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"This is so weird," muttered Nakamori Ginzo-keibu to himself as he continued to carefully survey the beautifully clear night sky with binoculars. He was looking, watching and rather anxiously waiting for any sign of a familiar white hang glider containing an equally white-clad thief hanging onto the handlebars making his usual dramatic entrance onto the scene of his grandly preannounced crime. Of course, Ginzo wasn't ever quite sure whether he and his task force should be deeply annoyed or highly honored that while Kid sent his advance notices to the people that owned his targeted jewels in fairly plain format, he left the police twisted, strange, ingenious riddles to solve that drove them mad and sometimes took nearly until the day of the heist to solve, if some of their more clever members were unavailable to assist with research. Not that the police assigned to the Kaitou Kid task force would ever have asked the victims for their slightly decoded notes; that was part of the game they played with Kid, part of the challenge. To not solve the riddle would be cheating both themselves and Kaitou Kid.
Nakamori and the others on his special team also knew that yes, they could have shot Kaitou Kid down out of the sky ages and ages ago to catch and arrest him if they had really wanted to -that glider was terribly open and exposed to the onlookers down below after all. However, out of deference not only to the fact that he was unarmed, but also to Kid's total dedication to the practice of nonviolent methods during his impossible heists, the Kid task force had long, long ago agreed firmly among themselves to show Kaitou Kid the same respect by only trying to catch the exceptionally wily and slippery thief using equally humane and pacifistic methods to accomplish the task.
Kaitou Kid was also -Ginzo found himself glancing down at his watch yet again with growing puzzlement- as of five minutes ago by his fairly accurate wristwatch late now to one of his own heists; the master showman -slash- master magician -slash- master thief Kaitou Kid was never late to one of his heists. Ever. And the massive crowd behind Ginzo currently knew this fact and was rapidly growing as restless and anxious as the keibu and the other task members felt themselves. The screaming herd was clattering against the fence, shoving against the barrier and calling for Kid in loud raised voices, wondering why he hadn't shown up yet like the Kid task force was beginning to wonder themselves, worried frowns and thoughtful furrows eventually replacing eager grins and curiosity when the glider hadn't appeared in the sky precisely at the time Kid laid down in his schedule like it always did.
What was this strange, ominous feeling that was slowly beginning its feasting on his gut currently? Surely not worry about the young thief, most definitely not the veteran, hardened keibu actually wondering if Kid was laying severely injured or dead somewhere, if perhaps a life-threatening injury or even his death en route to the heist was the cause of his strange and highly out of character tardiness. Nope, none of those, not at all. Ginzo steeled himself as he finished the obvious mental lie to himself and did another sweep of the sky; he had a job to do at the moment, personal feelings be damned. Although the main reason for his current job was nowhere in sight and now running a good ten minutes late by Ginzo's watch.
"Hmph. Not like him at all to be tardy and keep his crazed fans waiting, now is it Nakamori-keibu?" commented a well-cultured male voice coming from Ginzo's left with approaching footsteps giving a staccato accompaniment to the statement. It was a young voice too, one that Ginzo had come to know all too well in the time he'd spent chasing the recently unretired Kaitou Kid. (Although in a mental side note to himself, Ginzo also had a rather strong suspicion, a policemen's hunch or perhaps some sort of hunter's instinct developed through spending so long with this particular white-outfitted prey that this was not the same Kaitou Kid he'd pursued so long ago.) There was a grudging respect there towards the blonde meitantei, but there was a rivalry there as well; he, the head of the Kaitou Kid task force, was going to be the one to catch Kaitou Kid dammit, not the often pompous and egotistical Hakuba Saguru. Although upon further reflection, Ginzo had to admit (even if only to himself) that there were a few heists that they simply would not have even showed up on time to if the teen hadn't been feeling generous with information and practically held the task force's hands through solving some of the stranger, more layered riddles Kid had come up with.
"Yeah, Hakuba. Not like him." Ginzo issued this gruff reply as more of a grunt than a statement, never removing his eyes from the sky as he continued to scan avidly for the still-absent thief.
"You know, Nakamori-keibu, something may have happened to him." This was followed by an affirmative, high-pitched squawk from Watson, who was currently perched on Saguru's shoulder and very worked up.
All of the other task force members turned to the meitantei and gave him the sort of looks that were normally reserved for either a hated public figure or a particularly, virulently odorous piece of cheese. Oh, all of them had already thought the dreaded thought at some point or another after Kaitou Kid had so strangely began running late, but none of them had even dared to speak it out loud and none of them had planned to. That Saguru had actually committed this unpardonable sin caused every single member of the force to turn thier backs to the meitantei in an almost childish fit of collective anger (Ginzo most definitely included,) the group collectively, instantly punishing the teen for daring to actually vocalize what was really deep down their single greatest fear.
Yes, Kid was a thief first and foremost- a criminal that they needed to catch and have answer for his larceny in a court of law. Yes, he was strange, operated in a most unusual manner and pulled the most unexpected pranks imaginable at his highly inventive heists (including one memorable pre-heist incident with the force's still very full at the time large portable coffee Thermos, ten electric blue paintballs, a springboard, some rubber bands and a rather large white mouse- they still chuckled about that one to this day, at least the ones that hadn't gotten caught in Kid's bizarre, amazing trap.) But you got the strange sense that you could very safely approach Kaitou Kid unarmed, and he always returned what he took eventually didn't he? Plus he was a criminal that operated completely within the rules- albeit his own rules, but rules nonetheless- in a world where criminals generally played by none at all. They didn't want him hurt, and in their collective minds even thinking of the possibility that the Magician of the Moonlight might actually really be hurt or injured could possibly help make the horrible thought a reality.
"Alright, alright. I get it. But you all really do have to begin looking at the possibility at this point, you know. Those magicians that have been vanishing lately...Did Aoko-san discuss my theory with you at all this afternoon Nakamori-keibu? I really think that-"
"THERE HE IS!"
The present collective KKFC (Kaitou Kid Fan Club, the term that was generally used by the task force for the screaming fans that always showed up to his heists, an inappropriate word sometimes placed in front of that KKFC if an officer was in a surly mood after dealing with one of the KKFC's more rabid specimens) began screaming and clapping wildly as the crisp white hang glider came into view off in the distance, and the task force members collectively, instantly perked up and inserted their ear pieces, radios snapping to life and frequencies quickly synchronized as adrenaline began coursing rapidly through tense veins. They had all learned long, long ago that trying to hold any sort of conversation without the aid of in-ear headpieces at a Kid heist once the thief actually showed up for his evening's pilfer was akin to trying to move the sand out of the Sahara grain by tiny grain- a tortuous ordeal that would only end in failure and frustration.
What's with that mask on his face? Kid always wears a monocle...but that is his glider, no question... "Alright, let's get moving! Into the room where Christmastide is, NOW!"
Their thief had finally showed up, and all was right with the world once more.
"Mom, I'm going to get help, alright? And I'm not going to be staying at the house for a while, because I have a feeling that those guys in black were after me." Kaito gave her as pointed a look as he could muster while she was laying there with an IV in her arm. "Weren't they?" he added softly.
Kaito sat by his mother's beside in the hospital, very unhappy that she was in said facility at all but deeply grateful that they very worst she had had to endure was a small hairline fracture to her left arm and some overall bruising. Those black-jacketed bastards had roughed her up all right, but they hadn't killed her. When he wasn't profusely thanking whatever higher power had looked after his mother in those moments, Kaito was wondering about why they hadn't killed her. She looked over at him and smiled.
"Now, dear. Listen to me, this isn't so bad. And don't think that I didn't know exactly what I was possibly letting myself in for when I married Toichi; he told me who he was before we officially got engaged. I'll be fine." A pause while indecision wavered in his mother's eyes. "I've never told you this before because I didn't think that you should know, but a similar pair of men came to me after your father died in that horrible accident at his show. They were far more brutal than those two this afternoon, believe me." As Akita noticed the shock in her son's eyes she added firmly "Do you remember that week fairly close to your father's death when you stayed with Jii-san? That was because I was in the hospital."
"But Mom-"
"Yes, they were after you. They wanted to know what you knew about something called Pandora...I heard your father always mention Pandora, too, towards the end of everything. Whatever it is, that's what they were after. But they also seemed very specific about wanting to know whether you had picked up your father's mantle of Kaitou Kid. Of course I never said anything, which was where they got a bit rough, and then suddenly the tall blonde one looked out our front window at the driveway and started yelling at the bulky one...something about where he'd parked the car or something like that. Then they glared at me and left me tied up just like you found me." She yawned and settled back into the bed. Kaito decided to leave; not only was his mom ready for some much needed sleep, but visitor's hours were ending anyway. Now it's time to ask the one favor I absolutely dread having to ask...
He slowly, reluctantly pulled out his cell phone and called the cell belonging to a certain very annoying half-Brit whose ingrained British inclination towards hospitality he was just going to have to lean on. As much as it irked and irritated the thief, the thought of taking a temporary guest room at his rival's house was the biggest barb of all, but he knew for a fact that Hakuba's father was out of town for at least the next two weeks at a bigwig police gathering. The guy also lived in a freaking huge house, one that had taken exactly twenty-seven rolls of toilet paper and three different lengths of stepladder to fully encase (this was something that he prayed Hakuba would conveniently forget when he begged this favor of him.)
"Hello, this is Hakuba Saguru," replied the other boy as he picked up, tone full of sleepiness and surprise. "Why are you calling me at this hour, Kuroba? Do you even realize-"
That you just spent the last three hours chasing Jii-chan around fruitlessly and are probably dead tired right now? Yep, but it was necessary. "Sorry. I wouldn't be calling unless it was important." He coughed and swallowed, a physical gesture that he tried to use to swallow his disgust and pride as well. "Mom's in the hospital, and I don't want to stay at our house for the time being." I don't want those guys coming back for me, at least not until I'm ready and armed to face them on my own terms...and I don't want to stay at Jii's, there's a chance they might show up at his place because Jii-chan was connected to Dad. Hiding at Hakuba's will work, if he'll actually let me stay. Plus I may be able to steer him towards helping me find those missing magicians... "Can I crash in one of your guest bedrooms, at least for a few days? You know I wouldn't be asking unless I really needed it."
What have you gotten yourself into, Kuroba? This sounds very bad...Your mother's in the hospital and you don't want to stay at your own home? Is this perhaps connected to the missing magicians? "I know that you wouldn't be asking me unless you really needed this favor, idiot. It is me after all, and we both know what a deep fondness you possess for me." Saguru finished dryly before he let out a sigh full of inconvenience that he reluctantly admitted to himself was purely for show. "I suppose you can, Kuroba, but there are a few ground rules we're laying out for this beforehand." After Watson finished emitting a squawk almost right in his ear, Saguru shut his eyes and then opened them again as he began. "The first rule of you staying under our roof, Kuroba, is that if there is so much as a single sheet of toilet paper carried outside of the restroom by you you're done..."