I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters. Both belongs to Aoyama Gosho.

Chapter III
– The Second Kiss –

"Jeez Shinichi, you could have gotten yourself something more elegant."

"What's wrong with jeans, Ran? I'm wearing a sports jacket, isn't that elegant enough?" the detective retorted.

"But this is a the opening party of a big hotel, you can't come in jeans."

"Suits aren't fitted to chase down a thief."

The truth was that the teen detective had been so caught up in his preparation and investigation for the heist that he didn't think about getting something like a suit for the opening party.

"Stubborn detective freak."

"Tomboy."

"How am I a tomboy? I'm wearing a dress you forgetful fool!"

"Why am I forgetful?"

"You're so oblivious" The brunette turned away from her friend and went to were Sonoko was talking to the other guests.

The three teens were attending the party of the hotel they had been invited to. Until ten o'clock, where the KID heist started, there were still ten minutes left and of course Nakamori and his KID force were present as well and had given everyone the pinch. KID didn't seem to be disguised as one of the guest so they were still looking for possibilites of him entering the ballroom. The necklace, KID would be attempting to steal, was exhibited in a glass case at a wall of the large hall they were in. The glass case had several hidden security ploys on it only Nakamori knew of and not even the owner of the necklace knew of.

The room they were in seemed like a ballroom from 19th century. The huge ceiling consisted of a large window with colored glass, from which an enormous chandelier was hanging. The walls above the marmor pillars had scenes from greek mythology carved into them and the walls beside the big entrance also had scenes painted on them. Everything was of a warm cream color and the light of candles on the tables made everything even more graceful.

Azure blue eyes were fixed to the glass case, in which the Blue Princess Necklace was placed. Nakamori himself and four of his subordinates were guarding it. Shinichi was about to approach the group of policemen, when something caught his observant eyes. It was the hotel owner's wife Kazuyoshi Kiyoko, who was currently talking to Sonoko and Ran. As soon as the two girls had left he approached the woman in her mid thirties – though she looked barely older than twenty-five. Kiyoko greeted him with a flirtatious smile and a seductive look.

"Good evening Oku-san (A/N: =way to call someone elses wife). I hope you're enjoying the party." He wasn't that interested in the woman and tried to ignore her obvious attempts at flirting.

"You can call me Kiyoko-san," she replied.

This is going to be really hard.

"I would prefer to call you by your surname, since we don't know each other." The flirtatious look she was giving him started to make him uneasy.

She stepped closer to him, to which he responded by stepping back a little.

Why does this feel so oddly familiar? he thought sarcastically.

"Oku-san, I only need to know something. It's about that walking stick you're holding."

"Is something wrong with it?" She still kept shooting him that seducing look.

Though Shinichi wasn't interested in the woman, he couldn't prevent a faint blush from tinting his cheeks. "To me it seems longer than two hours ago, when we first entered this hall. You left for about ten minutes and when you came back," A smirk made its way to the detective's features, "it was suddenly bigger. Ne, Kaito KID?"

'Kazuyoshi' as well smiled. "That's because," 'She' raised the walking stick, "it's not a normal walking stick," a suddenly male voice replied.

Suddenly a flash blinded Shinichi and he had to cover his eyes.

Damn, he really hid a flash bomb in there.

Several people around him gasped in surprised and shielded their eyes as well. Things like "What's going on?" and "Was that a flash?" were shouted and panic started to rise. None of the guests had been informed about KID's planned appearance, so of course they didn't know the reason of the commotion.

As soon as the detective lowered his arm again, pink smoke was already filling the room. Immediately raising his arm again to cover his nose and mouth, he watched the other guests falling to the ground sleeping.

It started. He appeared. He probably knocked the real Kazuyoshi out when she left the room, then he disguised as her and reentered the ball room as her. Also he probably used make-up to pretend he already had been pinched. Not even Nakamori would pinch someone with an already red cheek, especially if it was the owner's wife.

Dazed, because of the sleeping gas, he ran to where he remembered the glass case with the necklace to be, cautious not to trip over the sleeping people. His sight already blurry, he reached the other end of the room. What he found was the seemingly untouched but empty case.

How did he–

Catching a glimpse through the fading smoke, he noticed a corner of something white disappearing out of the large doors. Still covering his nose and mouth he ran to the doors and exited the ballroom. Outside was a large corridor with several shut doors. Also he found two staircases leading to the upper stories. Looking around he found something white on the stairs, looking down to him. The white cladded figure on the stairs of the corridor had it's head turned, while running, to shoot him a smirk.

The dizziness slowly fading from his mind, the detective ran after the figure, skipping steps in his hurry as he ran up the stairs.

White flashed in his blurry sight as he ran up the stairs. He could hear a door being opened and light footsteps echoing from the walls. Running even faster he neared the opened door. As he exited through that door he found himself on a moonlit rooftop.

Besides the door were only generators on the rooftop, probably to provide the required amount of electricity for the large hotel.

Shinichi then spotted the person he had been looking for. KID was standing on the edge of the roof, undisguised, ready to escape, with the necklace in his raised hand. The blue sapphire glinted in the bright moonlight and the ever so present smirk was placed on the phantom thief's face. His monocle, covering his right eye, reflected the moonlight coming from the cloudless sky.

"Long time no see, Meitantei-san. I was expecting Tantei-kun to come tonight, but it seems he couldn't make it. What a shame. Then I'll have to play along with you great detective of the East."

"Disguising as woman seems to be a favorite of yours."

"Don't you think it makes me more attractive?" Suddenly there was a boom and in Kaito's white hat a smoking hole had been shot. Gasping in surprise, but pulling out his poker face soon after, KID stepped away from the rooftop edge. "Aren't you supposed to catch me? What use would you have of me being dead?" he asked calmly.

"Sorry KID" Shinichi replied also calmly, his smoking gun still raised. "but I don't want to play with you today. All I want is to tear that monocle from your face and wipe away that stupid grin of yours."

"I'm afraid that won't happen." The thief was already reaching for his card gun, but as soon as he had gripped it, it was shot out of his hand by the detective. "You could have hit me, you know."

A small laugh escaped Shinichi's lips. "That necklace…"

"You mean this?" KID raised said necklace into the night's light.

"Are you sure it's the real thing?" the detective asked.

"Eh? So you switched it. I thought there was something odd about it." He lowered the necklace again and looked carefully at it, his poker face not faltering for one second. "Who made the copy? It looks exactly like the real one."

"A friend of mine."

"Agasa-san?" KID's voice had a somewhat surprised tone.

"Yeah. Though he had a hard time making it."

"But he sure did a good job. I couldn't really tell what was bothering me about that sapphire, but just now I noticed that it wasn't as clear as the real one. I should have researched a bit more." The thief heived a deep sigh. "So you know where the real sapphire is?"

"I got permission by the owner to replace the necklace with a fake. Of course you would have found all safes and hide-outs for the original we would have chosen, so I decided to keep the necklace myself." Shinichi didn't lower his gun even for one second.

"Do you think it's smart to tell me where the real one is?" the thief asked in a low voice.

The detective chuckled. "That way I have a chance to get near you and cuff you."

"So, you're challenging me?" KID received a confident smirk from the the teen detective. His own smirk widening, he stepped away even more from the rooftop edge.

"Are you planning to simply take it from me thief?" Shinichi asked.

KID didn't respond and instead kept approaching the other. His steps echoing, his poker face still in place and his gloved hands placed in his pockets, he calmly stepped closer to the detective.

"There's one thing I couldn't solve."

Only a few meter away from Shinichi KID stopped. "You couldn't solve my riddle Meitantei-san?" he asked mockingly.

"It's that 'with a kiss'part. It doesn't seem to relate to the heist, since the day, the time and the goal of the heist were already mentioned in the note. What does that part mean?"

"It's just a little extra," KID replied.

Questioning, the detective cocked an eyebrow.

A chuckle escaped from the phantom thief's smirking mouth. "Do you want me to show you the meaning of it?" He started to approach the other further.

Immediately Shinichi threw the gun away and pushed the button on his belt, which soon after produced a soccer ball. He turned to the side to kick the ball in midair with the full force of his leg.

KID dodged the ball, fizzing through the silence of the night, by stepping aside gracefully. As soon as the ball had passed him, he leaped forward, reaching the startled detective after only a few steps.

Shinichi then found himself pinned to the now closed door by the white cladded phantom thief. He gasped in surprise and tried to push the thief away, only to realise that his hands were suddenly cuffed behind his back. Panic started to coil in his stomach, but he kept his own poker face in place. Gloved hands brushed his side gently and were placed beside him on the door, causing the teen to jump with a little yelp. "W-What are you doing?" Now he wasn't able to escape from the thief and he was now the one wanting to run away.

Chuckling KID leaned forward until his face was right beside the detective's ear. "I'm showing you the meaning of the kiss part" His voice was husky and his breath brushed against Shinichi's ear. "Today's a special day, but you seem to have forgotten about it."

The detective stiffened under the thief. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll see."

Suddenly Shinichi realised he was looking in that mirror. Covered by a monocle, but still familiar. A face that looked so much like his own. The one visible eye was of a blue color, but he couldn't say of what shade it was, since it was too dark. Before he could search the eyes more, said eyes vanished. They closed.

Then there was that warm and soft feeling on his lips again, the same he had felt four days earlier. This time though he knew what was happening. He knew what was causing that feeling. The Kaito KID was kissing him, but this time it was different.

After what seemed like an eternity, KID pulled away from the flushed detective and smirked.

"I-I don't understand." Desperately Shinichi tried to catch his breath again. "You were challenging Conan-kun, but you seem to have expected me to come. But why?"

"You're the detective, so find it out yourself." The thief pushed himself closer to the other's body and again was only mere inches away from Shinichi's lips. Instead of doing anything, he just stood there, watching the teen before him. Flushed, breathing hard and with hazy eyes. "Oi, oi. Is my Meitantei-san flustered?"

Shinichi could have easily kicked the thief and even in a very sensitive spot, but again his hazy mind kept him from thinking straight. "I don't understand. I-I'm not… I don't like guys."

"That's interesting, because neither do I," KID's husky voice whispered. "Now that I think about it, I might even have a girl I like."

"Then why–" Shinichi was cut off by the phantom thief's lips silencing him.

KID's lips were soft and cool against Shinichi's wet and warm ones. Something warm and wet flicked against the detective's bottom lip, but he didn't react.

The thief groaned at getting no access to the other's mouth and lightly bit down.

Shinichi gasped in response and felt the soft tongue enter his mouth. The slick muscle mapped the insides of his mouth and soon their tongues tangled in a heated kiss, both fighting for dominace.

After winning the 'battle' KID pulled away completely with a moan. "Maybe now you understand what I meant." He then pulled himself away from the other's heated and shaky body.

Struggling to calm his hitching breath, Shinichi looked at the flushed thief. "Don't tell me the reason why you kissed me is because you wanted to know how it would be like to kiss yourself."

"No, that wasn't the reason. It's because I wanted to know how your lips taste like." As soon as he had uttered those words, KID ran away, leaving the still dazed detective behind.

Something in the back of Shinichi's mind told him to follow the thief, but his body wouldn't obay him. A shuddered breath left him as he slid down the door to the ground, watching Kaito KID leap off of the roof and fly into the night's darkness with his hang-glider. He raised his hand and touched his kiss-swollen lips.

After some time where he just sat there he raised himself on still shaky legs, as suddenly a thought hit him. He rummaged through his pockets and finally found what he had been looking for. Pulling the necklace from his pocket he examined it closely. His azure eyes widened in realisation.

He switched them again! That stupid thief stole the necklace from me!

He was about to turn around and open the door, when suddenly said door was flung open and slammed against him. With a thud Shinichi fell on his back and as he looked up he was faced with the reddened face of one Inspector Nakamori.

"Where's KID!" he yelled.

Groaning the teen detective stood up, brushing over his clothes. "He got away with the necklace, the real one."

"Wait a minute." Nakamori stepped closer to the teen. "You're that brat that Megure braught on that one heist. You're the one who shot at KID!"

"Y-Yeah. I was the one who hid the original necklace, but KID stole it from me."

"So you're the one who got the original," the Inspector mumbled. "But how the hell did he stole it from you?" he yelled again.

"I-I let my guard slip for a second." Shinichi hoped his voice didn't show he was lying… somehow.

The Inspector's face reddened even more and he grumbled, walking away from the teen. He started to yell orders at his subordinates, who were to be going after the fleeing KID by car.

Sighing in relief Shinichi made his way through the door. While walking down the stairs he thought about the kiss and why he didn't push KID away. He could have easily kicked the thief or just bite him, but instead he let himself being kissed and joined the 'battle of tongues'. And why did that face seem so oddly familiar? That whole event seemed so familiar. Of course was similar to what happened a few days earlier, when that Kuroba guy kissed him.

What do I have on me that causes some strangers to always walk up to me and to kiss me?

His thoughts were interupted by a brunette suddenly standing in front of him. He found himself at the ball room again.

"Where did you go Shinichi?"

"Ran? Aren't you supposed to sleep from that gas?"

"I just woke up."

"Oh, I see. Well, I was chasing after KID but he got away. With the necklace. Also he said today was a special day and that I seem to have forgotten about it. Do you know what he meant?"

"I told you before you're a forgetful fool."

"But why? What's so special about today?"

"It's your birthday you idiot!"

"Oh… Oh. I totally forgot! It's the 4th of May!"

"See, I told you you're a forgetful fool. I brought you a present anyway." Ran pulled a wrapped up package out of her bag and handed it to her friend.

With a smile he unwrapped the present. It was a red scarf. "Red's my favorite color! Thanks Ran!"

"Since you're always sick I made you one."

"You made it yourself?"

"I didn't want to buy one because…" A blush crept onto her cheeks.

By seeing the brunette blushing Shinichi as well gained a blush on his cheeks. "Thanks."

Still blushing Ran looked up at him again and smiled. "Happy Birthday."