((hey guys! Sorry the update took so long! I'll be busy trying to update all my stuff and rewriting a few this week!))
Meanwhile,
Kaito leaned up against the doorframe as he peaked over to get a good look at what was going on in the next room. He shifted his grip on the unconscious girl in his arms and pondered all possible escape routes. He could get himself out of this easy. The problem was that he didn't want to leave the girl currently snoozing away anywhere they could possibly get her. He absolutely had to get her out first.
He took a calming breath to reassess the situation and glanced around the hall. There was a small window just across from him that he could maybe squeeze through but he wasn't sure that he could get them both out, and he wasn't about to shove her out a three story window. He glanced to the other side of the hall, the stair case in view. His best bet was to sneak down the remaining flights of stairs and carry her out the front door. Stupid girl, getting involved like this. He swallowed hard as he heard footsteps coming closer to his doorframe and held his breath up until the moment the person turned and walked the other way. He glanced into the room again, cursing the number of blind spots as he tried to see if everyone one was distracted enough he could slip right by the door.
The thief shifted again to gently set the girl down on her feet, keeping her in his arms so she wouldn't fall and gripped his card gun before firing at the fire alarm. It immediately came to life and started blaring emergencies and Kaito picked the girl up once more and pressed himself up against the wall as much as possible. He wasn't in kid guise but he knew better than to try hiding in plain sight with these guys. the men piled out of the room and luckily didn't spare him a glance as they went to check on the alarm and security cameras. That meant he had roughly five minutes to get himself and the sleeping girl out of the museum and to safety. He could do it. He hoped.
The moment the men had left the room Kaito took his chance and moved across the hall as quickly was possible without making any noise. he made it to the stairwell and immediately started down the carpeted steps, keeping a very firm grip on the girl in his arms as he didn't want to drop her. He moved quickly to descend down the last flight of stairs and used his back to push the door open and stepped out onto the first floor. Now all he had left was the front door. Feeling accomplished, he glanced around to make sure he was alone and started for it, relief starting to spread the closer he got. He reached the doors and moved out quickly, letting out a sigh as he did. It was over. He escaped the strangers and made it out with Aoko. What was bothering him the most was the location of the task force and most importantly, this girl's father. They had to be in the building someplace- obviously they hadn't accidentally stumbled into the wrong room at the wrong time. Stupid girl. It was only luck alone that Kaito had seen all of this.
"Don't think you've escaped just yet." A cold and unfeeling voice made the thief stop in his tracks. It was a trap. Of course it was a trap. How could it have not been? What's more was he still had ahold of the inspector's daughter. He gulped and turned to face the man. His hair was a light brown and he wore a pair of glasses on his unreadable face. "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"
"Of course not." Kaito stated, applying poker face so that he could look this man in the eye. "What are you after." He asked, his voice as unfeeling and unreadable as the man's expression. The man shrugged and stepped down a few stones steps a little closer to the thief and the girl. Kaito dared not move as he was sure there guns pointed at him from all angles- he could almost feel them even if he couldn't see them.
"We'd like to hire you for your… services." The man stated, still moving closer. Kaito tensed and held Aoko a little tighter as he didn't want this guy near her. When the thief refused to speak the man only continued. "There's someone we've been looking for over a year now- we'd like your help in finding him."
"Give me a reason why I should." Kaito growled, taking an involuntary step down. The man smirked and finally stopped just in front of the thief so he could reach over and brush a strand of hair from Aoko's face. He ignored Kaito's glare as he traced the smooth curve of the girl's cheek and then pulled his hand away.
"Because you seem quite close to this girl, Kid-san. You may be intangible- but we already know the address and normal daily routines of miss Nakamori Aoko. It would be in your best interest to cooperate." Kaito could hear the alarm blaring in the back ground as he stepped back again. But something was bothering him, in the back of his mind other than the obvious, something wasn't wrong. He kept his grip on the girl and grit his teeth, refusing to show fear. His immediate thought was that maybe he could hide her somewhere-run away and drag her with him-but that fantasy was smashed down once he remembered that would fall under the category of kidnapping. The man said something else but it was impossible to catch over the alarm's chime. Wait a second? Chime? Alarms didn't really chime- bells chimed. He felt the man's voice growing more and more distant before the whole scene had faded away and the thief opened his eyes, staring blearily at the cage in his rooms as his doves coo'd at him to get up.
Kaito sat up in his bed and realized with some relief he'd only been dreaming again. He pulled himself out of bed and moved over to the doves to feed them as he knew that was why they were trying to wake him. He scratched one's head very gently as he stared fondly down at her and she cooed her appreciation for the attention. The thief jerked slightly when he heard the chiming alarm and wheeled quickly around in case of danger-no… nothing. He let out a sigh and moved to his front door, finally recognizing the sound as a doorbell- his door bell. He took a second to stretch before finally taking a chance and pulling the door open. It was only a little after mid-day so it couldn't be anyone sinister. The person on the other side of the door was a little boy he immediately recognized staring up at him with big innocent eyes.
"…Hello?" Kaito blinked at the kid, eyes traveling back a little to see if anyone else had come with him. Just as he had expected, sitting by the curb on the other side of the street was a yellow Volkswagen beetle. No doubt the little brat intended to gain access to his home for himself and the professor by passing their meeting off as a coincidence. Something like the car ran out of gas or broke down or something ridiculous like that.
"Hello!" the brat chirped in that sickly sweet tone that made most people want to scoop him up and hug him-for Kaito though, he wanted to slam the door shut, lock it and escape out the back. That tone was never good news. Never. "Do you think you can let us borrow your phone? Mine's out of battery and my grandpa's car broke down." The brat continued, giving the older the creepiest puppy dog eyes he'd ever seen in his life. To anyone else though, they probably would be just enough to convince someone to blow up the moon or jump off a cliff. It didn't take any effort at all for the thief to compose himself as he made sure none of his discomfort was shown up front. He rubbed at his still sore eye a minute, sure that it had not gone un-noticed before giving in.
"Ah, sure." he managed to sound like a casual teenager. The brat beamed at him and Kaito couldn't fight a shiver at the look on the miniature detective's face. Gratitude mixed with triumph and arrogance. This could not possibly end well. He released the front doorknob and stepped back to let the brat in. He watched as Conan retreated to go and get 'grandpa' and felt a slight increase in his heart rate as the tanned detective he'd never formally met stepped out of the beetle. That little-He took a breath and didn't say anything as four people rather than two moved into his house. He grit his teeth and led them all over to the living room before looking them all over in turn. The brat was seated by another brat-less familiar than the first but still equally bratty. What was she doing here, anyway? The Osakan was seated on Conan's other side fixing him with a glare Kudo was probably proud of. And, seated in the armchair away from the others was the professor Kaito had heard about through the brat. He at least looked apologetic for intruding on him.
"Okay." Kaito started after locking the front door and glancing to the window to ensure the curtains were closed. "What are you all really doing here?" He had a feeling he knew and there was no point in denying it unless he wanted them to point out the evidence in that annoying way only detectives could do. Besides, he really had sort of expected this and had only hoped that maybe they'd be kind enough to give him time to wake up first. Geez.
"So we don't even have to force you to confess? That'll make things a bit easier." Conan stated, clearly the ring leader here-how could he have ever expected anything else? Kaito let out a sigh and sat down in the last available chair.
"You want to know why I lied." He voiced, sensing that the little detective was not happy with him. Not that he blamed him of course, lying about something on this scale would tick him off too.
"If you wouldn't mind explaining." The small detective said icily, making the thief cringe a bit as he sank back in his chair. "I appreciate that you warned me about the fake obituary but I'd have preferred you told me the truth." Geez, this kid was harsh. Kaito swallowed and hung his head. He knew the moment he'd lied to the Detective he'd eventually wind up at his doorstep desperate to find out the truth behind the obvious lie.
"I know it looks bad," He started, wondering how exactly to explain why he had to lie. "Right now, someone wants you dead, Kudo. They want to find you and then force you to find someone else." He explained, thinking a previous conversation over. Conan and Hattori both looked at each other and then to Haibara who was seated a little farther into her couch, a look of fear on her youthful face.
"…Kuroba, I think you'd better take us through everything from the beginning. It's imperative I know who's after my life." The young detective stated, pressing his fingers together and leaning forward in the chair. "If it's who I think it is, we're all in far more trouble than you realize."
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Two Nights Previous
Kaito had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his gut about this evening's heist. He didn't usually feel nerves as he prepared for his shows but tonight he couldn't deny that something just felt wrong. He went over a quick mental check list in hopes that he might be able to think of what was making him uneasy but found he'd remembered everything so it wasn't that he was missing some of his equipment. He ran through the entire plan with Jii just to be sure he wasn't forgetting something there and afterward they ran through back up plans in case something went wrong. Still, for some reason he just felt wrong. Finally, he managed to convince himself it was nothing and took off to perform his heists as per usual.
But something did go wrong. Something went very, very wrong. In only about two hours later one of the task force members managed to plant themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time as they had over heard some vital information on a plan to catch the infamous thief Kaitou Kid. It wouldn't have been a problem if not for the fact that these people had guns and were by no means familiar to the inspector. The task force member was caught and knocked out with chloroform before they could even properly react.
By some stroke of luck or by some miracle, Kaitou Kid happened to have been stored in the air ducts above the room and managed to catch everything. He mentally cursed the idiotic officer for their bad timing and tried to think up away to rescue said officer. But, something else went wrong. Something that made his heart lurch painfully and fill him with worry and fear. The man that had caught the task force officer was discussing with someone Kid couldn't see about what to do with the trash. The man holding the officer removed the helmet only to watch as fluffy, chopped brown hair fell around perfectly round, feminine cheeks. The thief recognized her immediately.
"Oh, what have we here? Looks like a bargaining chip has fallen into our hands."
It took every ounce of Kid's will power not to just drop into the room below and rescue the sleeping damsel. The only thing that stopped him from doing something so reckless was the realization that such a course of action would no doubt result in both his and her death. He bit his bottom lip harshly as he tried to quickly think up a rescue plan that he knew would end successfully but was forced to accept that he was going to need to wait a little longer and maybe listen more about their plan. He had no doubt their plans would change now that they had a very real bargaining chip against him.
"Tie her up just incase she regains consciousness soon." The man Kaito couldn't see ordered the others. He watched as they quickly tied the girl up and taped her mouth shut before dropping her over by a wall so that she was in one of his many blind spots.
What do we do with her until then?" One of the lackeys was asking.
"Just leave her in this room and keep it guarded. We lose this chance and it'll be your head the boss is after." The hidden man seemed to wave it off. "Now, I have to meet with the inspector to go over all the protocols." He said casually. Kaito heard his footsteps moving away and then the sound of a door opening and closing. That man was the one he needed to watch for. He tried to figure out how many people were down in that room and the approximate location of the now kidnapped girl. Once he had half of a plan in mind he dropped a flash grenade stuffed full of sleeping gas and pulled a gas mask over his head. He watched as the men ran forward to investigate the fallen object and waited for them to start dropping like flies before pulling the air duct open and dropping in gracefully.
He didn't waste time with theatrics this time as he glanced around for the girl, finding her slumped against a window dead asleep. He moved over to her quickly and peeled the tape off her pink lips and hastily untied her feet and hands before scooping her up into his arms and moving for the door. He pushed it open and slid right through it before ducking into a nearby janitor's closet and put the girl for safe keeping. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. He locked the door and changed into riot gear before moving casually down the hallway in the direction he knew the inspector was in to tell him about the girl sleeping in the closet. After that everything should have been back on track but he was forced to stop and listen as he overheard the same man from earlier talking on a phone. Curiosity got the best of him and he pressed himself up against the wall and got as close to the door as possible all the while making sure he kept an ear out for unwanted company.
"The boss said he's tired of hide and seek." The man was saying. "It's time to start smoking out our enemies since he's pretty sure they've been trying to smoke us out. It doesn't matter that we don't have the kid. Just forage the records if you have too-we've got about a million dead bodies-or potentially dead bodies. Do a little plastic surgery he'll look just like him." What ever this man had planned it was obviously bad news for someone.
"If we say we have the dental records then Kudo is more than likely going to step into the open-if not him then someone who knows where he is. Print the damn records and find a-hang on." Kaito felt himself freeze over, unable to move as what he'd just heard meant the detective was big trouble. He heard footsteps moving in his direction and immediately moved on instinct. The man came to the door and pushed it open to look around the hall, neglecting to look up or he would have seen the thief perched above his head. For the first time that Night Kaito was able to see the curly light brown hair and the top of the man's rimmed glasses. Unfortunately, that was all he could make out from his bird's eye viewpoint.
"We'll discuss everything later- this is too confidential to talk about over the phone. Meet me at the usual place." He hung up after he closed the door and Kaito let out a quiet sigh before soundlessly hopping down from his perch and moving a little farther down the hall. He needed to find out more about this plan and warn Kudo. He didn't waste time calling Jii and requesting he take over the heist for tonight so that he could follow the man after the life of the Detective of the East.
He didn't have to wait long before the man emerged again, this time he left the room and headed for the exit. Kaito quickly changed into a hood and black cap, keeping the rim pulled down low and tailed after the guy. When the man got in a car though, Kaito felt gravely discouraged but grabbed the nearest task force car, having made a key for every last one. He may not have had his license, but that didn't mean he couldn't drive. He had never actually followed someone in a car though, he supposed it would be best to keep his distance as much as possible. He pulled up a map on his phone to check his location and see what all was within an hour from the museum. Maybe, just maybe he could figure it out and take an alternate route to the same place.
Of all the places that were within the hour radius which would a person most likely choose for a secret meeting? Kaito racked his brain to try and remember every building and every street in the area. He made a left turn followed by a right and then another left. They hadn't caught on that he was following them, had they? He made sure to stay a few cars behind when given the chance. He glanced down at his phone's map and allowed himself to smirk. The abandoned construction site. Of course. He switched lanes and quickly turned right when they headed straight. Now that he had it figured out he didn't have to worry about following the man and made his own route.
He pulled into a building nearby the construction site in order to prevent anyone from seeing the car and snuck into the building, staying mindful of security cameras and the possibility of a few guards. He nearly walked right into the meeting room but stopped himself just as he heard two voices. One was definitely the same man as was at the heist so the other had to have been the man he'd been on the phone with.
"You sure you weren't followed?" The man from the heist was saying.
"I circled the building three times to makes sure, no one followed." The man confirmed, his voice a tad bit shaky. "But, if anyone identifies that body they'll know it's not the real Kudo-and my clinic will have a bad name!"
"Don't worry about your clinic, we'll get someone to fix our doll to have the same dental records-that way they won't have to look at fake ones."
"Is that possible?"
"With enough determination and work our organization is more than capable of such a simple task. But we need those records. If you didn't bring them then you won't be returning to Tottori." The man threatened the shaky one.
"I-I got them-I just… I don't think this is going to work." The other stammered. There was a sound of shuffling paper and Kaito guessed he had handed over Kudo Shinichi's dental records.
"No worries. In a few days the body will be found in Yokohama and Kudo will have no choice but to come forward." The man was looking through the file. "Before we discuss anything farther, however, we should invite our guest in." Kaito froze. The man knew he was there? He knew he'd followed? This was a trap? He felt his heart rate increasing to an alarming rate and tried to calm himself. He stayed in his place in hopes that it was a bluff. Maybe the man had only suspected that he'd been followed.
"Not going to come out? That's fine if you want me to kill our little bargaining chip." The man snapped his fingers and Kaito could hear two other men enter the room. Bargaining chip? Surely they didn't mean-
"It'd be such a waste, don't think think Kid-san? She can't be more than sixteen and her death will paint your conscious." The man said casually, having no remorse at the idea he was threatening to kill an innocent girl. It couldn't be-there's no way they got a hold of her-not after he'd saved her already. "I'll give you until three." Before Kaito knew what he was doing he had changed back to Kid-guise and was moving quickly into the room, getting a good look at the man for the first time. Dark rimmed glasses went over squinted eyes and set a top a long face. "That's better." The man smirked cruelly, his gun pointed at the unconscious girl laying in a heap on the cold cement.
"How did you-"
"She woke up." He said simply. "Lucky for us, she panicked about being locked in a closet and started banging on the door. One of our… team members overheard her and recapture was easier than the initial capture." Kaito bit his lip as he looked at the girl he had thought was safe and sound in a janitor's closet.
"Leave her out of this. She's innocent." Kid spat, clearly nervous at the idea of a gun being pointed at the unfortunate girl. The man laughed and pulled the gun away to point at the thief.
"I never intended to shoot her." He said cruelly. "Especially since her safety seems to be of some use to us." Kaito's eyes narrowed at the gun now pointed at his chest. He didn't dare move or try to escape. He couldn't risk the chance it would put the girl in danger. "I'm not going to shoot you either. You think I'm that stupid? No doubt you're wearing a bullet proof vest." He tucked the gun away and instructed the others to grab hold of the girl.
"What do you want?" Kid growled, his eyes on the men touching the sleeping girl as the pulled her up so that Kaito could see her face.
"Information. But, I'm sure you don't have the information yet so, for now I'll let you go and we'll be in contact again later."
"…And the girl?"
"She can go home with you. My organization doesn't do kidnapping-at least not the traditional way." He nodded that the two lackeys and they dragged the girl over to Kid. Kaito gracefully took her from them and held her like a bride. "Now run on back to your heist… oh and, Kid? Breathe a word of this to anyone and we won't hesitate to kill your little princess." Kaito narrowed his eyes at the man but slowly backed away and headed for the exit.
He carried back to the car he'd borrowed and placed her in the backseat, frowning heavily at her still-sleeping face. How she could sleep through everything he'd never know. He started to close the door but stopped a sudden, horrible realization. She had been wearing riot gear when he put her in the closet and now she was wearing her normal skirt and sweater. Had they taken the gear off? Or had she done it? His eyes traveled down to her thighs and his cheeks turned a little red. Stupid girl. He was probably worried about nothing.
….
Just in case though, he leaned forward to grab the hem of her skirt to see is she was sporting any new bruises or traces of blood near her-WHAM! Kaito staggered backwards in a complete daze as it registered that she had just KICKED him! His hand flew to cover the right eye where her foot had made contact with his face. "B-baka! Aoko!" There was no way that wasn't going to give him a black eye.
"Stay away from-!" Aoko froze as recognition set in and a look of horror over took her previously dangerous features. "K-Kaito?" Oh… shit. He realized a moment too late he was still in kid guise. He lowered his hand from his face and looked at the hurt expression on her face as he could see everything click into place in her head. "Wh-why?"
"….Yeah. It's me." He finally confessed after a long moment of nursing his bruising eye. "You sure kick hard." He tried to tease her but her eyes were suddenly downcast it was obvious that wasn't going to work this time.
"I-I thought that you were going to-"
"I know what you thought I was doing." He assured her, watching her closely as she shook her head.
"U-Um.. Kaito? Y-you're… aren't you?" Her voice seemed shrink and he felt guilt beyond anything he had ever felt before pour onto his head as he watched her eyes fill with tears. There wasn't any reason to lie to her. Not anymore.
"Yeah…" He said softly, not really wanting to admit the truth. "I-I never did it to hurt you! I swear Aoko, I never planned this." Aoko wiped her eyes as they had started to overflow with tears and Kaito swallowed a particularly large lump in his throat and felt his own panic start to rise as she started to cry. "Please! Give me a chance to explain! I'll tell you everything!"