Sorry, sorry. Boring chapter this is. Better next time, it will be ~ Yoda guru
hehe... sorry.

Chapter 27: Playing Nice

Hakuba understood. He sat through my entire story without the incisive questions I'd pictured the detective asking. He just sat there, and listened.

"Kuroba-kun," Hakuba stated quietly after I'd finished. I hadn't left anything out. I'd even filled him in on all my dealings with Snake. It was strange, but I didn't feel the slightest tinge nervous after laying out my life in front of him. I felt rather calm, almost relieved. "If I tell you something, I would appreciate it if you didn't hold it against me."

"Say whatever you want." I flopped on the bed and looked at the ceiling, not caring anymore. Every emotion going through my body was mysteriously numb.

"I think you're an idiot."

"Heh," I laughed. "Doesn't everybody?"

"I don't think your father would have wanted you doing any of this."

"Oh you don't, is that right detective? Well I'm sorry that I misinterpreted the man's words considering his tape was practically trash by the time I found it and you clearly knew him so much better than I did."

"I may not have known him personally, but if he is anything like you then I know that he must care about what happens to you. Kuroba-kun, I don't think he was looking for this gem that you've been searching for." Hakuba paused for a minute. "Your father went back home, to be with you and your mother. He did not run around risking his life. What other reason could there be for him to have died, not as Kaitou Kid but as himself?"

What?

"Kuroba-kun, don't you see? He was trying to keep you out of danger. He wouldn't have wanted you to run towards death any more than he was willing to."

"You – you don't know that," I stuttered in shock and confusion. "How can I just sit here while the people who murdered my father get away with it? The gem – it's just a consolation prize. Having me go after it stops them from hurting others, the way they hurt me."

"So you get hurt instead? Your father wouldn't have wanted that."

"Shut up!"

"I'm sorry," Hakuba put his hands up. "I didn't mean it that way. I understand what you're doing and, though I can't condone it legally, I can't say I wouldn't be doing the same thing in your position. Well, I'd need a personality readjustment," he added with a smile, "but knowing you as I do, I can identify with your feelings. I just wanted you to be aware of the facts."

I hadn't thought about it before. I'd assumed that dad was killed while on stage because it was the easiest way to get rid of him. Killing him as Kaitou Kid would have made more sense though, since they couldn't be sure it was really dad until the Kid stopped showing up.

"Kuroba-kun, you should stop being afraid that everyone you meet might be taken away from you. It happens sometimes and there is nothing we can do about it. I'm not expecting you to trust me overnight. I can see that you're trying and that's enough. If you don't ever feel comfortable around me, I wouldn't hold it against you. I can't say I feel completely at ease around you all the time either…" The detective let it sink in as he thought to himself as well, "But it's a lot easier for me to do than I thought it would be."

"You know that not many people can make me speechless, but I really don't know what to say to you." I smiled at him, trying to get all my emotions in order.

"I'll take that as a sign that you've let me in close enough to affect you then. I'd like it if you'd come with me somewhere. The sky is clear and I'm sure Hattori-kun and Conan-kun would like to come as well."

"Where?"

"Kuroba-kun, I think your version of the world is black and white. What you consider good is just a little more flexible than most. It's clear how you think of yourself as well. Let me show you the grey."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

"It won't be anything dangerous. Since we're stuck here for a while, I thought that I'd take everyone with me. I also need someone to help me out since I don't have the full motion of my body."

Hakuba got up and went to the door, looking back at me.

"Do you want to join me?"

"You haven't even told me where you're going? How should I know if I want to come with you?"

"You'll just have to trust me."

"Fine." I got up and followed him out. I hadn't gotten very much sleep, but the sun was up and shining brightly through the windows, telling my body it was time to be awake. A clock on Kudo's far wall informed me that it was a little before nine in the morning.

Hattori glanced at me from across the room where he was lounging on the couch. He looked at both me and the detective as we entered and grinned before fixing his hat and turning back to Kudo, who he was currently playing chess against. Kudo had the black pieces and was clearly wining.

"Kuroba-kun, may I borrow your phone?" Hakuba asked after subconsciously checking his pockets.

"What happened to yours?"

"Car accident, remember? Unfortunately, my phone wasn't as durable as I thought it was."

As I handed the detective my black flip phone, he looked at me with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Why'd you get a black one? I thought it would be white."

"If I had a white one, you would have been bothering me constantly if you saw me using it. Besides, I had the black one since before I was Kid, and I didn't feel like getting a new one."

Hakuba shrugged his shoulders and dialed the number I recognized for his house.

"Baaya it's me." Hakuba said without pause, apparently he didn't need any introduction when it came to the old woman. "I have a favor to ask. Could you bring him out to Beika? It's a little bit of a drive, but he should be fine."

Him? He?

"Yes that would be fine." Hakuba put a hand up to the speaker and turned to the Kudo. "What's the address?"

Kudo answered him back, paying more attention to us than the game in front of him since he seemed more interested in what we were doing. Hattori didn't even try to salvage a decent defeat. He looked at Kudo and put his hands up in surrender so that he wouldn't interrupt Hakuba's call.

"Can you find the place?... Thank you." Hakuba hung up the phone before turning to the other two detectives. "As I've explained to Kuroba here, we more or less can't do anything until everyone is feeling better so I want to know if you would like to join me in the countryside."

"And the phone call?" Kudo asked, clearly intrigued.

"I asked Baaya to bring Watson over here. We could go out for the day and see if he can catch anything."

"You're an austringer?" Kudo asked with surprise. "I didn't realize you trained him for something like that." Hattori and I just looked on in confusion since neither of us recognized the term.

"Actually I am." Hakuba raised his eyebrows and smiled at Kudo. "I'm a little surprised to hear the term though. Very few people have ever called me that, especially outside my own circles. Besides that, not many seem to realize what I do considering it doesn't seem as popular here as it is in London."

"Yer a what?"

"I didn't know that when I first saw you," Kudo imputed, effective ignoring Hattori's outburst. "I've never seen something like that. I would be happy to go with you and get some fresh air."

"Great. Hattori-kun, you can stay if you want to then." Hakuba waved at the Osakan in dismissal, causing the dark-skinned boy to narrow his eyes in annoyance.

Kudo looked up at him, thinking back on what Hakuba had just said. "What word do you use?"

"Where the name is concerned, it isn't that big of a deal. If you really want to know, we can use the general term now-a-days." Hakuba eyes Hattori and me, purposely trying to keep us in the dark. "You must have picked that one up out of a really old book. In addition, I'm surprised you know exactly what species Watson is."

"Now wait just a minute! I have no idea what yer talkin' about!"

Kudo's phone suddenly rang, interrupting our conversation. Mine vibrated and showed that I had missed a call. The number wasn't familiar.

"Ran-neechan, what is it?" I couldn't make out what she said to him. "Yes, they're both here." Kudo's eyes lowered and he smiled. "I'll tell them. If you want, you can tell her to come over here. I'm sure Hakase wouldn't mind if he were awake." Ran made some parting comment and he hung up the phone.

"Kuroba-kun," he looked at me, the smile now bright as if he were in on some inside joke aimed at me. "You've been missing a lot of school. Your girlfriend isn't too happy about that; it looks like she tracked you down."

"My what? Wait…" I could only presume that he was referring to Aoko. "She's not my girlfriend."

Hattori started laughing and looked between me and Kudo. "It looks like yer all in denial if ya ask me."

"I hope you're counting yourself in the denial pit as well," Kudo shot back.

"What are ya talkin' about? Me an' Kazuha are just friends."

"Right." Kudo sighed. "Let's drop this conversation all together." The small detective turned back to me. "She's coming over since Ran couldn't get her to go back home."

"That's fine," Hakuba chimed in before I could say anything. "She can come with us."

"With us where?" I asked again, not expecting to get an answer this time either.

"Just a little further out from where we are now. I don't want to get caught up by all the tourist spots, but if you go further back into the forest it's pretty quiet."

"Were goin' ta a forest? That doesn't sound like fun." Hattori crossed his arms and slouched deeper into the couch. "Maybe I won't go."

"But Hattori, Hakuba-kun-" Kudo was cut off when Hakuba placed a hand on his head.

"Don't tell him. If Hattori-kun doesn't want to come along, then he has every right to refuse my invitation."

Kudo just shrugged it off while Hattori eyed him. Whatever it was, he didn't understand that it was going over my head as well. Hakuba wanting to be alone with us in a forest seemed strange for the detective, and he'd even invited Aoko along.

"Well, I think we should bring some snacks incase today isn't a good day. He's good at what he does though, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Conan-kun, the kitchen isn't mine so I don't feel comfortable looking for rations for our trip."

"I'll get everything together." Kudo smiled, looking forward to whatever it was that we were going to be doing. "You could come with me to get the stuff I can't reach."

"Of course."

Both of them left the room and Hattori looked at me for answers. I sat down next to him and shrugged.

"I have no idea what they're talking about either." I eyed the professor's computer and shoved my hands in my pockets. "I don't think he'd like me touching his things, so I guess we'll both have to remain in the dark for now."

Hattori looked up at the ceiling and thought aloud. "What was that word he used?"

"Word?"

"Yeah, that word Kudo called him. I can't seem ta remember what it was."

"Austringer." It came to me without hesitation, even though I had only heard it once and hadn't been trying to remember it.

"Yeah, that was it!" Hattori closed his eyes. "Aus-stringer… aus doesn't mean anythin' ta me… Stringer. That would be part of a group or somethin' along those lines."

"Hakuba said that they didn't use the word anymore so analyzing it is pointless," I pointed out to him.

"Yeah, but it would give me some clue. Species. Him and Kudo were talkin' about a species. Does he have any pets or somethin'?"

"I don't know. I've only been to the guy's house once, and it wasn't a very social visit. It never interested me whether or not he had any animals running around, unless they were dogs. Not that I couldn't handle them if there were, but it does make things considerably easier if there are no dogs around to chase you."

Hattori chuckled a bit at that before turning contemplative once more. "Aus… that's gotta mean something."

"Nothing. It means nothing. I'm not sure where that part of the term came from," Hakuba said with a smile as he and Kudo returned with several small bags. "You won't figure it out from that."

"He's gotten closer than I thought he would," Kudo spoke up. "You only left enough clues to get him that far."

"True, but if he knew what I was talking about, it would ruin the surprise."

"You sound like Kuroba-kun."

I blew off the small detective, but Hakuba didn't take the comment as an insult. In fact, he looked rather pleased to be compared to me.

Before I could ask when Hakuba decided to started changing personalities on me, there was a knock at the door. The force of the knocks and how rapid they were informed me that a very angry Aoko was on the other side.

Hakuba was already up, so he went to get the door. I heard her slight surprise when he answered it, clearly because she wasn't expecting him, with black hair and all. Being the gentleman that he was, Hakuba lead Aoko in with all the courtesy the role demanded.

Aoko played nice until she rounded the corner and caught sight of me on the couch.

"Kaito!" she hissed between her teeth. She paused, looking at the other two in the room before coming to the conclusion that she was going to go after me anyway. At least there was nothing in reach for her to throw at me.

I put my hands up in a pleading gesture as she stomped towards me. Relaying on old instincts that were ingrained in me even before Kid, I jumped off the couch to reposition myself behind it as a last line of defense.

I never made it to the other side.

I'd once again forgotten about my foot and stepped on it way too fast and with way too much force. I hissed and my arm reached out to catch the table, making me fall on my butt and onto one of Hattori's feet.

"Watch it!" The Osakan yelled at me, offering a hand to help me back up. "Ya know ya shouldn't be doin' stuff like that."

Aoko looked on at us, her anger accompanied by worry at my less than graceful escape. She moved to hover over me and the closeness tempted me to flip her skirt but, considering all the others in the room were teenage boys like me, I didn't do it. That and Aoko would probably kill me afterwards and right now, I didn't have much hope of getting away.

"Kaito, you said you'd come back to school! You promised me."

"Sorry, I really thought I'd be able to." With Hattori's help, I was able to get back up and sit on the couch without putting any weight on my foot at all. Luckily, I hadn't hurt it any worse.

"You're so stupid!" She huffed at me. It took her a minute before she calmed down and sighed. "How'd you managed to hurt yourself by ditching school? You did a crazy trick or some really stupid stunt, didn't you?"

Ah, she knew me so well. "Of course I did." I smiled back. "I don't plan on redoing this one ever again though."

"Well, that's good at least. It shows you can learn from your mistakes." Aoko turned back to Hakuba and looked between us. "What's going on?"

Oops. Knew I forgot something again. What was our cover story?

"Aoko-kun, why aren't you at school?" Hakuba asked, successfully changing the subject. Aoko looked angry and turned to me.

"If Kaito can ditch school everyday, I don't see why it's such a big deal if I do it once in a while too. Hakuba-kun, you should also be there."

"I'm aware of that, but I'm on a case right now and Kuroba-kun is helping me with it. I'll inform the school when we return, though I don't think that they'll care much since we'll both be able to catch up in our studies."

"Just because you're smart doesn't mean you can leave whenever you want." Aoko sat down next to me with her arms tight at her sides to show her displeasure, leveling another look at me before turning away.

"Aoko-kun, since none of us are attending school today, would you like to spend some time in the countryside with us?" Hakuba smiled and offered his hand to her.

"I thought you were on a case?"

"Yes, but we've run into a dead end for the day and can't do anything until tomorrow. Things being as they are, I thought you'd like to come with us."

"Sure." Aoko smiled back at him, giving me the cold shoulder. I could see that she was still surprised at how he looked, but she was a very accepting person and didn't ask his reasons for changing his appearance. Since Hakuba had said he was on a case, she may have already guessed at why he'd dyed his hair. The contacts weren't any harder to figure out.

Aoko took his hand and got up, gloves still hiding his older injuries. I used the couch and cautiously took a few steps on my foot. It hurt, but it was a small tolerable pain. Hattori looked up from where he was half laying, half sitting and sighed.

"Guess I'm gonna go with ya."

As if on cue, a horn honked outside to signal Baaya's arrival. Hakuba smiled and pointed his finger at each of us as he counted.

"Conan-kun, you're going to have to sit on someone's lap again," he informed the shorter detective kindly. He must have picked up on his discomfort the first time around. "And someone will have to sit upfront with me."

"Why? There should be enough room in the back." I thought about the convertible. Three of us could sit in the back, not counting Conan-kun, with one in the front seat next to the driver.

"There's already someone in one of the back seats, so there won't be enough room."

Hattori had gotten up while we'd been talking and Aoko had moved over closer to Hakuba to get further away from me. Now that things had calmed down between us, she backed off of him a little, which put her closer to Hattori and me. The Osakan backed up even though she was still a good distance away from him.

I went up to him and poked him in the side. Hattori instinctively swatted my hand away and moved further aside so that I could move next to him and a little away from the group.

"What was that for?"

"Why are you acting so weird? Aoko didn't do anything to you," I asked him.

"Oh, ah. It's not that." Hattori looked nervously at her while Aoko met his eyes with a soft smile. The Osakan's nerves seemed to calm down at her expression, but he still didn't get any closer to her.

"What is it?"

Hattori shrugged and looked away from me. "Yer friends ain't exactly been the kind of people who mix well with me."

I raised my eyebrows. The only friends of mine that had been with the Osakan so far were Hakuba and Akako. At the thought of Akako, I laughed.

"You're right. You and my friends don't get along. Aoko's different; she's not like her." I only implied Akako's name since I didn't want Aoko to know that the other girl had any involvement in what was going on, even though her part was only minimal.

"Should we get the other two as well?" Hakuba asked when he was reminded that our group had been larger. Hattori and I both looked nervously away from him for different reasons. Hattori obviously didn't want to get anywhere near the witch and, while I was comfortable to an extent around both girls, I didn't want them involving Aoko in this mess.

"It's better if we don't," Kudo spoke up when neither of us had a valid reason to decline without either sounding stupid or selfish. "We're all here already so that will make it easier."

"What about Ran-san? She's close by and we could take her as well."

"Hakuba," I butted in. "I think you're forgetting we already have a space issue with your car. Inviting more people along with us will not make it any more enjoyable."

"I was thinking about taking two cars. The professor still has his here and I've got money that you can use."

"Me?" I looked sideways at Aoko. "Why would I need money for the car?"

"Oh right." Hakuba thought to himself. "I was going to ask Haibara-kun if she wanted to come along as well, but there won't be enough room."

"I don't think…hm." Kudo looked up at him. "She should be up. Do you want me to ask if she'd like to come?"

"If it isn't too much trouble. I wouldn't want to intrude on her."

"Wait, so how are we fitting?"

"She's small enough to sit on someone's lap as well, though I was thinking I'd just leave some of you behind with money for a cab." Hakuba gave me his bankcard, strongly implying that I was to use it for gas money and not actually get a cab. "I'll take the two girls and the others can go with you so that there's enough room."

"And how will I know where to go idiot. You haven't told me."

"Just follow us. It shouldn't be that difficult. We'll wait for you at the station until then, and please," Hakuba pleading was real. "Don't try anything stupid this time."

"How could I?" I whispered to him under my breath. "Aoko's going to be with you. You've practically got my hands tied."

Wait.

"Hakuba." I dragged the detective close to me since we were all in close quarters and I didn't want to be overheard. "Did it ever cross your mind that your car may have been followed here?"

"Of course it did." The detective looked at me as if I'd insulted him. "I do have my own methods Kuroba-kun. Baaya hasn't been staying at my house, and the car she's driving is different if you'd care to look outside. She's taken the precautions that I've given her so that she's safe. Believe it or not, I am intelligent."

"Sorry, just checking." I shrugged my shoulders and backed off. I should have figured that Hakuba wouldn't put us in danger like that.

"Anyway, Aoko-kun you're going to come with me."

Aoko looked between us questioningly. It seemed like she was going to ask why our group of me, her and Hakuba couldn't go together. However, she settled on shooting me an angry look and following the detective out the door.

Kudo came back upstairs with Haibara in tow.

"So that means we'll be taking the professor's car. I'll leave him a note so that when he wakes up, he's not worried about where it's gone to."

"Right," I sighed. I glanced at Hattori who was already at the door and ready to go, even though he'd been lethargic about it earlier. "Kudo-kun, exactly what is it that we're doing?"

Kudo laughed a little and looked up at us. "Hakuba-kun said that would be cheating, so I'm not going to say."

"You could at least tell me what it is you want me participating in. You were rather vague downstairs." Haibara put on her jacket and looked at him. Even if he hadn't told her, she seemed ready to follow him anyway.

Kudo raised an eyebrow at us and smiled at the girl. "Hakuba-kun is an austringer and we're all going out in the country for a while."

"Sounds like fun. You sure you want me to go with you?" The young girl's smile looked rather sadistic, making my skin crawl at the sight.

"Haibara," Kudo sighed. "It's not like I'm asking you to go to an amusement park or anything. We'll be out in the middle of the wilderness so you can do whatever you want."

"Is this really the best time for this frivolous endeavor?"

"There's no better time." Oops. My mouth moved without consulting my brain. Haibara gave me a hard look and I smiled back. It wasn't that the girl scared me in any physical way. It was just that there was something about her that worried me, though I couldn't exactly identify what it was about her that did it.

She didn't say anything further, but walked over to Hattori. Kudo and I shared a confused look before we all went outside to the car.

"Hey!" Hattori yelled when Kudo once again hijacked the front seat. "If ya ain't gonna let me drive, at least sit in back with yer friend!"

"Nope." The small detective didn't add anything further and Hattori had no way of fighting back since Kudo had already locked the door from the inside. The Osakan got in back and closed the door before resting his head on his hands. "Why do I always gotta sit with all the weird girls?"

Haibara shot him one of those evil smiles/glares, but wasn't childish enough to fall into any witty retorts or actions that came so naturally to me.

I drove to the gas station and found Hakuba with his window rolled down and his arm resting against his face in a similar manner to Hattori. I drove around to the other side since I didn't want Aoko to see me and I knew the detective could spot the yellow car without any help on my part.

I filled up half the tank since Hakuba hadn't told me how far we were going and got back in without anyone stopping me, which was lucky considering how I was too young to have a license.

The silver car, clearly a new model but not new enough to warrant stealing, drove in front of us; I followed.

Baaya took some of the more populated roads. I had fun weaving in and out of traffic. I'd even let myself get ahead of their car a few times without directly passing them just to show the detective that I didn't blindly follow orders.

Hattori tied to hide the fact that my driving was once again scaring him, but he didn't conceal it very well. Haibara and Kudo both seemed fine so I let the Osakan be. Driving was just too much fun, especially when there were so many other cars on the road to play around with.

I had to let Baaya get in front of me after a while because I had no idea where we were going, or what direction I was supposed to be heading. Being stuck in the hoard of cars again wasn't fun, but it wasn't overly boring since I was able to mess around a little, weaving back and forth and such. I had a good eye for spotting the cops that passed so we didn't get in trouble for reckless driving.

The packed streets of Tokyo soon lead to long, thin, roads seeming to stretch into the middle of nowhere. We followed these roads for a half-hour until the silver car pulled over. I drove on for a while and parked the professor's car where it wouldn't be seen.

"Why didn't ya just drop us off?"

"Because then Aoko would have wondered where I'd gone to Hattori-kun. Start thinking."

"I know." He sighed, getting out of the car. "I just ain't sure I wanna be here anymore."

"You'll be fine." Kudo grabbed a few of the bags that he'd split with Hakuba and taken out of the house.

We all walked over to the other small group. Baaya must have driven off somewhere since I didn't see her car. Hakuba stood with Aoko and Ran.

"Conan-kun," Ran greeted him, taking the bags out of his hands. "You've been staying at Professor Agasa's for so long I started to miss you."

Kudo blushed, but he hid it by turning his head. Now that Ran was here, he was back to the sudden personality changes. Ran just smiled like she understood more than she should have.

"Let's get going before it gets dark." Hakuba bent down and picked up a black vest of some sort, with a lot of large pockets, that was lying on top of a big pet carrier. Adorning it made him look like a hiker.

I couldn't stop watching the detective. He looked so unlike himself that every time I saw him, my brain had to re-inform me that it was really him. The only thing that remained of the old Hakuba was the way he picked things up with a delicacy that spoke of years of carefulness and caution.

There was a rope with something attached to the end of it and a large glove underneath it that remained on the carrier when he picked it up.

"We don't need to go that far in, but I'd like it if we didn't run across anybody since Watson is slightly temperamental around strangers."

Hattori eyed the equipment and I could see when realization dawned on him. "Oh! Yer a falconer!" The Osakan eyed Kudo hatefully. "Ya could have just told me that."

Kudo shrugged and ignored him.

Haibara didn't. "You didn't know that austringer is another word for a falconer who uses a hawk? It's your own fault then for being so uneducated."

I wasn't about to ask what a falconer was after that.

We walked for a while with everyone walking in front of me as I preferred a space at the back of the group. It was strange and slightly unsettling to have the people from both my normal life and my life as Kid together. I shrugged the feeling off as nerves, but kept an eye on everyone.

It took a while, but there was a clearing in the forest and Hakuba made his way to the center of it with all of us behind him. He put the carrier down and put the glove on his hand before opening it and peering inside.

"Hello Watson," I heard him say to the creature inside, which I had assumed at this point was a hawk.

The bird he brought out was easily over a foot tall and he flapped his wings as the detective brought him into the open air. Hakuba reached into his pocket and pulled out two small silver bells attached to a leather material, which he tied around the large bird's feet.

Watson didn't seem to be bothered by the new shackles as he turned his head to the side in a fluid motion and watched everything around him.

"This is Watson, as you may have guessed," Hakuba spoke to us now as if he was teaching a class. "He is a Northern Goshawk, and I've had him for a little more than a year now since I picked him up in England. Unlike most goshawks, he's rather tame. Surprising since most of the males of his species are aggressive. If you'd like to touch him, you may." Hakuba held out his hand, and the bird, to us.

It was no surprise that Kudo got to the detective first. Hakuba knelt down so that Kudo could reach the bird. Before touching it, Kudo took in its appearance. I could see the white strip above the dark feathers around both his eyes. His dark wings had a few gray fathers mixed in with the black ones. I could also see a few speckles on his white underbelly, and the tip of the bird's curved beak looked like he had dipped it in an inkwell.

Watson tolerated Kudo stroking his feathers.

"He is a boy right?"

"Yes," Hakuba answered. "I know the males are smaller, but I couldn't resist getting one."

Kudo seem satisfied that he'd identified the bird as much as he could. He stood out of the way as Aoko and Ran closed in on him. The bird moved further back on Hakuba's arm when the girls came too close to him, but a few soothing sounds from the detective calmed him down.

Hattori showed no interest in seeing the bird up-close though I caught Haibara staring at it with a smile very unlike the ones I'd seen from her so far. Ran and Aoko backed off and I picked up the much smaller girl before she realized what I was doing.

"Hey! Put me down!" She demanded of me. I was able to hold her with only one arm, making sure she didn't jump out with the other. She was a lot lighter than I thought she was.

"Now I can't do that," I smiled teasingly, "If I did, then you wouldn't be able to see Watson even though you want to, right? You shouldn't run away from things like that."

Whatever it was that I had said stopped her struggling. She looked at me as if I'd just used something against her. I merely grinned back.

Hakuba knelt down again when I brought the girl. She took a step back when the aviator was suddenly in her face. It took her a while, but she finally smiled and gently petted the back of his wings.

Hakuba looked up and met my eyes.

"Do you want to pet him too?"

"Sure why not?" I looked at the predatory bird once we both stood back up. It really was a beautiful creature and I'd never been around birds larger, and more dangerous, than doves.

I stroked the side of its wings a few times, which made him bristle up at me before backing up. I recognized the movement as one of anxiety and quickly stopped touching him. Hakuba looked at Watson in confusion then looked back up at me.

"Try petting him again, if you would. I've never seen him react like that before."

"I don't think I want to." I could see the bird was agitated around me and I wasn't going to risk it.

"Are you afraid of him?" Hakuba egged me on.

"Of course not! That doesn't mean I want your bird to bite me!"

"He's never bitten anyone before, and he's been around humans for all his life so he's used to their presence." I could see that Hakuba was curious about Watson's actions, but I wasn't going to be the guinea pig. Then again, right now I looked like I was scared of the creature and that wouldn't do.

"Fine." I put my hand back out slowly and Watson turned to me before backing up and shaking his wings. The threatening signs from the bird made me pause, stopping me from actually touching him.

The bird suddenly flew at me and I put my arms up to instinctively protect my face before falling on the ground. I felt his wings bat against me and his claws as he scratched at one of my arms.

I couldn't tell you how I managed to understand what it wanted from me as I instinctively put my arm out to the side like Hakuba had his. From my angle on the ground, I was able to see the worried detective on one knee on the ground in front of me. Watson landed unbalanced on my arm and I could feel one of his claws cut my skin. He kept his wings out as he tried to stay on the perch and scooted over to the cuff of my sleeve.

"Kuroba-kun, are you alright?" Hakuba asked, watching me worriedly while I cautiously watched the bird.

"I'm fine," I answered automatically as Watson put his beak on my cuff and tried to look up my sleeve. It tickled and I tried not to laugh, afraid that it would cause the bird to hurt me. Considering how big he was, Watson was strangely light. He poked his head back out with one of my dove's feathers in his mouth.

"Oh, that explains it," Hakuba said as he put his arm out for Watson, subtly gesturing the bird to come back to him. The bird followed his master's silent order, immediately flying back over to him with his feathered prize in his beak. "Watson thought you were hiding food from him."

"Tsh, sure he did." I sighed and got back up. "That or you've taught your bird to chase me too."

"There's an idea." Hakuba smiled and turned away from me. "I'm not serious you know, so you can stop looking at me like that." He said over his shoulder.

"I wasn't looking at you like anything!"

"Kaito!" Aoko hit me hard on the back. "Would you be quiet? You yell way too much!"

"Hey I didn't even do anything!"

Kudo laughed at me from somewhere behind me and I scowled at them all.

There was a short whistle from Hakuba and Watson threw his wings out to the side as the detective took his hand and threw it into the air, releasing the bird.

"Why'd you let it go?" Aoko asked him. "What if he doesn't come back?"

"He'll come back, watch." The detective shrugged. "And if he doesn't, then he doesn't. You never know until you let them fly for the first time without a lead. Although Watson has always come back."

"I still think it's stupid. What's the point of letting it go?" I mumbled. "Why risk it?" Hawks aren't like pigeons or doves. They had their own agenda and you could tell that just by looking at Watson.

"Kuroba-kun, it's a wild bird. It's unfair enough to keep it locked in a cage. Watson and I have been partners since he was born. Granted, I was so afraid to let him go the first time. Now it's different because we trust each other."

"But what happens if you always let him go with no way to get him back?" I rolled my eyes. "What if he hadn't come back the first time you let him go?"

"Then he wouldn't have come back. You've always got to try. If you never let them out of the cage, how can you expect to work with them? Watson does his part and I do mine when he needs me to." His smile was wide and his eyes were observant as he watched where the bird dropped down into the trees. "Just wait and see."

Sorry, forgot to put this in.

As for the reason that Kaito supossedly never met Watson, I have my own opinion on the matter.
It's true that Kaito was pretending to be Kogoro on a case and that Watson was also involved. The only thing is,
as far as I know, you never see the two of them together.
I'm sure Kaito had other important things to do at the time and I thought it was more then likely that he
never saw Watson becuse you don't see the bird again until Hakuba mentions his name to the smoking
guy at the end (I've forgotten his name 0_0), clearly avoiding Kaito.

If there are others out there you think differenlty, sorry. :)