DISCLAIMER: ALL MEDICINE FOUND IN THIS CHAPTER IS CONCOCTED BY ME AND WILL PROBABLY MAKE YOU REALLY SICK IF YOU TRY IT. I BARE NO RESPONSIBILITY SHOULD YOU TRY ANY OF IT. (I DON'T KNOW IF IT MIGHT ACTUALLY WORK...I'M NOT TRYING IT)
Chapter 3: In Enemy Territory
I never made it to school the next day. By the time I woke up it was past noon and I spared a second thought at the extra night tacked on to Hakuba's card. I shrugged my shoulders. He had enough money to go around.
I looked, slightly guilty, at the new black stains on the blankets that I never managed to get under last night and picked up the phone.
I called my house and was a little surprised when my mom got in instead of the answering machine because she should have been at work. I had managed, somehow, to get home by dawn on all my 'outings' and I could imagine her reaction to finding my bed empty that morning. The late night news most likely reported the fire and my mom knew me better than anyone else.
"Kaito are you okay?"
"I'm…" Talking definitely hurt. Ouch. I would not be doing it anytime soon and if I did make it to school I would have to do something to keep people from prying. Tricks started to form in my head as I thought about it until I was able to talk again.
"A little hurt." I admitted to her. She wouldn't buy my outright lies if I couldn't mask them. She waited a few moments before answering me.
"Ok, come back home as soon as you can." The worry in her voice made me sad. It was just a few burns; I would have to get home quickly to reassure her.
"I will." I barely got out before the pain could stop me. We hung up and I used the phone once more to call a cab. There was no way I had the stamina to take the bus and transfer to the train. I should stay closer to home next time I decided to be heroic.
The cab came and it took a little more than half-an-hour for me to get home. I paid the man with Hakuba's card and made a note to myself that I would have to repay him somehow for his help; Kudo too if I could manage it.
Mom greeted me at the door and hugged me. I yelped in pain and pulled back, grabbing my wrist. She instantly released me and looked ashamed of herself which hurt more than the pain had. I quickly got my right arm out of the way and grabbed her as tightly as I could without hurting either of us. It took her a few tentative moments but she hugged me back and we made our way inside.
A few quiet votes of reassurance about my physical condition later and I made my way up to my room. I took off Hakuba's burnt coat and wondered for a second why he would want it back with how bad of a condition it was in. It took a while but I managed to get what was left of my costume off and store it safely in the back of my closet where it wouldn't be found. I put on a dark gray, short-sleeved shirt and a pair of white shorts and fell asleep upon impact with my bed, this time managing to get the covers over me.
I woke up about two hours later to the smell of my mom's cooking. I got slowly out of bed and made my way downstairs.
"Hello, Kaito. You're just in time for lunch." She smiled at me and noticed my bandages now that I didn't have sleeves or pants to hide them.
"Let me see." She tried to take them off and I pulled away.
"It's fine." The words didn't come out comprehensible. It sounded like I had said inhind. I shook my head, trying to get her to understand.
"Kaito, you're hurt. You could at least let me do this much." There were tears in her eyes but she didn't look away and wasn't going to give up. I sighed and gave in for the second time in such a short period. I'm not the type to be so submissive and it was driving me crazy.
Mom took some warm water in a bowl with a soft cloth and set it next to me. She tenderly removed the bandages and I heard her intake of breathe as she saw the burns.
"Hopefully they won't scar." She started patting the warm cloth over the wounds but not soaking them. Both of us were experienced with injuries and knew that getting burns too wet would only make it harder for them heal. I made sure that I didn't show her how much it hurt. She wrapped my arm up back in fresh bandages and I kissed her on the cheek, unable to thank her.
"I don't know what to do about your throat but I'll look into it." She said with an equal amount of determination. I waved my hand at her to show that she didn't need to do anything. She brought out lunch and I heard my stomach growl.
Mom had made a sweet omelet for me with rice that was just a little too overcooked, making it easier to chew and swallow. I smiled at her and she returned it.
I was halfway through eating, which still really hurt but I was too hungry to care, when someone came knocking at the door. Mom motioned for me to continue while she got up to answer it. I heard Aoko's voice enter the room a moment later, worry leaking into every word.
"Is Kaito home? I know he wasn't in school today and he's such a big fan of the Kid that I was afraid that he may have been hurt. My dad told me there was a fire nearby and Hakuba-kun wasn't at school today either and…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say next.
I shoved in a mouthful of egg before sticking my head out of the kitchen to have a reason not to talk to her. The little bit of rice stuck to the side of my face that I hadn't managed to catch helped.
"Kaito!" Shouted and ran towards me. I saw the indecision as she debated whether to hug me or hit me. She did neither.
"Kaito, I know you ditch school all the time but you should really come to class more often. I was scared you had gotten caught up in the fire yesterday." She looked me over and I made sure to keep my arm hidden behind the kitchen wall. I mumbled something with the food in my mouth, not really using my voice. She smacked me lightly on the side of the head.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." I smiled, my cheeks puffed out in a funny manner. She grabbed on the front of my grey shirt and sighed.
"I was really worried about you today, Kaito." She ran back to the front door "don't scare me like that again!" She yelled angrily but I caught the relieved smile on her face that she tried to hide after she said goodbye to my mom.
I relaxed when she was gone and went upstairs. I wasn't sure how I was going to get Hakuba to explain what he had been doing in the apartments when the building was on fire. He wasn't stupid. If he had been watching he wouldn't have blindingly run in and gathered everyone on the higher floor. He had to have been there to begin with and I had to know why.
I couldn't go see him as Kaito. I was not going to give the detective anymore to pin on me. He had me pretty tightly strung as it was and if it wasn't for his age, I was sure I would have been at least hauled in for questioning by now.
So I had to go see him as Kid. I was Kid last night when I met up with him and it was Kid who had to at least return his bankcard. I made my way behind my dad's portrait to get another outfit. I very rarely had to dispose of them like the one from last night so there were plenty of spares.
Shoving the new suit into a duffel bag that I had gotten from the back of the room I rolled my eyes at myself as I realized that I had to go back up to my room to change my current clothing. I slugged the bag over my good shoulder and went up to my room to get pants and a warm sweater. It was the beginning of winter so the chill in the air was here to stay.
I found a comfortable blue sweater that I never wore anymore. The arms were a little too long and I disliked cuffing my sleeves since they tended to get un-cuffed at the most inconvenient times. Being slightly too large for me made it much easier to put on so I left my annoyances in the closet and told my mom that I was leaving, kind of, it sounded more like I had told I was heaving. She understood.
I took my own cash with me this time and caught a bus heading towards Hakuba's. It took about fifteen minutes and I had to walk a block which was really killing my feet but I made it in one piece.
I'd only been to the detective's house once or twice and both visits were to scope the place out. I had never planned on breaking in, maybe delivering one of my warning cards to him personally but nothing more than that. Which meant that all I knew was the basic outline of the house. I had no idea what kind of security Hakuba had put in since he had initially arrived. I was sure that after meeting me he had beefed it up .
His house was huge. About the same size and style of Kudo's Americanized house. Compared to the surrounding architecture, it was like an apple in the middle of a pile of oranges. The roof was dark and slanted, decorated in black rubber tiles. The house itself was three stories and had large front oak doors with knockers. It was made out of some type of dark brick with white shutters that contrasted painfully with the rest. Bad taste apparently ran in the homes as well as his family. There were hedges surrounding the property and a small iron fence starting at the end of the walkway.
I scaled the hedges easily enough, with some of complaints from my legs and arm which unfortunately had to hold most of my weight. There were a few scattered trees around the property and the house itself was surrounded by bushes, some blooming multicolored flowers.
I made my way around the security cameras and laser sensors in the ground decidedly easier then I had the bushes. I wondered how the detective felt that this little security did him any good. Any half-ass thief could have made it passed the hindrances with little trouble.
I thought about it longer and wondered if he had just done it because he was expecting me. I shivered. I liked being expected; I made it my priority to be. I did not like being predicted and it was something Hakuba seemed unusually good at.
There was a peach tree in the back that grew just a little too close to the house and I made my way over too it.
I grabbed my outfit out of the bag and put it on. The left side of the cape I found difficult to clip onto the coat because my right arm wouldn't bend correctly. In the end I took off the coat and clipped it on first so that it wouldn't require me to bend anymore then getting my arm in the sleeve.
Ready, I made my way over to the back window where I knew his library was. The windows here were large and unhidden by the trees to let the natural light in. I had a glass cutter sitting in my pocket but I didn't want to use it. Money, or no money, Hakuba had helped me more then he should have and I wasn't going to go and ruin his windows. At least not yet.
The windows were locked near the middle and it was very hard to slip in my metal piece of wire. Unlike most thieves, the wire I used was very thin and, with some help from my dad, very sturdy at the end. I had tried to unbend it once and gave up when I couldn't get it to move even with pliers.
The rest of the wire was malleable and I had to bend it carefully at several points to get it over to the latch on the widow frame. It took about five minutes and the latch fell open. I told myself I would have to practice on these types of windows in the future, five minutes was just too long to be sitting out in the open.
Hakuba lived alone. I still didn't understand why he hadn't moved in with his dad when he came to Japan. I knew little about his family besides the fact that his dad was high up in the police department and that his mother was British, or of some European descent.
It was almost sad that Hakuba had inherited his mother's looks since the regular populace didn't like outsiders and it was hard enough being a teenager when you're trying to help the police independently. That Hakuba had as much popularity as he did showed how much he had to strive to overcome his age limitations and the stereotype that most carried with them.
Stop. Taking time to understand him would not help. Even affiliating my own feelings with him was bad. It could get me caught or killed, maybe Hakuba killed, if I associated too closely with him.
I made my way into his house, feeling very unlike my usual self. I had a few hindrances of my own in several pockets if I had to get away but they reassured me little. I felt like a mouse not only going up to a cat but putting itself between the claws.
I found him in his room with the girl I had seen yesterday, that had been hiding in the closet, sitting on his bed while he was doing something on a computer he had perched on his desk. It was black and sleek, a newer model of course.
The room had a simple design of egg white walls and tanned short cut carpet. Thick off-white colored curtains hung down a huge window near the bed with a wooden dresser and a large bookshelf taking up the other side of the room.
I was unsure how to approach him. One of my dramatic entrances would have been ideal but I was in no shape to go about dancing on the ceiling just yet. I sighed and pushed the door open without knocking.
This act alone was enough to make them both jump. Just opening the door had made them react in such a defensive manner that it threw all my instincts up and I had to fight them to not react as well.
'Why Hakuba-san, just who had you been expecting?' was what I wanted to say. I scantly got out the word 'why' and part of his name when my throat closed up. I settled on smiling and cocking my head to the side to show that I was confused.
Hakuba relaxed first but the girl had drawn the covers up over herself and let out a frightened squeak. Still hidden under the covers she looked between the two of us and settled herself down, by no means in a relaxed kind of way. She just stopped moving and didn't take her eyes off me.
I palmed Hakuba's card and held it out to him. When he tried to take it, I yanked it back. I inclined my head to the girl and put the card just out of his reach. He glared at me a while before giving in.
"This is Hisa-chan." Hakuba nodded to the girl in the bed. "I also have Kei-chan here and her older brother Kane-kun from yesterday. They were the ones I took down the stairs. You took Kei-chan from me at the end. Remember them?"
I thought of the young girl with the cream eyes and the smile she gave me. The boy I didn't see much of. I nodded to him. It felt strange talking, or in my case nodding, to him like this. Apparently Hakuba hadn't gotten much the smoke. His voice still came out a little gruff, hiding his accent, but about the same as you would sound if you'd just woken up with a dry throat.
"Well, they're going to stay with me for a while. Can I have my card back now?" He demanded, hand held out like he had just given me valuable information that was worth more than the return of his possession. The card I gave him with a smile as I swiped a disc he had near his computer.
"Give it back!" He yelled and it surprised me so much I almost dropped it. Hakuba tried to hide his reaction behind argument. "I don't like you taking my things when I haven't given them to you." I dangled his pocket watch and wallet in front of him.
"When did you?" He checked his pockets and found them empty. They had been since I entered the room. He shook his head and stood up. "It's hard enough trying to get the upper hand with you when you can talk but if you're going to resort to stealing my things, I'd prefer you with a voice." He reached over and grabbed a glass of something brown that looked like watered-down mud and handed it to me, trying and failing to grab his stuff back when he did.
I held watch, wallet, disc and cup all balanced and out of his reach. I sniffed the cup and was rewarded with one of the worst smells I'd ever…well, smelt. I raised my eyebrows at him.
"It will make you coherent at least." I raised my eyes brows higher and the top hat hid them. "Well, there's nothing bad in there! I drank some this morning. Do you think I'd give you anything bad and play that underhandedly when it's obvious to anyone that I have bigger things going on right now?" He sighed and sat back down in his chair, looking a lot older then he should have.
A glance at his computer screen showed an almost complete game a solitaire. That didn't look like any of the 'bigger things going on' but then again, if it had been anything important he would have shut the screen off when I came in.
I returned his items reluctantly and balanced the cup on a finger, eyeing it suspiciously. I decided that he was right and I would just have to swallow it as quickly as I could, like bad medicine.
After swallowing I tried really hard not to spit it out. I tried hard. It would look so bad to see me as Kid spitting out the liquid all over his floor so I kept it in and tried to get it down. I gasped in a quick gulp of air and turned to him.
"Yes, it tastes pretty bad." He admitted with a devilish smile playing across his face. "But it works. It's a mixture of honey, milk, Cantharis, and a bit of antiseptic. Of course I had to get some if it through my doctor but I'm sure we would take the same dosage."
Honey and milk I was fine with. Antiseptic mixed in there sounded gross enough but I had no idea what that other thing he said was and I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to know. I swallowed once more and my taste buds said they'd had enough. I laid the glass on his table and shuddered, unable to stop myself.
"That is the most disgusting…" I had to clear my throat, but like he said, I was able to talk with just an average amount of pain and a very rough sounding voice, "anything that will ever have had the pleasure of being in my mouth."
"You should drink it again tonight and in the morning for the next few days." Hakuba grinned again but it was less spiteful than it had been.
"What's going on Hakuba-san? To have you forsaken me for these children is commendable but I would like to know why you where there." I sounded more demanding when I didn't have control of the pitch of my voice but I wanted it to come across that way to start with.
"And who says I need to tell you anything?" He got up and sat on the bed with Hisa who was still under the covers, watching me with uncensored dislike. "I'm the detective and you're the thief. You've done your part now let me do mine."
I had to think of an argument. "Well, whoever decided to set that building on fire that night, that close to me, made it my business as well. I'm not going to drop this." I crossed my arms and let my smile fall.
"Well then," Hakuba thought about it for a while and looked at the girl, he let his smile fall as well as he thought of a more serious issue which I was determined to understand.
"Maybe I could use some help." He looked downcast and I could see he was angry at himself. "But I'm not about to go asking for it. I'm not a child, but I'm not a childish enough to know when I'm in a bad situation and refuse help." Eyes averted still, he drummed his fingers against his leg.
"Fine. That file you so careless picked up earlier should fill in the gaps if anyone wanted to know what I've been doing the past week. But, again, it's not like I'm giving the information away and I'm not asking for the help." He grabbed Hisa up his arms and only winced slightly.
"I'm going to get some tea and make some warm milk for her." He looked at me. "I hope that the disc is gone when I come back." Hakuba was worried. He was worried about the girl, the other two children he had mentioned, he was worried about himself…and against all odds he was worried about me. He was into something dangerous and he needed help but he didn't want to get me involved. Touching, if it didn't make me so angry at him; I could protect myself just fine.
He didn't need to worry about the disc being absent. It had left his desk long before I had set my glass back down. I was out of his house in less time than it took getting in, windows locked behind me.