A New Beginning

Chapter 2

Within five minutes of meeting him Kaito already detested Saguru Hakuba. He hated everything about him from his neat blonde hair to the way he lingered over kissing Aoko's hand. He found himself happy that Aoko treated Hakuba the same way she treated everyone else; ignored him and didn't say much. Kaito could only see one potentially useful him about him: he could persuade him into giving out some information about Aoko's past. He had honed his persuading skills over the years as he investigated the Organisation and he hadn't yet found a female aside from Aoko that wouldn't do anything for him. Of course with Hakuba he was going to have to change his tactics. Only slightly.

"It is a very long flight from Japan to England and we will be stopping briefly in Paris to refuel. Luckily I have my own private airfield so we don't have to land at a public airport in London," Hakuba explained, flicking his hair- something which was getting on Kaito's nerves. He smiled as if he was modelling for a toothpaste advert.

Annoyingly for Kaito the blonde sat himself down in the seat next to Aoko who was staring out of the window again for takeoff. After they were allowed to take off their seatbelts they gathered around a table for another briefing. Kaito would have preferred to be back in the windowless office in Tokyo to have another briefing rather than on a plane with a blonde snob.

"First things first, do you know who I am?" Hakuba started with a flick of his hair.

"You're Saguru Hakuba," Kaito answered, wondering what the point of the question was. Surely he wasn't going to be reminding them of his name every 5 minutes?"

Hakuba's mouthed twitched. "You have never heard of me? Have you ever read a newspaper? What about you Aoko-chan?"

Ignoring the familiarising of her name, Aoko looked up at him instead of staring down at the weave of her trousers which she had been doing for the past 10 minutes.

"You're a detective."

The detective in question brightened like a light bulb being switched on and bowed his head humbly.

"Yes, I am a detective; a fairly well known one at that." He looked pointedly at Kaito who scowled. "My father is the Chief of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, but I prefer to work privately. I became aware of the Organisation by chance during a case and I have become part of the resistance against it along with several other teenage detectives. Kuroba, have you ever heard of Shinichi Kudo? And for God's sake, do not say that it is you."

Kaito struggled with the name. He had heard it before, but locating exactly where he had heard it before was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. He did read the newspapers, but only to see if there was anything involving the Organisation and he never paid attention to the detectives' names in the articles. After some strenuous thinking he slotted the name into place. A few days before he had had his first real contact with the Organisation, he had read the police files for a big money laundering case of a major company and the detective that had discovered it was Shinichi Kudo. He would have done some research of Shinichi Kudo, but his life had completely changed after his first contact with the Organisation so he had completely forgotten.

"Yes, I know who he is," Kaito said, now beginning to ponder the significance and reason behind his new alias. If Shinichi Kudo has been involved in the investigations in cases that the Organisation was behind or connected to, then they would definitely have him under observation or planning ways to get him on their side.

From his suit jacket pocket Hakuba produced a small photo and laid it upside down on the table so Kaito and Aoko could see. It was a photo of a couple that had an uncanny resemblance to Kaito and Aoko, there was only one real significant difference- they had tidier hair and the woman was smiling brightly which was something that Kaito couldn't see Aoko doing at the moment. The woman was wearing a long white wedding dress and holding a bouquet of flowers and the man was wearing a white suit and had a rose in his pocket. The photo was taken outside of a church.

"This is the real Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mori," Hakuba informed them primly. "You two will be impersonating them."

Kaito added himself and Aoko into the equation and realised that the offer that had been given to them by the mysterious government was not as good as it had originally sounded. He and Aoko were going to be bait to lure the Organisation into coming after them.

"Where is the real Shinichi Kudo?" Kaito asked suspiciously. He was going to be annoyed if he found out the detective was holidaying in the Caribbean whilst he was dealing with all the hitmen that had been intended for him.

Hakuba frowned and took back the photo. "He… is not in a good condition right now. After solving a bank heist case that directly involved the Organisation, steps were taken by Them to ensure that he did not interfere again…"

"If he is dead, why am I impersonating him?"

Hakuba looked as if he had been anticipating than question. He laid his hands flat on the table and began to explain.

"Please don't interrupt what I am about to say, Kuroba. Shinichi Kudo is not dead, he is just not in a good condition, but the Organisation think that they killed him so he is laying low for now. So we thought that his connection would be a dead end for investigation. Then you two turned up on our doorstep. After spotting the resemblance we realised that we could get rid of the problem of hiding you two and Shinichi Kudo in one strike. If we are lucky we might actually be able to get some information about them before the plan gets discovered."

"So I'm going to be Shinichi Kudo so they can come after me because I'm a threat and then you are going to try to capture them," Kaito surmised. "Am I right?"

Hakuba was surprised that Kaito was taking it so well and wasn't protesting or threatening him like he had expected to. Anyone else besides those two would not take the news that they were going to be acting as bait for a dangerous organisation so well.

"What if I refuse the generous offer and go off on my own?"

And Kaito thought that he had seen all of Hakuba's range of smiles. His mouth stretched into a narrow smile to show his teeth and Kaito swore that he saw a glimpse of vampire teeth.

"I would not have thought that you were in the position to disagree, Kuroba. You are in my plane, several thousand feet up in the air and once you get off and leave us you will be cut off from any support we could have given you," Hakuba said evenly, still smiling like a vampire. "You would be dead meat for the Organisation."

Releasing a defeated sigh Kaito sat back in his seat and decided that it was a waste of time to have an argument with Hakuba- the annoying blonde had made some valid points and he did want to be part of the downfall of the treacherous organisation that had killed his father even if it was only a small part and he died in the process. He wanted to avenge his death.

Turning to Aoko he said, "What do you think of it, Nakamori-san?"

Aoko looked even paler now and more distressed. Her hands were shaking slightly. "I don't see that there is any other option. I need their protection and to have that I have to do as they say."

It was the longest speech that Kaito had heard her make all day and yet again he found himself wondering what had happened to her to make her like that.

"There you have it Kaito Kuroba; a very good reason as to why you should go along with it. Now are there any other questions?"

There was a defined silence for a few seconds in response to the question as Kaito tried to think of a question that would annoy Hakuba, then Aoko broke the silence with a question that Kaito wished that he had thought of, "what happened to Ran Mori?"

From what Kaito could infer from the expression on Hakuba's face, he guessed that it was not a question that he had been looking forward to answering. Hakuba steepled his fingers like Sherlock Holmes before answering.

"We don't know," he admitted reluctantly. "She has completely disappeared. Either she was kidnapped or she is trying to go after them by herself. Her husband chose not to let her know what he was investigating or what happened to him, but she could have found something out."

Kaito yawned loudly without really thinking about it. Hakuba gladly took it as a signal to stop the questions so he wouldn't need to admit that he didn't know something. He stood up and suggested that they all get some sleep.

It was just after 12pm Japan time when Kaito was awoken from his fitful and uncomfortable sleep- it was the best night's sleep he had in a while, by Hakuba walking past his seat quietly, presumably on his way to the toilet. He sat up alert in his seat underneath a blanket, recalling that he had planned to corner him to question him about Aoko. Now he had the perfect opportunity.

Quickly he looked over at Aoko who looked fast asleep wrapped in two blankets with her eye mask on. Taking her to be asleep he silently rushed to follow Hakuba.

He stood outside the toilet door and waited. He knew that the detective was in there as the door locked said engaged. After a few minutes there was a gurgling flush and the sound of running water. Then the door slid open and Hakuba came out. Before he even had time to register Kaito's presence Kaito had slammed his hand against the wall, blocking the way.

"What do you want Kuroba?" Hakuba asked testily, wanting to get back to sleep.

"In order for me to be able to progress and impersonate Shinichi Kudo I need to know some more about my "wife". I'm not living with her without knowing anything about her besides her name."

Hakuba seemed to shake himself awake. "You have a point," he said, flattening his hair which had become messed up. "Come with me."

I don't think that I will update this anymore as it does not seem to be very popular.