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Chapter 18: The Burden that Comes With…

"Why does everything have to be harder then it seems?" Hakuba asked himself when we were inside Professor Agasa's home.

"Because if everything was easy, life wouldn't be any fun."

"I hope you're not referring to this as 'fun' Kuroba-kun, or I might think you've gone senile," replied Hakuba as he sat down on the couch while I went for the bathroom.

"Nope, my mind is in perfect shape. I haven't used it yet so it's still in mint condition," I teased back. "I'll be back in a second."

"Running off again?"

He missed the evil grin across my face. "Why? Do you want to run off with me? I heard there are some cheap priests in Vegas."

"Shut up Kuroba-kun."

"Oh no," I wept, "I think I've just been shot down." Hakuba gave me a sour look as I added, "Maybe I should just stay here and we can have a nice conversation like we are now."

"Just leave already."

"Done." I waved goodbye and blew him a kiss, getting another angry look from the detective. I was sure that he would have thrown something at me, if he wasn't afraid of Kudo or Hattori walking in on such a childish act.

It was easy enough to get out of the window in the bathroom. I didn't have to leave but I wanted some time to think, and the bathroom would echo if I made a few calls. In seconds I was on the roof and flipping through the contacts in Jii's phone.

I understood now why Jii told me it wasn't safe to trust anybody. I had a new, and profound, respect for Kudo now. Even though he tried to censor himself out of most of what he told us, his experience dealing with these people and how he had barely managed to stay ahead of them was impressive. This group in black was big, and frightening, and I was surprised they hadn't killed us already. Our flimsy way of dealing with them so far seemed to be enough for the time being, but we had to find some way to fight back.

The fact was I didn't know any of the people listed in the phone. I rarely needed outside help and when I did, I'd gone to Jii. I recognized a few names, but no one that could help.

There was no way that the detective and I, even with help from the other two, would be able to take this organization down. That wasn't my main goal anyway, but it was hard to think of something that would work. The children's safety, and Hakuba's, came first. Something was still bothering me about Hakuba, but since I had no ideas to run with that thought, my concern for him mingled with the children.

The only option that seemed apparently obvious to me at this point was to make it look like they died. That would effectively get the organization away from the kids, but not the detective. The parents had money and could hide them, but Hakuba wasn't the type to stay in the shadows for long.

"Damn stupid detective," I muttered aloud. Although, I wouldn't want to be forced to hide either so I just settled with cursing Hakuba to the wind since it couldn't fight back.

It would help if I knew why they were after him.

Kudo brought up a good point in the car. Unlike the parents, Hakuba knew where the kids were being kept so it would have been smarter for them to try and corner him and then kill him. Obviously, there was something else going on.

I'd need to get information first. However, there didn't seem a way to do that, safe or not. I could call up a few people, but if Kudo didn't have the information, I didn't think I would get it either.

So we were either back to sitting on our hands and hoping some opportunity presented itself, or playing bait. Since Hakuba would have to be the bait, I wasn't going to bring up the second option.

The sun was already starting to set and the twilight colors played beautifully on the horizon. I laid back and watched the sky darken, tucked behind the outcropping on the roof, away from the wind chill. I didn't notice when my eyes started to close, or the gap in time I missed between when the colors disappeared and the moon came out.

…

"Oi! Are ya up there or not!" The Osakan detective's words snapped me out of my trance. I was surprised to find the world around me had gone dark.

"Yeah, I'm here. I'm coming down!" I shouted back, shivering in the cold. It was weird, but part of me didn't seem fazed by the weather anymore and my awareness seemed fuzzier than usual.

I dislodged the glider and swooped down to the yard. I stumbled a little and blamed it on my sudden waking from the unintentional nap and on the cold weather. Hattori waited and gave me a strange look when I came over to him.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine, why?"

Hattori put a hand up to my forehead and I drew back on slow reflexes.

"You damn idiot! Ya know ya got a fever now."

"Really?" I asked, amused at the bit of information. I put a hand up to my head and felt how warm it was. That or my hand was just frozen.

"Get in the house." He shoved me from behind and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Why should I? You're not my mom, and this isn't your house."

"No but yer mom would want me to get you in the house an' outta the cold when yer sick. If it were my house my mom would be the one pushin' ya in."

"Well la de da." I laughed for no apparent reason. The words just seemed funny.

Hattori grabbed onto my arm and I tried to get him to let go. When my numb fingers pushed against his, he shivered, still not letting me go.

"Come on, let go." I fought back feebly.

"No way. You'll walk into a wall if I let ya go."

"I'm not that out of it. It's just a little fever." My uneven footsteps didn't help so I gave up and settled on laughing again. It was quiet, but I couldn't seem to stop.

The warmth of the house made everything go even murkier. I tried to look over at Hattori, but I couldn't focus on him and I felt my body shiver in the new temperature.

"Kudo, I think he's got a pretty bad fever."

I looked down to find Kudo below us looking confused. I smiled at him, forgetting what Hattori had just said. A few more chuckles escaped before I shook my head and tried to get my brain working.

I shouldn't have done that.

Shaking my head had made my sense of balance all but disappear. If Hattori hadn't been holding me still, I would have fallen to the floor. He had to reach out to grab my other side to keep me straight and I yelped.

"Sorry." He tried to position his hand somewhere that wouldn't hurt me and I just pulled out of his grasp altogether, and onto the floor.

"The room is spinning," I laughed. "And I feel like I'm drunk."

Now that I was down low enough, Kudo touched my forehead too, cursing to himself.

"Hey," I put both hands over my head. "No one gets to touch my head anymore." The floor was cold against my skin, but I didn't have enough energy to get back up.

"I'm glad he got off the roof before he started actin' crazy."

"It's because of the fever. See if you can get him into bed and I'll check to see if Haibara might have something that could help."

"Gotcha." Hattori bent over to pick me up, and I hit him in the face. I'd meant to just push him away, but my visuals weren't exactly working correctly at the moment.

"Don't touch." I chided him and laughed.

"Ouch, that really hurt." I saw him put his hand up to his face where he'd been scratched.

"Sorry." That action alone made me feel sad all of a sudden. The giddy laugher that had overcome me was quickly replaced by deep depression. I suddenly felt like crying, which was strange since I was in front of the detective. A logical part of me knew I was acting crazy, and it was the only thing that kept me from actually crying.

"What the hell's the matter with him?" I heard Hakuba's voice all of a sudden. I looked around before finding him off to my left and ahead of me. I tried to crane my neck. However, because it was hard to see him, I gave that up quickly, instead falling into more laughter.

"He's gotta fever. I don't know why he didn't come off the roof when it was this cold out. I'm tryin' to get him in the room but…"

I started laughing. "I hit you, oops."

"Yeah, oops my ass." Hattori sighed. I stopped paying attention to him and found that staring at the ceiling and smiling was enjoyable. I was also playing with some of the stuff from my jacket, but looking to see exactly what they were was too much of a challenge.

I felt cold hands on me again and tried to push them off. Someone grabbed my wrist.

"leggo…"

"Kuroba-kun, quit fighting so Hattori-kun can help you."

"But his hands are cold…" I complained.

"Shut up."

"Fine." I was running out of energy again anyways. The cold hands could be dealt with later.

I was put onto a bed and could feel the covers drawn up over me and tucked into the sides. Another cold hand touched my head and I pushed it away, my eyes closed. "Stop touchin' me."

"He's really burning up. What should we do?"

"Ku-ah, Conan-kun's seeing if he has any medicine, but if the fever doesn't go down we might need ta get help."

"Quit talkin' 'bout me." My voice was quiet, but I felt Hattori's accent play across my lips before their words started to jumble together, and I didn't want to pay attention through the fuzz anymore.

Before falling asleep, I briefly remember Hattori swearing as I dropped whatever it was I still had in my hand onto the floor.

…

"I would appreciate it if everyone stopped trying to fretter sympathy from me."

I blinked a few times as someone moved across the room. I swallowed before speaking. "If you're talking about me, it was unintentional."

"You're awake?" Kudo asked me, being the only one in the room.

"Seems that way." I put a hand up to my head and found a mostly dry cloth, and the bandages gone. I could feel a headache, but most of my cognitive responses were still muddled.

"Don't try to get up yet. Haibara was able to find something to take down your fever, but it's not a miracle cure. You're still weak and I think all the stress recently has been getting to you."

"I'm not stressed," I sat up slowly. "Maybe a little confused and worried at times, but not stressed."

"Whatever. I'll see if I can get you something to eat. You've been asleep for almost twenty hours."

I whistled. Twenty hours was a long time. "Where is everybody?"

"Hakuba-kun and Hattori left, though it is getting late so they should be back soon."

I raised my eyebrow at him and Kudo smiled. "They didn't leave together this time." He went to sit in a chair instead of heading out the door. "I think that Hakuba-kun's been riding the edge for too long since he's not used to situations like these. He needed some time by himself."

"I couldn't agree with you more," I smiled. "I don't think that break he had with Hattori-kun was very relaxing for him."

"I doubt it," Kudo looked away, "but they've been getting along better than I thought they would."

"Force of circumstance," I mumbled. "Hakuba-kun and I shouldn't be getting along as well as we are now and yet, somehow we've pulled it off."

"I know." Kudo had nothing else to say so I thought I'd ask a few questions.

"You've told us the names, habits, and personalities of these people, but you never said anything after that. Are you planning on sticking with us or not? It's obvious at this point that we can't shake off Hattori-kun."

"There's nothing more I can do. Not like this," Kudo gestured at his miniature self, "but I've been thinking about it. I don't mind you coming back here if you have to."

"Where's Hisa-chan?"

"She's in the living room, but she doesn't like being here without Hakuba-kun or Kei-chan."

"Do you mind me bringing her back to the agency to be with Kei-chan then? I don't think Hakuba-kun's going to have much free time."

"Not in your condition."

"I'm fine now." I was able to get up and felt only remnants of the fever. "Maybe it was just the anxiety like you said. I don't feel sick or anything."

"At least eat something first. I don't want you driving into any trees."

"Who said I'd be driving?"

Kudo shook his head at me. "Don't tell me you're going to fly the glider in this cold weather when it's already gotten you sick?"

"Yep." I stretched, feeling better as I woke up. "If Hisa-chan doesn't have a problem with it, I would prefer to fly."

"I'll call Ran so that she knows you're coming over."

"Whose fridge am I raiding?" We walked out of the room together, heading into the kitchen. "I'm really not that hungry."

"That's because of your fever. There's no way you've gotten over it yet. This could wait until tomorrow."

"No, because Hisa-chan would be unhappy until then and I'm sure Kei-chan doesn't like being there alone right now either. I don't mean alone, alone," I corrected myself so Kudo wouldn't get mad. "I mean without someone who knows she just lost her brother."

I eyed a bento box in the fridge when we made it to the kitchen. "Well, it's mine now." I opened it and started eating as Kudo went into the other room to get Hisa ready.

I had hoped that my mom would be able to look after the kids. She was an adult figure who had the experience to deal with them (she had raised me, and Aoko, after all), whereas I was just a troublemaking teen with little experience with children. They could tell my mom anything and she would understand. If there was anyone that could have stayed with Jii at the hospital, I would rather they do it but the old man would probably like my mom's company, or mine, the best.

Kudo and Hisa were in the living room when I was done. Hisa was wrapped in a thickly padded jacket I knew hadn't been hers.

"She's all yours. If I were you, I'd try and get back before the other two do."

"Ah, I hate worrying about stuff like that." I zipped up my jacket and reached down to pick Hisa up, but it took her a few seconds to come to me. "I'm my own person."

"But you're working as a team now. It's different, and I don't think it's something that will come easily to you, but then again, if it doesn't, I'm sure Hattori and Hakuba-kun will have something to say."

"Okay, fine. I'll try to get back before they do. Sheesh." I left out the door with Hisa and threw my wire over the side of the house. Since I was using my weaker arm to throw, it took me two tries to get it up there.

On the off chance that anyone saw me, I put on my top hat and monocle just in case. Since it was still early and had only just gotten dark it was possible.

"Ah, Kid wearing black." I scoffed at my dark pants and jacket. "Whatever."

"You're not white anymore." Hisa whispered to me before pushing her eyebrows together. "Well, kind of, but…your color keeps changing."

"I'm surprised it had only one to begin with." I smirked at her. "I'm not the stationary type."

"No, it's not something that you can change… normally." Hisa was still watching me as I prepared the glider and wrapped her close to me. "But yours has been flashing from white to…not black but… see-through."

"And what does that mean?"

"I don't know, I've never seen see-through before." She squirmed a little. "His is red."

"Whose? Hold on, you know if you want to get there I'm going to have to take off at some point. Can it wait?"

Hisa nodded as I instructed her to hold on tight. A few steps forward and we were in the air, catching some of the lighter drafts until I was able to get higher. Hisa couldn't help but smile when we were safely in the air.

I reached into the higher air currents so that I could pick up speed. Soon the lights below grew indistinguishable.

"Okay, so what were you telling me?"

"Conan-kun, his color is dark red. I usually see colors like that. Yours is funny."

"Well, people have always told me that I'm different." A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Can you see your own color? And Kei-chan's?"

"Yeah, Kei-chan's is a very light pink and mine's a medium shade of gray."

"Um, that's kind of depressing. Why don't you have a normal color?"

She shrugged. I felt more then saw the motion. "I don't know. That other guy, Hattori-niichan, his is a regular shade of purple."

I laughed out loud and Hisa looked up at me. "Hattori-kun's is purple? Well I don't feel so bad about being different then."

"What's wrong with purple?"

"Nothing, if you're a girl." I slowed my laughter. "It doesn't seem like him."

"You can't control what color you are… normally." She eyed me again. "You're weird."

"I've been called worse. Then again, I haven't been called weird by someone who says that they can see things that normal people can't. Don't you think you're a little weird yourself?"

"No, I'm normal." I laughed at her, but stopped when I saw how angry she was. "Just because someone messed with me when I was being born doesn't make me weird."

"I didn't mean it that way." I tried to move her so that I could see her face more clearly, but she pushed away from me. "Come on. I didn't. Damn…" I sighed. I did the only thing I knew I could do at that point and flipped the glider over. She let out a tiny scream and held on tighter. Though I couldn't hear it, I felt her body shake with laugher. "I'm not very good with people who don't understand me. I think I even confuse Hakuba-kun sometimes."

"I don't like being weird." Hisa spoke up.

"Well, I love it. It just means you won't find anyone else like me in the world."

"I want people to be like me though. I want to fit in with 'normal' people."

"You're not alone. Other kids, besides you and Kei-chan, had things done to them. I'm sure when you grow up, or even now after this is all over, you can go find them if you are interested."

Hisa didn't say anything back so I just did a few tricks with her like I had with Kei before we made it there. The cold was biting my fingers and I told myself I'd wear my gloves on the way back.

I landed in the alleyway again. It was the perfect spot, large enough to drop down in but out of the way enough that people wouldn't notice it. I let Hisa down and she shivered.

"Yeah, the winds can really get cold up there. I guess Conan-kun gave you the coat for that."

She nodded. "It's really warm."

I let Hisa walk up the stairs on her own and I knocked on the door. Unfortunately, it was Kogoro who opened the door instead of Ran.

"What do you want?" I could smell the beer on his breath and saw the lethargy in his eyes.

"Um, I was looking for Ran-san. Is she here?"

"She's upstairs in her room." Kogoro's eyes narrowed at me as he walked closer to me in the dark hallway. "You look a lot like that brat who likes to drag her along. You're not him right?"

"Nope, definitely not him I assure you." I changed my voice so it was just higher pitched then my normal one, making myself sound younger, but not too different to the drunk's ears. "I'll be going now."

"Whatever." He slammed the door in front of me and I called him several bad names under my breath.

"What did you do?"

"Hm?" I looked down at Hisa. "What do you mean?"

"When that guy came up to you, you put something in his coat."

"Oh that." I shook my head, a mental sigh of relief in my head. For a moment there, I thought Hisa was asking about what I just said. "That was just a present for when he wakes up tomorrow."

Hisa kept eyeing me so I bent down to her level. "You'll see when he gets up. I attached a pressurized patch so that when he unbuttons his coat, it'll spray him with blue dye. It comes off clothes in the wash, but skin…" I smirked, "Let's just hope he doesn't get any on his face."

"That was mean."

"He was the one being mean," I countered, "All I did was make it so he'll think twice about drinking. I'm sure he'll wonder where it came from."

Hisa almost made me feel bad about doing it. Almost.

Kogoro would most likely just dye his chest blue for a few days; it wasn't like I would hurt him. After all, my motto is that no one gets hurt.

"Ran-san," I knocked on the upstairs door. "I'm here with Hisa-chan."

"Oh, it's open. We're a little busy right now." I heard as something metal was moved inside. I pushed the door open and found her and Kei-chan inside, the latter covered from head to toe in flour.

"Kaito-niichan!" She ran over and hugged me, covering my clothes with the white powder, before peering up at me with a smile. "We're making cookies!"

"I can see that." I picked her up and flung her in the air, making the flour unintentionally rain down on me. When some of the it got into my mouth, I had to put her down and spit it out. "Gross."

"Seika-chan you shouldn't do that when you're dirty." Ran scolded her before looking apologetically at me. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine, I don't mind a little powder," I told her, winking at Kei so she knew I wasn't mad. I turned back to Ran, "Are you sure it's okay for Hisa-chan to stay here as well?"

"It's fine. Seika-chan here has been lots of fun. I don't usually get to hang out with little girls." With a warm smile, Ran bent over Hisa to greet her. The little girl seemed to like Ran almost instantly, running up to her and hugging her before kneeling next to Kei. I scowled at Ran when her back was turned, feeling jealous, and Kei laughed.

"Well, I've got to get going, but thanks a lot for looking after the kids."

"No problem. Dad was putting up a fight about it earlier," she trailed off and I noticed her clench her fists, "but he's okay with it now."

"Oh." I stumbled with Jii's phone for moment before managing to turn it on. I grabbed a piece of paper nearby instead of one of my cards. "If you need me and you can't get a hold of me at the professor's, call this number."

"Okay, that's fine. What's your name again?" she blushed, "I was a bit too flustered earlier to remember."

"Kuroba Kaito. I'm a classmate of Hakuba-kun's." There was no reason for me to lie to her. "Keep in touch. Bye you two," I waved to Kei, but Hisa turned away from me so I stuck my tongue out at her instead.

"Well, that was fun," I said to myself when I got outside. I tried to brush off some of the flour on me, but only managed to get a little bit of it off. The rest seemed inclined to stick to me like glue. Oh well, the powder itself didn't really bother me.

There weren't any windows that had easy access to the roof besides Kogoro's and I didn't want to go in there. I went up the emergency ladder on the side of the building instead and put on my hat and monocle before taking off.

I had my white gloves back on so that my hands wouldn't freeze. I didn't want to wear them earlier when I was carrying Hisa because holding someone with gloves and flying a hang glider at the same time was harder than it sounds.

I reached my normal flying height and glided smoothly, letting the wind play with my clothes while I watched the lights flicker below. There was something calming about being in the air. It was why I insisted on flying, instead of driving, to the Mouri's.

When I was closer to the professor's, I hesitantly lowered my altitude. I didn't really want to land, but I needed to head back inside where it was warm since I was still getting over the fever and it was cold out.

It wasn't like last time.

I heard the sound of a snap while I was lowering the glider. There was no warning. Even my sharply-honed instincts failed to tell me that there was danger nearby. All I knew was that one minute I was in a smooth descent towards the ground, and the next second something hard had hit the glider and I was falling rapidly towards the brightly-lit buildings below.