A/N: A funny thing is happening in the neighbouring town! XD SSAB (a steel company) has been the largest sponsor to the local hockey team, but now that SSAB has withdrawn the funds for the team the newly built server facility (Facebook) will take their place. Being the largest sponsor means that they gets to decide what the team will be named and they have already angered the fans by suggesting Facebook Hockey (SSAB let them keep their old name). And I can't stop laughing!

Warnings:
Strange English, OOCness

Uploaded: 2013-05-30
Chapter rating: K+
Words: 3,900

Chap. 6
Of Thieves and Art

The very next day, Kaito in disguise of the old curator at the gallery seemingly placed the small painting inside the secured, metal box that was standing on a table while he was supervised by the inspector, who was mostly trying to comfort the worrying granddaughter. With a small smile he closed the locks and took a step away from the box.
"There, now no one but you, Sarehara-keibu, can open it and get to the painting," the thief smiled, knowing that no one would open the locks for the following day and notice that the painting wasn't there.
"Thank you," the man said and nodded to one of the six civilian-dressed police officers that were there to escort the painting, and Kaito smiled as he recognised the edge of a latex mask on the officer's neck; apparently Dark could disguise, even though it wasn't as good as the magician, but how good was he at changing his voice?
"Sarehara-keibu," Kaito began again in the old man's voice as he walked up to him, "I heard on the news that Dark had announced that he would protect the painting. Do you think that he'll show up here too?"
"Probably," the inspector stated as he watched the painting being placed in a fake guitar-case and then turned his gaze to the elderly man with a long white beard, thin hair and thick glasses that made his eyes blurry, "have you set the fake in place?"
"Yes, of course, I did that during the night, after you called me," Kaito smiled and watched how a white painting with a KID-caricature was carried away by a disguised Dark, "and he has to be really good in order to see that it's a forgery."
"Great, thank you. You can return to your normal duties while we're getting out of here, and don't tell anybody about the switch." The thief chuckled a bit at Saehara's words.
"I might be old, but I'm not a fool, not yet anyway," Kaito hummed a bit as he smiled to the police officers' backs and then waited until the door closed. With a grin he turned around and took out a second box from underneath the table where the real painting rested securely. He waited for a few minutes, checking so that the transmitter on the fake painting didn't stop moving or began to return before he made his way out the window and disappeared.

As Kaito was about to enter his boyfriend's room through the window he froze; the room was empty, even the machines were gone, and it only held a made bed and a few chairs. He leaned back and counted the windows to his right and below him; still the same, so Shinichi had been moved, because Kaito couldn't bear the thought of even thinking that his lover was dead. With quick movements he jumped into a tree and tied the metal box to the branches before he jumped down and walked into the hospital. Just as he'd predicted a nurse came up to him when he walked over to Shinichi's room.
"Kuroba-sama has been moved since he's stable. I can take you to him," the young man stated and Kaito nodded. Getting to Shinichi's room, the thief was happy that it had a closable door with no glass pane in it.
"Thank you," Kaito smiled as the man left and closed the door, seeing that his lover had a few different drips connected to him and a single machine that oversaw his heartbeat. He went up to the window and looked around the outside, happy that he was still on the side with the trees. Quickly he went outside and jumped from tree to tree until he got to the metal box and then made his way back. Kaito locked the door to the hallway and then sat down the box on a small table with wheels, designed so that it would hold food for the patient.

"Pandora," he whispered as he walked over to the bed with the table and sat down, "I brought a gift for you. I hope you'll like it." Kaito opened the locks and took out the painting. "Dark went after this once, so I'm guessing that it has magic, but I sure hope that he didn't take it all." For a small while he sat there without anything happening, but then the same kind of red trail left the detective's hand and neared the painting. The thief gasped as a blue, see-through shield formed like a globe around it, and pushed Pandora back even though it ignored his gloved hands that held into the frame. With interest he watched how the red trail retreated a few seconds, seemingly studying the protective magic before it touched the barrier again. The blue magic grew into a darker purple around the red and then seemed to shatter before it was absorbed into the trail and transported into the detective. The painting in Kaito's hands started to glow and grew warm, and as the thief took a look on it he saw that the picture of an angel on a cloud had been replaced with moving, burning flames, as if he was staring into a real fire. The heat from the blaze inside the frame intensified and Kaito gasped as a black-scaled hand shot out from inside, trying to grab him with large claws. A red shield formed around the painting and the black arm withdrew.

"Hate," the whisper made Kaito jolt his head to the detective, seeing red eyes meet his own, "it was made with hate."
"The painting?" the thief asked as he threw a glance to the serene angel that had returned into the picture and saw how the jewel nodded weakly, "but it looks so peaceful. Is it dangerous?"
"Not to me, I'll take the power, but not as fast, because that thing that lives inside only longs for death and destruction. We spoke, or it spoke, asking me to release it and work with it. Together we would soak the ground with red, it said. It would kill us both without hesitation if I were to release it," Pandora mumbled and Kaito saw how a pulse of power started to be drawn from the artwork.
"It's good that you can use it... It's going to die when you take the power, isn't it?" the magician stated, seeing the jewel nod, and then continued, "how's Shinichi?"
"Shinichi?" the red-eyed teenager asked quizzically.
"Yea, Shinichi, he should be there with you," Kaito frowned at Pandora.
"Oh? You mean the protected one?"
"You have no memories, have you?"
"How did you know?"
"Shinichi told me that you lost your memories when you revived him," Kaito explained and leaned forward a bit, keeping an eye on the painting in his hands, "where's Shinichi? What do you mean that he's protected?"
"He's sleeping in a crystal, he's safe," the jewel explained while continuing to draw energy from the painting.
"Okay. Now listen, Pandora, there was an artwork that drew power from you and transported us here. Your eyes glows red when you're in control of Shinichi's body so don't talk to anyone else but me; I don't know what people would do to you if they found you, but I don't want to lose either of you."
"Okay," Pandora whispered, deciding to trust the young man that was sitting in front of him since he was looking at him with such earnest concern.
"Good. In this world Shinichi and I are brothers, twins. His name is Kuroba Shinichi and mine is Kuroba Kaito. We're both twenty. Our Father is Kuroba Toichi and our mother is Kuroba Yukiko. They died in a car accident a year and two months ago; the 2nd of March. Dad was a magician and mom owned a small shop. I want to be a magician too, and Shinichi wants to be a detective. Shinichi was shot trying to pursue his dreams two years ago. And that sums up the most important parts of our identities," Kaito quickly explained and smiled as Pandora nodded, "when will he become not-protected?"
"If I were to take the shield's power I would also suck the life from him, killing him, I think... How do I know this?" the jewel frowned, unaware that he made the thief smile and then took his boyfriend's hand.
"Don't worry about it. Your memories will return as you grow stronger, and I will bring things that can be magical. I'll help you heal, so don't worry," the thief caressed the hand as he bent forward and gave the jewel's cheek a gentle kiss, seeing how a small blush made its way to Pandora's face, and made Kaito smile happily; at least he still reacted the way he used to even if he couldn't remember everything they had done together.
"I trust you," the jewel smiled a bit and closed his eyes. Kaito placed two fingers against his boyfriend's throat, feeling the pulse quicken and heard the machine react as he sent a glance to the painting, watching as the power was continued to be drawn. The red shield came back and then dissolved as the power was taken into the detective and Kaito sighed as he carefully placed the art in its box; it was time to bring it to the police station.

Four hours before the heist was even about to start the thief walked into the police station as an officer, carrying the metal box underneath his arm covered by a white sheet. Most policemen were out preparing for the heist or patrolling the streets so the building didn't hold that many people once he got past the receptions and filing rooms. He quickly entered Saehara's office and smiled as he opened the locks to the box and placed it underneath the desk together with a card before he opened the window and vanished like a gust of wind. It didn't take him long to find where the "real" painting had gone as it still had the tracker inside, but as he rappelled down the cliff towards a van he silently wondered if Dark had checked to see if the painting was there or not, and maybe had left; maybe it was a trap?

Kaito changed his clothes and disguised as the inspector, knowing that the man was pretending to set up traps at the gallery, and then made his way to the van. The thief tapped on the window and smiled as the officer opened it, allowing a small, timed bomb into the front seat.
"Yutaka-kun, has anything happened?" he greeted the driver as he placed a radio jammer on the roof and walked to the back of the vehicle after the officer shook his head. He quickly picked the lock on the door and then entered it, seeing that Dark was still in his disguise, together with a few other officers.
"Tamotsu-kun," Kaito said as he sat down in front of the thief in disguise and handed him a white gasmask, "you will need this." The officers blinked confused, but Dark seemed to immediately understand, and then placed it over his face as the entire van exploded in pink smoke. All of the officers fall asleep and the pink smoke slowly vanished, showing the inspector with a small, grey air tank in his mouth and a single officer with a white gasmask.

As Kaito took out the air tank from his mouth Dark followed suit and pulled off the gasmask, placing it beside himself.
"Impressive disguise and voice," the officer stated and stared at the faux inspector in front of him, "but why didn't you just put me to sleep with the others?"
"What purpose would that serve, my dear Kaitou?" the magician grinned, using his own voice again.
"You'd get the painting without a fight."
"I didn't come here for the painting. I came here for you," Kaito grabbed into his own suit and seemed to pull off his entire disguise. He covered himself with the jacket for a second as he placed the hat on his head and then threw all of the clothes in a pile beside him.
"Really, so you're not going to steal the painting?" Dark asked suspiciously and glared as he too removed his disguise in a similar manner, but without caring about covering his face, and that was something that bothered Kaito; Dark had such well-known and easily recognised features, so how was he able to live his life without getting found? But then again; Dark had magic, so the face he was seeing might not be his own, but why would he wear a latex mask then and not just change his face if he could do that? Maybe he could only switch between two faces? One was his real persona and the other a thief; that would explain everything.

"I've already stolen it," Kaito confessed and couldn't help but to grin amused, "I've already left it at the police station, but I was thinking about going to the gallery to hold a show."
"No, you haven't. I've had it in sight the entire time," Dark stated and pulled the box closer to him, unaware that the magician had seen that he had the end of a feather sticking out from the sleeve of his dark purple clothes; Kaito watched it out of the corner of his vision, aware that it must be special as the thief held his arms around the metal box and shielded the feather with his other hand, as if it was a gun. "Why are you a thief?" the young man continued while the white-clad thief sent a glance to his gasmask that was lying beside him, "you should be on a stage and not inside buildings during hours you aren't allowed to enter."
"No," was all Kaito answered and shook his head without taking his eyes off the other thief's face.
"No?"
"No."
"What are you talking about?" Dark asked annoyed.
"No, that's not how things are going to work," Kaito smirked as he carefully placed his hands to rest on the middle of his thighs, not wanting to alert the other that he was prepared for a fight, "you've got answer to one of your questions, and you betrayed my trust by refusing to answer mine. Now I require two answers before you get to ask anything."

"I can't tell you what I am, ask something else," the purple-haired man glared a bit and Kaito hummed as he saw the same expression in the other's eyes as when Shinichi spoke with Pandora.
"Pandora?" he asked; it was a different world, so technically there could be two of them, but so far he hadn't found himself.
"Huh?" Dark looked honestly confused.
"Are you Pandora?" Kaito asked again, "that's my first question."
"I honestly don't know what you are talking about," the young man confessed and took a tighter grip around the box, but the magician saw that he spoke the truth.
"That's too bad, I really wished to speak with someone reasonable," he sighed and realised that the description of the jewel didn't really match with his own experience, "or semi-reasonable, or perhaps a bit nutty. Yes, nutty..." The magician quietly ignored Dark's questioning eyes and thought over the next question.

"Are you going after objects that contain magic?" he then settled on and watched Dark's expression closely, but only saw the same kind of annoyance that he'd seen the previous heist.
"Yes," the man stated and Kaito smiled, "who are you?"
"Just like you wouldn't answer that, I won't either."
"Deal, then why are you after magical objects?" Dark continued and made the magician frown as he realised that he didn't want to answer it.
"I need them to help someone who's in trouble because of me," Kaito quickly answered, "can you tell me, on a scale from 1 to 100, how strong that painting was before you sealed it?"
"Good choice of question," Dark grumbled when he realised that the enquiry answered multiple questions that the magician might have and made the other show him a raised eyebrow.
"Of course it is."
"No, I can't say how strong it is, or was when I sealed it, or how strong it potentially could be, but you must not release it," the thief answered and Kaito saw how black-clad fingers neared the feather in the sleeve, "does the name Hikari mean anything to you?"
"I've heard it somewhere, but I don't remember where," Kaito confessed and narrowed his eyes, remembering reading it somewhere, in a book or on the internet; he wasn't sure of which. "The objects you steal are never heard from again, so why do you steal if you don't sell them?"
"As you've already figured out; I seal them, and then keep them, most of the time," Dark stated and took a light grip into the feather as he prepared himself to put the other to sleep, "are you working for anyone?"

Kaito opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again; technically he was working for Pandora, but it could also be seen as helping a friend.
"Yes and no. I'd describe it as 'aiding' instead if 'working for'," the magician confessed, hoping to get the other interested so that he could steal the feather from him; it obviously was special in some way, "who is Hikari?" Dark didn't seem happy with the question and Kaito wondered if he was about to stop the game.

"Someone who, unlike me, won't hesitate to use magic to kill you," the young man with purple hair clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes while Kaito made a mental note to check up on Hikari, "who are you aiding?"
"Pandora," the magician stated, confident that Dark wouldn't find Shinichi, and saw how confusion fluttered past the other's eyes.
"But-, what? Why would you ask if I was Pandora if you're working for him?"
"One question at the time," Kaito grinned, "how dangerous is the magic in the artworks?"
"Very dangerous, and in the wrong hands it could destroy the planet," Dark stated.
"Depending on the strength of them of course," Kaito interjected, "the necklace had nothing while the painting had a lot."
"Exactly, you're beginning to understand. Now, what would it take for you to stop stealing and find your way back to a stage?" the purple-haired man asked as he relaxed a bit and Kaito saw that he had let go of the feather again.
"Hmm... That's a hard one," the magician smiled a bit awkwardly, knowing that his stage was in his own world, "I can't answer it, because I honestly don't know."
"Then I get a second question," Dark stated and Kaito shook his head.
"Negative answers are still answers," he argued and leaned forward, "how can you tell what objects are magical?"
"I feel it, but mostly they just cause a lot of disturbances in the city," the man stated as he agreed to the rules, "who is Pandora?"
"Who?" Kaito laughed a bit; Pandora wasn't exactly a 'who', more of an 'it', "that would be hard to explain to someone that doesn't have that basic knowledge."
"Touché," Dark muttered, hearing that the magician was gloating at the fact that he could use the same argument, "I'm old, so try me, oh, mortal one."
"The best way I can describe Pandora with is; someone who's currently in control of someone important to me. A person that I will not abandon," Kaito smiled as he realised that the jewel might be called something different in this world and saw how the other's eyes narrowed, "is the world inside red?"
"What?"
"Is the world inside red?" the magician saw complete confusion in the other's eyes.
"What do you gain from asking obscure questions like that? I have no idea of what you're even talking about," Dark stated and Kaito observed his eyes, seeing how he quickly exchanged a few ideas with the voice in his head.
"What I gain?" the white-clad thief hummed as he bent forward and stared at the other, allowing the young man to change question if he wanted to, but as Dark didn't change question he continued, "I gain knowledge of the fact that you have no idea of what I'm talking about. What would I have to do to make you tell me how to find magical artworks?"
"I'll never tell you that. You're going to get hurt, or die if you continue."
"I'm aware of the danger," Kaito stated seriously, "and you can't stop me. You might be 400 years or older, but that doesn't mean that you've ever encountered someone like me. You've got no idea how things are going to become. I'm not your normal policeman, I'm a magician; a master of deception, and I do hope that you have the ability to think on your feet, otherwise you're getting one free trip in the backseat of a police car. I'll give you one month to consider the offer of helping me to steal artworks that have the same strength as the painting. After that month I'll continue stealing the same way that made me famous."
"Firstly; I'll never help you steal, and secondly; the only reason you're famous in Tokyo is because of me," Dark scowled and then twitched when Kaito smiled as he shot out and grabbed hard into the wrists.
"Listen closely, Dark-san. I'm world famous, and yet you've never heard of me," the magician continued smiling as the other thief lost the feather he'd been hiding, "and that's a free clue to Pandora and why I have to steal, just because I've decided that you're a good person. And before I leave, say hello to the voice in your head from me." Dark's eyes widened shocked and he threw himself out of the van with the painting as the car exploded in smoke.

"Wiz," he called out and immediately took air, still holding the paining to his chest and looked around for the magician, but the other thief was gone. He flew to a small island not far out and cracked the code, but as he opened it he faced a KID-doodle and growled.
'How did he do that?!' Daisuke asked shocked in Dark's head while the phantom thief thought the same thing.
"I authenticated it before it went into the metal box. I watched it go into the metal box. I took the metal box, and I never let go of it. There is no way that he could've done it!" Dark went through the memories and shook his head, trying to figure out how the painting had gone missing.
'We should ask him since we know that he'll be at the gallery,' the redhead mused while hearing Dark think about the mystery of the painting-switch.
'But this means that he's gotten hold of the power, or that Pandora-guy has,' Dark fidgeted a bit nervously and tried grabbing the magic-bound feather in his sleeve, but only grasped empty air. He quickly patted his wrist and then took air, realising that the magician had stolen it, and felt worried; he had never actually met someone like the white-clad thief; that was completely true, not even his archenemy was as unpredictable as the magician, but then again, you could always trust someone evil to do evil things.

A/N: I promice, Shinichi will wake up in the next chapter! I really thought that he was going to be awake by now!

Answer to guest review: D
Sorry! I always forget to answer the guest reviews and then have to hurry and answer on them before people read the new chapter, but you reviewed before I remembered XD
Yea, I think I should write a bit on Last Time in Moonlight. No, I probably can't handle more stories and update them continuously.
Thank you, I'm happy that you say that :D
I'm from Sweden ;)