the second time this week Kaori hadn't made it in for roll call. Not that this wasn't a usual occurrence, or anything. But they had an important test today this morning, and Mouri couldn't believe that Kaori was really so irresponsible to skip—

A brief movement from the window caught her eye.

The brief movement turned into a slow, heated rising of an enormous cat shaped balloon, shadowing the windowed sunlight and casting the entire classroom into an uproar of darkness.

There was an explicit moment of silence as even the teacher stilled at the lunging shadow prowling through the classroom, and then, "Is that a giant balloon?"

The class erupted into panic as an enormous cat shaped balloon floated in the main courtyard. Their classroom windows had been bestowed with what looked like half the nose and the left side of it's whiskers—Natsuki could only assume that the enormous floating plastic must be quite large for only such a small section to be shown from the long panels of their windows.

Nanabi Shun, their class president, was in near hysterics as he attempted to hustle the awe-stricken class into the hallway for 'safety', looking more scared of the giant cat balloon then he'd ever want to let on. His efforts were futile, as the class had already clamored to their feet in the ensuing excitement, pressing their noses against the glass for a better look.

Almost completely silent, Kudo Kaori slid into the seat next to Natsuki with a twinkling, quirky little smile.

"Hi." She said, among the chaos.

Natsuki grabbed her and hauled them both out into the hallway.

It was cramped with the majority of the classes pressed inside of it, and so stuffy that Natsuki almost wanted to just head back into the classroom. However, the teacher had blockaded it for safety purposes, as it was too close to windows and they had a gigantic unidentified object floating in the courtyard.

Mouri gave Kudo a sidelong glance. The girl seemed completely uninterested in the morning's surprising turn of events.

"You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?" She accused, arms crossed.

"Nothing!" Kaori promised, but her eyes were wide and excited.

Mouri was undeterred. "Why were you so late today, then?"

"It was like five minutes!" Kaori protested, flopping onto the floor and blowing a raspberry. "Anyway, I was out late last night—

"It was a school night!"

"And I didn't get back until like, practically three in the morning. So I missed my alarm." A half shrug. And then another grin. "And, it's not like it matters, anyway. I'm sure sensei forgot all about attendance."

There was something entirely too suggestive about that tone. Natsuki let it go, however, in favor for another round of questions. "And why were you out so late, anyway?"

Kaori looked shocked. "There was a KID heist last night! Didn't you watch it?"

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Of course not—it was a school night!" She conveniently left out the fact that her grandfather and mother had been up for most of the night watching it on TV, coaxing her into doing the same. She may have watched—but only for a little!

"Don't tell me you were at the heist." Said Natsuki, flatly.

"I wasn't."

"Good. Now tell me the truth."

"It was only because Suzuki-san invited me to come—you know she's chairman of the Kaito KID fan club still—

"That's so irresponsible!" Natsuki berated, as the class eventually shuffled back in for their morning classes, finally seeming to get back to normalcy after the earlier interruption.

A firetruck had been called to tether the enormous cat balloon, and they were working on deflating it. Kaori looked particularly smug.

"Don't you guys have a game tonight?" Natsuki continued, taking her seat. "You need a good night's sleep!"

"I got three hours!" Kudo retorted as she leaned back in her chair. "And, anyway, it's only against Teitan High. I could whip those kids with my eyes closed."

Natsuki rolled her eyes.

An exaggeration, as always. Though it would be a clear understatement to consider Kaori anything but an excellent soccer player. She'd heard from her mother that Kudo Shinichi, the world famous detective that was local to this area, had also been quite good at the sport. Maybe it was just genetics?

Natsuki gave a forlorn look to the window.

Though she had never heard stories of Shinichi being such a troublemaker….

"Pens out." The teacher began, looking pissed from the morning's activities.

Natsuki paled.

Kaori scratched her nose.

"Pop quiz."

-x-

It was entirely unfair for one girl to be so good at so many things, Natsuku thought, watching her best friend fly down the field. Though Kaori had never shown any sort of interest in solving world class mysteries, she was by far one of the most popular girls in the school. She was outgoing, almost to an obnoxious fault, and was expected to go to To-oh on scholarship for soccer. Not to mention that she had, once more, aced their pop quiz earlier that day, and then proceeded to sleep through the rest of her classes. From what Natsuki could see, she had a wonderfully rose-tinted life.

Although from what she'd heard from her mother, that wasn't always the case. From what kaa-chan had explained, Kudo Shinichi brought home a baby girl to the unified shock and incredulity of everyone who knew him. There were a ton of conspiracy theories involving Kaori's mother— a topic that the usually outspoken girl was suspiciously silent on, and Natsuki was too tactful to ask about— ranging from her mother being some kind of KGB spy to a South American celebrity to one of Kudo Shinichi's fellow interpol detectives he'd had an illicit affair with. Natsuki wasn't entirely sure where people got that, though. Even though he was endlessly globe-trotting, spoke like five languages and had apparently spent a great deal of his youth abroad, Natsuki suspected whoever Kudo Shinichi had a child with had to be Japanese as well. Kaori didn't look very mixed at all.

So the famous detective had acquired a mystery baby at some point when, in her mother's words, they were 'way too young to be thinking of children', and had never breathed a word about where it had come from. According to Ran no one really thought to question it, because at the time they were all far too concerned about the baby's continued existence in general.

Apparently, Kaori had been born with a ton of serious health conditions, causing her to spend the first year of her life in NICU.

But things happen for a reason, Natsuki supposed. After all, if Kaori hadn't spent so much time at the NICU, her mother would have never met her father, one of Kaori's primary pediatric doctors. Kaori had been born very small and with a lot of complications that didn't resolve until she'd grown much older, so long stays at the hospital had been commonplace during that time. At any rate, at some point during all this Mouri Ran had an ilicit affair of her own, and she'd had Natsuki at a point she still considered 'way too young to be thinking of children'.

Personally— and perhaps a bit selfishly— Natsuki considered Kaori's situation a small blessing. If she hadn't been born so sick she wouldn't have been held back three years, and then she and Natsuki wouldn't have been in the same grade, and wouldn't have been best friends!

And anyway, in her view it all worked out okay. Kaori was as healthy as an ox, and terrified years off her parents lives with the ridiculous stunts she pulled. If there were any lingering health issues from her childhood, Natsuki had no awareness of them.

Kaori was a blur on the field, racing down the opposite side, flanking one of the girls who was dribbling the ball. A quick pass and a well placed kick later, and Kaori had her fourth goal of the game.

She took a flying leap into the open arms of her teammates, who proceeded to swing her around wildly.

When she returned to the sidelines the team gave her a round of ecstatic back clapping, some endearing splashes of water and one of them gave her a free piggy back ride. It was pretty great. Though none of this compared to seeing her father standing at the sidelines.

"Hi tou-chan!" Kaori rubbed the back of her hair, grinning sheepishly, dirt-smudged, but happy. "Where's Kaito?"

"At home. Still sleeping, I think." The detective gave her a secretive little smile.

"Oh no! He missed my banana kick!" Kaori bemoaned in dismay. "Who knows when I'll get a chance to do it again?" It wasn't like they always got the chance to play crappy teams, or anything.

"Maybe I should feel bad that my old high school is getting crushed." Shinichi mused, though he didn't look particularly upset by this. "What was the score?"

"Five-zip." Said the girl cheerfully, scuffing her cleats in the grass. "They're pretty bad, sorry."

"I suppose I'll just have to deal with it." Shinchi's smile turned regretful. "I'm leaving the country for a couple days."

Kaori's mouth dropped open. "No! When?"

"Tomorrow night."

"For how long?"

"Shouldn't be longer then a week."

She pouted, puffing her cheeks. Shinichi was always leaving… She looked at her duffel bag, striped with stickers and dirt, and smelly like it was filled with dirty clothes (which, admittedly, it was). Was there really a time when Shinichi was her age, playing soccer himself and solving local crimes like Hakuba Akira, Edoka High's resident detective? Though, Hakuba was kind of a fake and couldn't solve a real crime to save his life, and surely Shinichi was a lot cooler back in the day. Cool, and not too famous, like he was now.

"Don't torture Kaito too badly." He went on to say, heading for the car and beckoning her to follow. "I don't want a repeat of last time I came home—I didn't even think we had that much toilet paper in the house—

"It was ingenious!" She protested.

"And we had to get the entire roof reshingled. I'd appreciate if the house was in one piece when I return."

"Where're you going, anyway?" She whined, after waving to a couple of her friends.

"Can't tell you just yet." As usual. And then, with exasperation, "You two will get along, right?"

"We always do!" Kaori insisted.

"I mean, in the right way."

She struggled into the car, wiggling uncomfortably as the heat inside became unbearable with her sticky jersey. She and Kaito, her dad's boyfriend, got along just fine. Kaito was practically her other dad, and he and Shinichi had lived together so long she couldn't even remember a time they hadn't. Some of her earliest memories were of being in the hospital with Kaito by her side as her dad was forced to jet off somewhere exotic for a case no one else could solve. She adored Kaito to pieces; had been all but attached to his hip as a young child, throwing tantrums whenever he would leave for more than a few hours. Though perhaps Shinichi's trepidation had less to do with their relationship and more to do with their curious interpretation of getting along to mean, 'pranking each other as much as possible'. Kaito always won—but that was only because he had more experience.

"We won't blow up the house, the roof, or physically injure each other." She promised, careful to omit everything that required her latest plan to work.

Shinichi gave her an amused glance as he shifted gears. "Or the cat."

Damn.

"Or the cat." Kaori amended with a scowl. How did he always know?

"And you'll have dinners together? Make sure he doesn't stay out too late?"

"He always stays out too late." Kaori pointed out, rolling her eyes and putting her feet on the dash, which were quickly banished by a stern look from the detective. "And what happens if I have a date or something?"

"I'll skin the boy alive and lock you in my dungeon." He said, straight-faced. They stopped at a light and he gave her a narrowed glare. "And you better not be dating."

She stuck her tongue out. Both Shinichi and Kaito were way too overprotective. She wasn't a kid anymore! Seriously, it felt like if she jumped too high they'd both freak out and lose their shit. Also, she may have finally found her calling in soccer, but she was forever miffed they wouldn't let her do gymnastics.

"Better yet," Shinichi amended, near flooring the gas. "I think I'll just get Kaito to deal with them."

She made a face.

There was a moment of silence, and then, "Hey, tou-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"Why does Kaito stay out so late?"

"For his job." Was Shinichi's immediate answer.

"I thought he was a salaryman." Kaori accused. After more telling silence, she gaped. "You said he was a salaryman!"

"He is!" He said quickly. "This is just… more of his hobby."

"You're not curious?" Kaori raised her brows. Highly unlikely. Shinichi hated not knowing things. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that the detective hadn't already snooped around and found the answer; it was impossible for him to not to.

Fortunately for her father, they'd already pulled into the driveway, and he made quick work of making a beeline towards the door.

Kaori made a face at him, dragging out her soccer bag. She'd find a way to get the truth herself. Sometimes her dad severely underestimated the wonders of the gene pool. It only made sense that if Shinichi was the greatest detective in the world, some of that would pass on to her.

She pulled her stuff into the house, a sly smirk on her face as her phone lit up with a message from the Kaito KID fan club.

"Tou-chan?" She called, but the house was soundless. Had he already left? She frowned. And so soon? "Otou-chan!"

Still nothing. He must have dropped her off after all. She was contemplating sneaking out and maybe conniving Natsuki to go to the heist with her next week. How strange… two so soon? Maybe it was because it was going to be a full moon. KID always stole jewels on the full moon.

She wandered into the foyer. "Helloooo?"

"Gah. Kaori. Why are you always so loud?"

Kaori jumped out of her skin, a narrow-eyed, sleep deprived Kaito shuffling down the stairs, looking like he was about to kill her for disturbing his sleep.

"You've been sleeping this whole time?" Kaori scolded loudly, and Kaito held his delicate ears. "You missed my soccer game, you know!"

"Where did she get these fucked up genetics… I don't remember ever being so loud…" Kaito mumbled to himself, and then, to his daughter. "I'm sorry about that, you guys win?"

Honestly, Kaito was equally miffed over Shinichi's immutable decision in regards to the gymnastics. Gymnastics were so cool! He would have love to do that as a kid, and he would bet anything that Kaori would do amazing at it. Being a building-scaling thief was in her blood, after all. But Shinichi had refused to budge on the issue, and had unanimously decided she would play soccer instead. For the first few days, Kaori and Kaito were in staunch agreement that Shinichi was mean and unfair. But the little traitor quickly changed her tune after her first practice, deciding soccer was the best. Shinichi's smug face had been utterly unbearable.

"Shut out." The young girl smirked, only to guffaw loudly as Kaito reached over to fluff her hair.

"That's my pretty little moon princess!" He laughed.

"Would you stop calling me that?" She complained, batting his hands away and attempting in vain to fix her hair. "I'm not a little kid anymore!"

Also, she didn't need all of her friends knowing she still loved Sailor Moon, even when all of them were getting into k-dramas and idols.

"How many goals?" Kaito asked, grinning widely.

"Four." Kaori threw up four fingers proudly. "And you missed my sick banana kick."

"I'm really sorry." He said, genuinely, moving around her to grab a water from the fridge. He wanted to get a heist in last night before Shinichi left for Timbuktu, or wherever the hell he was going now. And it had been quite the good idea—just like old times… doing it on a rooftop—

"How long were you out last night?" Kaori frowned accusingly. "Tou-chan told me to make sure you're not out too late."

"Err—it… it was for work." Kaito rubbed his hair. "And not too long—

"Then why were you asleep all day?" She harrumphed, crossing her arms. "What are you up to…?"

"And what's this?" Kaito tactfully changed the subject with a wry smirk. "Kaori, girl detective? Don't tell me you're following in your father's footsteps. That'd just be too funny…"

"Of course not!" She said, hotly. "I just think it's suspicious, is all…"

Kaito laughed, making for the stairs once more. "You're just like your father—always sticking your nose in things and snooping around."

"I am not snooping around!" She flustered. "And put a shirt on!" She hollered up the stairs. Just because him and Shinichi were— by definition of all her classmates, 'young enough for middle school girls to still have crushes on'' (ew, ew, ew)— didn't mean they got to walk around the house shirtless. Yuck.

-x-

"So, what?" Mouri Natsuki pulled her sweater tighter, wondering how it was possible to be so cold so early in the season. "We're just gonna wait for KID here?"

"He'll be here." Kaori insisted.

There was a restless silence beneath them, as the crowd gathered in the city center breathlessly awaited the hailed coming of their celebrated thief, Kaito KID. Natsuki didn't really understand the hype about him—it was crazy, all the stunts he pulled—but he'd been doing them for years. How could so many thousands of people show up for them, night after night?

"I want to get back soon…" Natsuki muttered miserably. "I have a lot of homework…"

"This is so worth being behind in a little homework!" Kaori exclaimed, kneeling down to careen through her goggles and into the throngs of people. "I wonder if he's dressed as someone in the crowd…"

"Oh! There you two are!" Natsuki and Kaori whirled around, to see Suzuki Sonoko waving at them as she made her way to the rooftop. "Aren't you girls darling?" She winked. "I used to come to heists all the time when I was your age, too."

Ran, Natsuki's mom, always told it differently, saying that they had been around eighteen when the heists really started to roll around, though there was no arguing with Sonoko.

"Oh, where are my manners? This is a good friend of mine, Camille Carmen." Sonoko waved to the gorgeous looking woman next to them, dressed in a flattering palatial ball gown, all tan glowing legs and tan glowing face and blowing blonde hair. "She's a French model."

Kaori and Natsuki blinked up at the graceful, swan-like woman in awe.

"She doesn't speak much Japanese." Sonoko giggled. "But she's quite the KID fan, right?"

"I like KID very much." Camille affirmed. "I have come all this way to see his… how do you say… performance? Yes. I have come a long way to see this show."

"It's a heist." Kaori pointed out, unfavorably. "It's technically a criminal act, you know…"

"Nonsense!" Sonoko laughed cheerfully. "He usually returns them, anyway. And they're so entertaining. Japan just loves him! They'd never put him in jail, or anything crazy like that…"

"That crazy is the law…" Kaori muttered, though she felt the same.

KID cases were so exciting. She couldn't believe half the stuff he pulled—so much more sophisticated than any of the pranks she tried. Even the one she had pulled the other morning with the giant cat balloon didn't hold a candle to the acts that KID had up his sleeves.

"I'll be just like him someday." She promised Natsuki, who gave her a hesitant look. Kaito thought that she was just like Shinichi—he was wrong. Though she was surely curious by nature, the law held no appeal to her. KID's magic, however… it was always so appealing to her.

She'd spent all week getting excited for the heist. They were like magic shows, but free. And real. Kaito also liked magic, and they'd gone to a few shows of famous magicians before, but it wasn't the same. When she was ten years-old she'd proclaimed to him that she didn't want to go to magic shows anymore. At first, Katio had seemed dismayed, but then she explained that she didn't like them because they were so boring; they performed a bunch of tricks on stage that they probably performed thousands of times already, and there were no real stakes involved. By contrast Kaito KID's magic was way cooler because he performed magic out in the real world where anything could happen, and was always performing new and amazing tricks that she'd never seen before. Why pay a lot of money to see a magic show, when you could just go to a Kaito KID heist and see it all come to life?

For some reason, this statement had made Kaito very happy and Shinichi very pissed off.

Either way she was banned from going to them alone, since they were all very late at night, and she was especially not allowed to go to them on a school day.

It wasn't a school night tonight, but both Shinichi and Kaito had been out of town. She'd assured Shinichi over the phone that she wouldn't go when he'd called her earlier today to check in. She snorted. As if Kaori would ever let that stop her.

The four of them settled into some comfortable chairs with a good outlook of all the action below, which admittedly wasn't much yet. The streets were a distant cacophony of voices that she could barely hear over Camille and Sonoko's tinkling laughter. Natsuki, beside her, was dozing off.

Finally, it started, and the lights went out with an ominous thud and everyone started screaming in fearful anticipation.

"Natsuki!" She hissed. "Natsuki wake up! It's starting!"

KID looked the same as always, wearing his white cape and white suit and giving the crowd a merry little wave as he descended from the sky. She spotted Nakamori-keibu and his goons attempting to snatch KID out of the air, but they were buffeted by what looked to be a glass cage surrounding him.

Sonoko was screaming so loud Kaori could hardly hear anything, pressing herself up against the railing and peering down to watch KID continue his descent into the throngs of people, and the jewel guarded in the center by a pack of policemen.

It happened so suddenly, she almost didn't notice.

One of the officers managed to break a wall of glass, struggling inside KID's glass prism and making a grab for the thief, who nimbly dodged. There was a moment as the entire crowd went silent, before the whole place erupted into smoke and anarchy.

Natuski blinked. "What—what's going on?"

"Dunno…" Kaori answered slowly, pulling her long hair out of her face to see better.

Camille made a noise of dismay. "The thief was caught?"

"Of course not." Sonoko assured her, though she hardly looked sure herself. "KID can never be caught! Don't worry!"

Kaori glanced back down, not so sure herself. She'd never seen KID get caught, true… but she'd also never seen the police manage to get past his defenses… She could see little else aside from a plume of smoke rising into the night sky, thousands of voices crying out in shock.

It was then that she yelped in shock, sprawling backwards as a man was levied up the side of their building by a pulley system she hadn't even realized had been triggered to the pillar. It squeaked to a halt, Sonoko was hyperventilating behind her and Camille had begun to speak rapidly in French—Natsuki seemed to have fainted. Kaito KID placed a foot on the railing, one hand grasping the wire pulling him up and the other clutching the stolen necklace, purple diamond glimmering as it dangled.

"K—KID!" Sonoko shrieked, looking like she may have just died of happiness.

The thief didn't spare her a glance, shoving the necklace in front of him. Kaori scampered to her feet, only to be near flung backwards as Camille and Sonoko pushed their way to the forefront of the thief's attention.

"Kaito KID," Camille demurred, her candle bright hair tossed in the wind like a painting of blonde. "I have been waiting to meet you."

The thief looked taken aback. "It's my pleasure." He said, in French, bringing her limp hand to his lips.

Kaori rolled her eyes. Of course KID could woo people in French.

The model giggled, and Sonoko, not content to simply let her bask in the attention, shoved before her. "KID!" She shouted, looking delighted. "But what about the heist?"

The thief looked down, face obscured by his monocle and hat. "They look a little held up for the moment." He turned back to them. "Which one of you lovely ladies would like to take this off my hands?"

Natsuki was clutching her arm so hard Kaori thought she might break it, Sonoko loudly shouting for herself and Camille only gave him a coy smile. "But mon cheri," She purred. "Won't you keep it for yourself?"

"It's too beautiful for me." KID chuckled. Kaori thought he probably just wanted to get rid of it, and make his escape and have the police none the wiser.

Camille didn't seem to think this at all, her lovely laughter ringing in the air. Kaori pouted. Of course, KID would hold up his heist for Sonoko's beautiful French model friend. Shouldn't he be more worried about getting caught?

It looked like he wouldn't be held up for long, though, as the spotlight shined onto him, and helicopters rose to the air behind him. The thief turned to stare into the blaring light, seeming to realize they had caught on to him, and turned back to them.

To Kaori's surprise, he leaned over to her.

"Why don't you take it, little moon princess?" He smiled, tossing it to her.

Kaori caught it deftly, looking up in shock as he dove backwards back into the crowd. Beneath them, voices rose at his jump, and then hollered in dismay. So he must have used his paraglider, she thought idly, holding the jewel to her eyes to study it. She caught Camille's pinched, contrary face, and Sonoko's dismayed one. Natsuki had loosened her grip.

"It's really pretty." Natsuki breathed, face close to hers. "Are you going to wear it?"

"Should I?" Kaori asked, a little breathlessly. It glittered orchid colored in her hand, the pendant spinning on its silver, lacy looking chain.

She caught sight of the watch on her hand, and near dropped the necklace. "What? Is it really that late?" Oh no! Shinichi was supposed to be coming back around midnight, and would totally ground her if he found her out of bed.

She pocketed the necklace before Sonoko or Camille could ask for it instead, and tugged at Natsuki's hand. "We've got to get back! Tou-chan's going to be home in an hour and he'll flip if he finds me out!"

The brunette turned back to Sonoko and Camille, both looking darling and a thousand times more beautiful than her in their couture gowns, and sweeping beautiful hair. Why hadn't KID given it to them? "Thank you for inviting us!" She called over her shoulder, before taking off.

-x-

Kaori snuck in from her bedroom window just as dawn crept up the horizon. Kaito didn't seem to have stirred at all, not even when she banged her head on the wall. He must have been really fast asleep. She ended up sitting at her desk, twirling the jewel on the necklace round and round.

She must have dozed off at some point, because a jarring noise from below jolted her right up and out of her chair, and she sprawled onto the floor in a daze. Who was home? She looked at the Sailor Venus clock on her dresser. It was already nine in the morning. Kaito was at work… and she hadn't asked Natsuki to come over—

Kaori grabbed the necklace and practically jumped all the stairs. She nearly crashed into Luna, who was sleeping on the landing step. The cat yelped as she saw Kaori leaping towards her, and fortunately scrambled away.

"Tou-chan!" She cried happily, as she rounded the corner into the kitchen. "You're home!"

"I've been home." The famous detective mumbled with a smile, bagel between his mouth, holding up the empty cream cheese like it was some sort of telling evidence. Typical. "And how many times have I told you to throw away stuff when it's done?"

She scuffed the floor sheepishly. "I just always forget." The girl mumbled sincerely, before holding up the necklace, which glittered amethyst in the lighting of the kitchen. "Look at this!"

"It's pretty." Shinichi commented, before his eyes narrowed. "Am I going to have to skin someone?"

"I didn't get it from a boyfriend." She rolled her eyes. Shinichi worried too much. She was only thirteen, after all. Boys weren't into thirteen year old girls. "And you wouldn't be able to catch him to skin him, anyway."

"Some sort of criminal, then." The detective nodded, migrating towards the toaster. And then, more to himself; "Should have known you'd suffer my same ailment…"

"What ailment?" Kuroba Kaito asked, mock-accusing, as he came in through the front door. Had she looked at him closely, she would have wondered why he wasn't wearing a lab coat, and was still wearing the same outfit she'd seen him in yesterday, as if he'd been out the whole night. Hell, she would wonder why he was even here to begin with, when he should have been at work.

"Kaito!" Kaori pounced on him. "Look at this!" She held it up, right before his eyes.

Shinichi gave the thief a flat look. For his part, the man had schooled his features into pleasant surprise.

"It's very pretty!" Kaito blinked. Before smirking. "Got an admirer, then?"

Kaori waved him off. "No! I got it at the KID heist." And then, with excitement, "He gave it to me!"

"Why would he do that?" Shinichi asked wryly, eyes narrowing at Kaito as he leaned on the counter and bit into his bagel. The thief gave him a suggestive smile.

"Dunno." Kaori admitted, tugging Kaito to the table and sitting beside him. "But can you believe it? Natsuki was so jealous—oh hell, Suzuki-san looked like she was about to tear it right off my neck! I couldn't believe he chose me! I thought for sure he'd give it that model lady next to us… she was really pretty, you know… and then he called me a…"

She trailed off, eyes finally leaving the glimmer of her new jewelry.

Her eyes, a familiarly immortal blue, hesitantly met Kaito's. "A little moon princess…"

There was a stunning silence, as Kaori's eyes moved from Kaito—who was wearing an impassive look that could have meant anything—to Shinichi, who was tellingly looking at the ceiling.

"…Is there something you guys aren't telling me?" She asked, hesitantly.

No answer.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

"This would never have been an issue," Began Kaito, completely not addressing her at all. "If you could've at least been a little bit dumber. She wouldn't be nearly this smart if you were just a little bit stupid."

"This is my fault?" Shinichi mused incredulously, looking at his bagel with fascination. "You're so… so obvious. Anyone with half a brain could figure out your stunts, let alone your identity."

"Just not the police, right?" Kaito snorted. "She's just too smart, is all. And anyway, I needed to get it back somehow and who else was I gonna leave it with? Sonoko? I'd rather shoot myself in the foot then have to explain myself to her—

"So I was right, then?" Kaori stood then, voice shrill. "You're KID?"

Neither of them answered her. Again.

"You shouldn't have been that close to getting caught!" Shinichi retorted. "Getting our daughter involved in something so stupid—

"It's not stupid! It's practically an art!" Kaito stuck his tongue out.

"Can someone explain this to me?" She pointed an accusing finger at Kaito, who blinked innocently. "You're really KID?" She turned to Shinichi. "And you knew all along?"

Shinichi gave Kaito a stern glance.

"Were you planning on telling me at all?"

"Eventually!" Kaito raised his hands in defense. "It's just, you know, not something we were gonna sit you down for when you were just a kid or something. It's a bit of a shock, you know."

"I'll say." Kaori blinked dazedly. "So all this time… you were KID?"

How many heists had she snuck out for? A dozen, two dozen? To think that all along, she had assumed that Kaito was not all that into the heists, when in reality he was the one out stealing precious jewels! No wonder he always seemed to make excuses to get out of them, and always disappeared for long stretches of time when he did go.

"Not all the time." Kaito amended. "My father was the first KID—

"So it's like an inheritance?" The girl gasped in delight. "Do I get to steal jewels too?"

"No." Kaito and Shinichi both answered in unison.

"So all this time I've been sneaking out to watch KID heists—

Shinichi narrowed his eyes. "I thought I told you to stop going to those—

"And really, I was just watching you all along?" She continued on, ignoring her father's words as she turned to him. "And you! What have you been doing all those times at those heists? I thought you were supposed to catch him!"

"Well…" Shinichi trailed off pointedly, supposing that that part of the conversation could wait until she was quite a ways older.

She looked at both of them once more, wondering if she was dreaming. Though it was hard to wrap her head around, it made quite a bit of sense. In fact, it was almost blatantly obvious. No wonder Kaito was always sleeping through the day, and he didn't mind pulling late night lab shifts. Wait a minute… how many of those overnight 'overtimes' were actually just Kaito sneaking out to be an international thief?

"Is anyone going to explain to me how this all started?" She asked, dazed.

Shinichi and Kaito's eyes met.

"Well, you see…" Kaito began awkwardly, deciding to give her the heavily edited PG version. "It all started when I met this boy on the rooftop…"

Thanks for reading! Just to answer some questions: Kaori and Natsuki are not the same age, they're actually like 2 years apart, but Kaori was held back two years due to health issues so they're in the same grade. Taste Closed is a re-dub of Detective Conan on youtube that actually brought me to tears it was so funny.