Chapter 3

Six months…Six months since it started. It had taken two to figure out that something was wrong, and then another month to confirm it. It had been another three since he'd actively begun searching, getting his 'parents' to pull him out of school and into a correspondence type program to maximize his time. But three months had been too late. All the leads were cold, the information out dated. Of course, that didn't mean he didn't try everything, he'd even roped Hattori into checking around his area. But the news was the same, no sign, no sound, no luck.

Conan pushed himself away from the computer, ignoring the weird look he was receiving from Mouri. It didn't matter if the drunk saw him, he'd probably pass it off as some weird alcohol induced daydream. Even if he didn't, he highly doubted the adult would connect his unchild-like behavior to a certain teenaged detective. The only one who could, Ran, wasn't around so he was pretty safe.

The little fact that he was finding it harder to care about his secret identity also factored into his behavior. He'd adopted his name to protect, what was the point when the protectee was out of his reach?

"Yoookooo-chaaan" Mouri's drunken croon drifted across the room, and Conan glanced his way only to find the supposed 'meitantei' dancing with an imaginary Okino Yoko by the agencies' windows. He briefly toyed with the idea of shoving the dazed Kogorou into a closet or something—maybe out the window would work—but reluctantly dismissed the idea. No matter how annoying, he was Ran's father. Although he'd often doubted that little fact, how had that wreck of a man sired such a strong girl like Ran, anyway. It was probably all Eri's doing, it would make sense for her traits to dominate the stupidity Kogorou seemed to be afflicted with.

He turned away from the sad sight; Mouri had progressed from dancing to kissing, and grabbed his skateboard from where he'd leaned it against the wall. He was going to go out looking again. A quick glance at the clock confirmed his guess; school had just gotten out about 10 minutes ago. One problem with his correspondence program was that it was hard to go out searching during school hours without being picked up by a truant officer or a well-meaning citizen.

Then again, with school out he also had a few minor distractions loose as well. He had to suppress a groan as he reached the door, 4 of those distractions were currently outside the agency.

"Conan-kun!" Ayumi—the real leader of the Detective Boys—lit up the second the door opened, her smile filled with relief and joy at seeing him again. It sent a brief pang of guilt fluttering through his stomach; he had to admit he'd been ignoring the children since he'd gotten himself pulled out of school. It wasn't that he didn't like hanging out with them—it was actually quite refreshing when he needed to just forget about everything that had happened to him.

But…he didn't really have time for that now. Plus he didn't have the patience or the focus to keep up his act around them. His hand tightened around his skateboard, "Sorry Ayumi, but I'm busy right now."

The girl looked crestfallen at his casual dismissal, prompting Mistuhiko and Genta to rise to her defense. "You always say that!" Genta accused, drawing up his stocky body to tower over the diminutive boy, "You never want to hang out with us anymore!"

"Yeah!" Mitsuhiko piped up, trying—and failing—to look intimidating. Next to Genta, he just looked like an angry stick. Not that Conan had ever seen an angry stick, but the description was the first to come to mind, "You hardly even speak to us anymore."

"It's alright guys…" Ayumi's quiet voice quelled the looming storm, drawing the three sets of to her. Unshed tears glittered at the corner of her eyes, but they were not from Conan's dismissal. No, they were from the fighting between her friends. "Conan-kun has something important to do, we shouldn't keep him."

"I came to give you this." She reached into her pocket, pulling out the covered lump that had been nagging at her thoughts all day. Her small hands cupped it, holding it out for Conan to take, "I found it this morning…can you give it to Mouri-san?"

Conan, feeling guilt worming its way around his heart, couldn't have rejecting the request even if he wanted to. He flicked back the corner of the tissue, eyes widening behind the square glasses as he quickly recognized the target of Kid's latest heist. He sort of understood Ayumi's hesitation to bring it forward herself, police officers—unless they were The Officers—would not be likely to believe a kid had found a priceless jewel. But…despite that…he glanced back through the door, faintly hearing Mouri's croons through the closed bathroom door. He really didn't want to know what was going on in there. Turning back to the Detective Boys, he nodded as he placed the stone in the pocket of his sweater, "I will…later guys."

Genta huffed as the boy ran off, crossing his arms over his already broad chest, "That guy…What can be more important than his friends?"

"There are many things, Genta-kun." It was Haibara who answered, the tea-haired girl speaking for the first time since leaving school. Her stone grey eyes were watching the stairwell that Conan had disappeared down, "Life perhaps…or maybe love…"

"Che." The self proclaimed leader blew out a breath of air between clenched teeth, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "I don't understand it at all."

"One day, Genta-kun…" To his surprise, it wasn't Haibara who responded, but Ayumi, "You'll understand one day."

--

It was a weekly event, every week Aoko would drag Kaito out of the house, claiming that he needed to get some fresh air. Of course, he would always argue back that a movie theater was not the best place to get fresh air, what with the mass of people stuffed in one room along with the buttery smell of popcorn and spilt soda that always permeated the air, but it wasn't as if he was really against going with her. It was a nice tidbit of normality that his life had been sorely lacking in since he'd taken up his father's mantle.

He drew the line at watching chick flicks though. If it didn't have lots of explosions, high speed vehicle chases, or some sort of battle he just wasn't interested. Many were the times that the Inspector's daughter had tried to coerce, bribe, or even intimidate him into watching the random romance movie of the week, and every time he stood his ground and forced her to go see them with one of her girl friends. Kaito might be slightly more malleable when it came to Nakamori Aoko's wishes, but there were some things that he just would not do, even childhood friends had limits.

Currently he was in line at the box-office, queuing up for the latest sci-fi film to hit the theater. It looked semi-interesting, alien space fights and conquering worlds, but it wasn't really something that he just had to see. As it was, the theater was doing a special romance highlight, so the majority of the films were for the type he would not, under any circumstances, catch himself dead watching. Aoko was standing next to him, pouting in her own tough, tomboy-ish manner because she'd been unable to persuade him into watching the movie she wanted to see. At the moment, she was pretending that she had no association with him, but Kaito knew that the attitude would change the minute it came time to pay for the tickets and concessions.

The part-time thief pulled out his wallet, counting out the amount he would need once the next few people left the box office. He liked to be one of the people to get up there, pay, and then leave rather than be one of those who took a few minutes shifting through purses or pockets in search of the right amount of change. Something fell out of his wallet as he counted out the money, eliciting a soft "Eh?" as his eyes watched it flutter toward the ground.

Aoko lost all pretenses of ignoring him, turning on him as she realized just what had fallen, "Kaito! I told you not to bring any of your tricks to the theater!"

"I didn't know it was in there!" The thief protested in his defense, truly innocent for once. He had no idea why a playing card had been in his wallet, he had even left his card gun at home to abide by Aoko's rules—it wasn't often he went anywhere without it, but Aoko had been insistent in the movie nights being magic-less and normal. He grumbled to himself about being set up and handed Aoko the money to hold on to, kneeling down to examine the escaping card.

Surprisingly it had landed face up, giving Kaito an easy view of the uniquely stylized spade set in the center. It wasn't from any of his decks, and it took him a few moments to realize that he was looking at the card he'd received along with Akako's weird attempt at fortune telling. That was strange; he could have sworn he'd left that on his desk at home, not in his wallet.

The point of the spade was pointing away from him, out toward the street and the sidewalk that was full of milling people. His eyes unconsciously followed the path, and it was a good thing too. If he hadn't, he might have missed it entirely.

Directly in front of the card was a small space in the crowd, he could see clear across the road from his vantage point. Hurtling down the nearly empty sidewalk was someone that had preoccupied a greater portion of his thoughts that day, sneakered foot resting just off to the side of the turbo switch that Kaito knew was on the skateboard. It took him another moment to realize just exactly who had driven by, and all thoughts of the movie were forgotten.

"Kaito? Hurry up, it's our turn!"

He straightened, pulling a ball cap out of nowhere and placing it on his head, "Sorry Aoko, I just remembered something. I'll need to take a rain check tonight!"

With a cheery grin and a jaunty wave Kaito set off through the crowd, calling back, "Maybe you can go see that other movie now"

Aoko's face was turning red as she watched him leave, puffing her cheeks with indignation. She couldn't help the fury that was building up, but quickly clamped down on it to keep from bursting out in such a public place. He might actually have a legitimate reason—she doubted it, but there was a slim possibility. She'd give him a chance to explain himself before pulling out the big guns. "Boys." She scoffed, stomping up to the clerk and slamming the money down on the little ledge, "One adult ticket for the special."

"I hear you honey." The clerk's airy female voice drifted through the glass as she collected the money, counted it, and then returned the ticket in exchange, "But there's not much you can do about them. It's part of their charm."

Unfortunately, Aoko knew that little fact all too well, and it did nothing to appease her as she stalked into the cool, dark movie theater. This hadn't been the first time she'd been ditched, nor would it be the last, but that did not mean she would let him get away with it without retribution. She got in line for popcorn and a small bottle of water and the gears in her mind slowly began to turn as she began to devise a suitable punishment for her errant magician.

A couple blocks down the road, Kaito felt a strange feeling of foreboding.

A/N: Masq done! That means I've caught up with Luck(for the moment anyway, as soon as I post ch 4 for it it'll be behind again). Some of you might be able to guess what Conan's problem is, but I'm gonna try and avoid saying it directly until Kaito finds out himself. After that, we get to learn why I called this fic Masquerade and just what Kaito's 'unorthodox solution' is. Cheers

Reviews? Please?