Hi! I'm back with a new chapter! Once again, sorry for the delay. I hope you all like this next chapter. I expected Kinkalow to talk more in this, but it just didn't turn out as I expected... at all... I like where it went though!
Also YOU GUYS! I can't beleive I have over 200 reviews and over 100 follows and fav.s. Its so INCREDIBLE! You guys are so amazing and I am SO sorry for not responding t any reviews this time. I really, really wanted to but my internet was being incredibly aggravating! As in, working one second, half-working the next, then not working at all. I just didn't get the chance.I'll try to do so for this chapter because its working better now.
Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, and everything else!
Time Line:
Sat: Kidnapping
Sun: Everyone searching, questions the men in jail, Mind games and hunger starts
Mon: DB go back to school, Question the man who tells them of first kitten, Takagi stabbed
Tues: Hattori arrives, Conan actually accepts food.
Wed: Hattori stops guy from stealing from police, Vermouth visits Conan
Thurs:
Fri:
Sat: Date Takagi is supposed to be found dead
A hollow clang sounded as the door to the top of the cell opened, Lion walking purposely towards the two captives with a pair of his members in tow. Takagi and Conan both rose their heads at the noise, surprised at the amount of activity after so many days of sitting in boredom. They were even more surprised when the two strangers appeared following the fiend.
Conan's eyes immediately narrowed, his gaze seeming to both encompass and penetrate the two Cats. One was a tall, arrogant seeming man. He had long, nearly white hair, perfectly combed and styled. Below the hair, he had a fairly handsome face, hampered only by the broken, practically flattened nose. Conan felt a smirk begin to form, already guessing the man's codename. His smirk dropped when he saw the stranger's companion.
A child, older than Conan's physical age but certainly not much more than ten, trotted happily down the steps. Looking like a boy on a trip to the zoo rather than a criminal meeting doomed captives. His face altered between a stern frown and an ecstatic smile, obviously trying to act more mature than he really was. Conan had no clue as to this child's codename, but he could hardy believe that he wasn't simply a Kitten himself.
That thought disturbed the boy, who was to say that this child, walking so comfortably with the criminals, wasn't a Kitten as well? What evidence was there that Lion didn't have dozens, or even hundreds of children working for him, all called Kittens? He shuddered slightly to himself, but hid it as the men neared closer still.
Takagi's attention was split between the two newcomers and the small sleuth next to him. He watched as the bespectacled boy studied them, hiding nothing of his penetration gaze. The man then shifted his gaze to study the newcomers himself, shock and dread filling him at the sight of the child just as it had Conan. However, he didn't have much time to build upon his observations before the three were at the foot of their cell. Lion smirked slightly at the two captives, causing Takagi to shiver and Conan to glare. Finally the man spoke.
"Greetings Kitten. I thought that since you will soon be joining our... family... you may want to meet some of your older brothers. I-" The man was cut off by the sound of a roaring lion. Conan and Takagi shared a confused glace as Lion pulled out a cell phone, a furious look on his face. The look changed to a smirk as he saw the caller ID. "I'm afraid I must take this, Tiger needs my guidance. I'm sure you can introduce yourselves." Lion left and the two others visibly relaxed, the smile the child had been trying to hide finally surfacing while the other man sneered at the captives.
"Well, well, well," The man started, "So you're Lion's newest little pet."
Conan said nothing, choosing instead to glare silently. Takagi by now had realized that the Cats barely cared that he existed and knew that any response he attempted would be ignored. However, the lack of response encouraged the man if anything.
"Well then, this should be interesting. You can call me Persian, head deceiver, actor and showman. I can convince anybody of anything. Be anybody I fancy for the day. I'm the head honcho for getting information." He leaned back, looking extremely proud of his achievements. Conan and Takagi shared a glance. Conan leaned over to the officer.
"Between him and Tabby, I guess to be a Cat you need to have practiced introductions and monologs. I'd better stat working on mine."
Despite a thrill of fear about the boy referring to himself as a Cat Takagi smiled at the joke, knowing he wasn't serious. Persian saw the movement and scowled.
"You have something you want to share?" Conan smirked back at him, leaning back in feigned comfort.
"Nope, I'm good." The man scowled, but said nothing, only nudging the child next to him. The boy looked surprised for a moment before he began talking.
"Oh, I'm Kinkalow! An official House Cat as of today!" The child puffed out his chest looking extremely proud. Conan an Takagi waited for a moment before sharing another glace.
"Thats it?"
"Huh?"
"I'm pretty sure to be a true House Cat, you have to have an introduction at lest four sentences long." The seven-year-old quipped, smirking at the boy. Kinkalow simply stared at him confused before morphing his face into an grumpy, superior expression. Persian meanwhile did nothing, content to see how a battle of wits between the two youngest members would play out. He had no doubt who would win. Lion may idolize this new child, but Persian had taught Kinkalow everything he knew, there was no way this newcomer could beat him. Kinkalow stood to full height, obviously trying to make himself superior to this other boy.
"Be quiet Kitten! I'm a House Cat, and you're just a Kitten. You're the lowest Rank, so you have to do what all the higher Cats tell you, including me."
Conan rose an eyebrow and Takagi had to keep from laughing. This child was serious. He was trying so hard to intimidate Conan when not even Lion had been able to do so. The poor kid really thought he had power over him.
"Oi, oi! Why should I listen to you? You're ten years old."
"S-so! You're seven! I'm older than you and I'm higher up! You have to listen to me! Just like how I had to listen to everyone. You have to do what I say, its the rule!"
Persian smiled as he watched the two young boys. Kids say the darndest things. They were so cute over there, arguing, trying to show authority that neither of them really had. However, it was disturbing that his little apprentice seemed to be losing. Oh well, he would wait and see what would come of this.
Takagi saw an annoyed smirk cross Conan's face, and for a moment he felt sorry for the child he was arguing with. The pint-sized private eye was getting annoyed, not that the officer could really say that he was otherwise. The other child's argument had been nothing other than repeating the same phrase. He supposed that was probably to be expected of a young child, but he was so used to Conan's logical debates. This Kinkalow didn't seem to comprehend that anyone would dare to go against these rules he was relying so heavily on. Takagi knew that Conan would show the other boy how wrong he was.
"Alright, Fluffy. You and Whiskers over there may follow every command of that crazy-cat-lady in disguise but that doesn't mean that I'm going to. I'm no stupid Cat and there is nothing that he can do to me that will make me ever be his Kitten."
By now even Persian was paying attention. He'd gone from his slouched position to standing completely upright, staring at this defiant Kitten in shock. Beside him his apprentice did the same. The two Cats stared at the two in the cage for a moment, simply standing in stupid shock. Those inside the cage however, looked triumphant. Finally Persian decided that it was no longer time to let the child argue, he was going to speak to this new Kitten. The long haired man screwed his mouth up into a scowl.
"You may want to shut up while you're ahead. The boss-man wouldn't be too happy to hear you talk like that. I'm sure he wouldn't like to know about how you insulted him. No, he wouldn't be happy to hear of his little Kitten acting up."
A fire of defiance was alit in the eyes of Conan, and Takagi felt only pity for this man who thought he could match wits with him.
"I don't care about what makes him happy. I don't care what he says about me 'acting up' because, as I said, I am not going to be a Kitten."
"You may be too much of an idiot to realize this Kit, but you don't have much choice in the matter. I didn't, Kinkalow didn't, and you won't either. Lion always ends up getting what he wants. I don't care how strong you think you are, or what code of ethics you follow right now. It is only a matter of time before you're on this side of the cage, and loving every minute of it." His scowl became a wicked, depraved smile. Conan met this with a calm, almost bored manner, knowing this would anger the man more than anything else.
"Now look who's insulting Lion, calling his obsession an idiot. He wouldn't be happy about that either. Not that I care what the kitties think. Not when their eternal enemies the dogs are so hot on their trail." Conan nodded once at Takagi as he said dogs, signifying the police force as the enemies of these criminals. "Cats may be able to hide when they can resort to trickery like climbing trees, or squeezing through small holes, resorting to tactics beneath the dogs. But when the cats are finally flushed into open ground; well, then is when the dogs will conquer. You see, kitty? I'm not much of a Kitten, I'm more of a Puppy." Takagi rose an eyebrow, whispering to Conan as Persian stood in shock, trying to come up with a response.
"I have the feeling that that title sounded much more impressive in your head."
Conan rolled his eyes at him slightly, sending a 'shut up' glare before continuing, cutting off whatever response Persian may have stammered up by this point.
"And I'll stay with the dogs, cause its only a matter of time until the cats out of the bag. After all, you know what mere curiosity can do to you. And its seems until only a matter of time before it overcomes you Cats."
Persian let out an animalistic snarl, striking the gate separating them with a loud clang.
"You little brat! You can just stay with the dogs then, the idiotic creatures who just go around dumbly following orders and attaching themselves to anyone who offers them a treat! Creatures that don't think and don't plan. Who spend their whole lives simply acting as servants, trying to please Masters who command them and nothing more. Go ahead and be a stupid little pet, while we strive to be the King of the Jungle, creature that stalk people's nightmares. Relinquish your pride, do stupid tricks at someones command. We will do none of that. For every cat owner knows, no one owns a cat."
"Really? Cause it seems that for all you profess about being free, Lion has a pretty tight grip on your leash. A king can be just as bad as a master if it doesn't care for his subjects. A dog follows orders because it wants to please, can you say the same of someone under a dictators rule?"
Persian struck the cage again in fury as Kinkalow simply stood behind him, quivering in fear of his mentors anger. The argument had quickly gone over his head, but even he knew that Persian was losing and that he wasn't happy about it. Persian pressed himself up against the chain link, glaring with unbridled fury at those behind it. His anger only ignited by how neither captives had even flinched, in all they both looked completely at ease.
"If you weren't in that cage right now, if Lion wasn't so keen on keeping you, I can assure you that you would be lying in a pool of blood, begging for my forgiveness and telling me how wrong you were." To his ever rising anger, the boy only smirked in response.
"You can't do anything to me. You wouldn't dare. Lion wants me, and he wants me whole. You are as powerless as a cornered mouse."
"That would make you the cat." The long haired man sneered, glad to have tangled the boy's words. However, said child simply smirked, as if he were expecting that.
"No, Lion is the cat. I'm the dog who the cat doesn't know cornered him as well."
Persian straightened for a moment, slightly shocked, before turning in a huff and grabbing Kinkalow's arm, dragging him up the steps. The child continually tripped as he twisted his head back to keep his gaze on Conan, his eyes brimming with admiration. Kinkalow had just watched the newest Kitten efficiently and calmly outwit the mentor that he had been with for a few years, the man whose wisdom he practically worshiped. This little seven year old had just taken him down. Kinkalow may be a House Cat, and this kid could be just a Kitten, but the ten year-old knew that the boy was greater than him, greater than his mentor. Perhaps he would prove to be greater than even Lion himself. As he was being forcibly led through the house, Kinkalow couldn't help but think how nice it would be to be a dog, like Kitte- no, like Puppy was. He smiled softly, Puppy sounded even funnier than Kitten. Still, as he recalled the argument, he thought to himself that it was better all the same.
The child's smile dropped as Persian stopped in front of a door, knocking on it loudly. Persian NEVER knocked, not unless he was meeting with Lion. Kinalow never liked meeting with Lion. It made him nervous, as though he had to be perfect and it was never enough. His only relief was that he knew Persian felt the same.
Persain at the moment was still angrily knocking, until a calm, if irritated, voice bid him enter. Lion was sitting calmly at his large desk, his eyes focused on the laptop screen. As they entered he hit the button atop of a large stopwatch, smirking slightly at the numbers it portrayed.
"Though I am not surprised that he was able to outwit the two of you, I am very disappointed that it took so little time. Disappointed in you course, not him."
Persain seemed to hardy have heard these words, anger still building in him. "That child is a menace. He'll never do what you want him to. I say we should just kill him now! It would save us a lot of trouble, and irritation."
Lion smirked at him, as if knowing that would be his response. He then looked to the child, cowering slightly behind his mentor.
"How about you, kid? What did you think of him?" Kinkalow glanced slightly at his mentor, knowing that the man wouldn't be happy with his truthful answer. Lion gave a low growl. "Don't look at him. I didn't ask him, I asked you. He didn't ask you, I did. I want your answer, and you will give it to me."
Kinkalow hunched slightly in fear, nodding swiftly.
"I.. I think he's really, really smart. And really good at arguing... He's pretty cool!" Lion smiled, as if the opinion of this child meant more than the House Cat who spoke against the Kitten. "But, I think it'll be really, really hard to make him do something if he doesn't want to. I think he's really stubborn." Lion's smile fell into a scowl, slightly worried now because everyone to meet the child believed him to be too stubborn to train. Then his scowl turned to a smirk.
"I'm disappointed that the two of you doubt me so. Trust me, I have my ways. Whether the child likes it or not, he will eventually be my Kitten. He has no other choice."
The man sneered, speaking to the lower raked two for only a few more minutes before excusing them. He was interested in the boy's analogy/ threat, but dismissed it after a while. After the two left he turned back to his computer, watching the two captives speak for a moment. At times the two looked completely serious, and at others amused. Once more he felt irritation, deciding then and there that he would have some of the lower ranked House Cats instal bugs in each secret cell they had, he would no longer miss out on such interesting conversations as those his captives were sure to be having. Watching for only a few more moments he then minimized the screen and called Lion back, they had plans to finalize after all. Abyssinian's nine lives were up.
Conan rose his eyes to meet Takagi's, seeing the man deep in thought. Conan couldn't have known that the man's thoughts centered around him, around his incredible knowledge and numerous secrets. Instead the boy thought that he was only thinking of their recent visitor, and what there conversation had meant.
"What are you thinking?" The child asked. Takagi looked startled and flustered for a moment before stammering out a reply.
"I-I just can't believe how many cat analogies and saying one could manipulate." Conan smiled softly, silently agreeing with the man. He thought about that for a moment before voicing his own thoughts.
"I was surprised to see Kinkalow... to see a child so young being trained by him." Takagi nodded.
"I know it shouldn't shock us, with him capturing you and all, but I was surprised as well... Its kind of sad. He really had no chance at a life other than this, other than to be a criminal. And to think That's what he wants to do to you... it makes you wonder how many times he has done this before."
"Like what Persian said, about not having a choice. As if all of Lion's followers were forced into this."
Takagi nodded, "But that may not make their loyalty ay less."
"True."
Silence lasted for a moment. "That was quite the speech you gave there... Puppy."
Conan groaned softly, "That sounded a lot better before I said it out loud."
"I'm sure."
"Maybe I should have said wolf cub or something."
"Maybe." He sighed. "Don't you think its strange that we've been sitting doing nothing for the past few days and now he's suddenly bringing in all of these visitors?" Conan nodded. Looking slightly worried.
"Its as though he knows that... that its a permanent thing now." Takagi winced.
"M-m-maybe he just had to fit it into their schedule and they couldn't come any earlier."
"No. He's focused on control. If he told them to come, they would drop everything and come immediately." He dropped his voice so low that Takagi nearly couldn't hear him. "I know They would."
He, as he had so often done since they had been captured, pretended not to hear. The boy had been getting looser and looser. Fear gripped the officer's heart as he worried that the boy was letting more slip because Takagi would never get the chance to tell anyone. The thought made him count the days, though they all blurred together. As he arrived at a conclusion his hear nearly stopped. No... this couldn't be right... it just couldn't!
"I... I only have one full day left to live. The day after tomorrow... they're going to kill me."
"No!" Conan said vehemently, "That won't happen. I won't let it."
Takagi smiled to the passionate boy in thanks, but had to wonder if this was finally something out of the boy's control.
Who here is tired of cat analogies? Waves hand frantically!
Well that's too bad! I swear I don't really plan them out, they just kind of appear in the screen when I'm typing! Its gotten to the point that I'm mad when I think of well known cat idioms that don't fit in anywhere...