It didn't take long to circulate the message throughout the local operatives, but it took a few days for the reply to get back to Wolf, the liaison between the Pandora and the main branches. She raised a delicate eyebrow at the indifferently printed words. Normally she'd just dismiss it as a case of mistaken identity, but she knew the sender and she knew he didn't make many mistakes—he was just too careful for that.
Target terminated as a witness. See report number GV3402 filed three months, two weeks, and one day ago. –Gin
Despite the absence of the sender, Wolf clicked her tongue reprovingly; Gin was getting sloppy. She knew he'd received the "untouchable" memo that had been placed in the Kuroba file upon the death of the father years ago. To actually touch an Untouchable…Well, Gin was bold enough to do it, although he usually obeyed the Organization's decrees.
Still, he'd botched up somewhere. The younger agent—what was his name again?—had already gathered sufficient evidence to prove the Kuroba kid's living status. True he hadn't actually been seen yet, but the school records had been updated long after Gin's reported date of "termination" which meant that someone was using the name, even if it wasn't Kuroba himself. The new agent—just what was his name?—was diligently working to confirm the identity, but since it was a correspondence it would only be possible on some mandatory attendance occasion, such as a test.
"Chrissy," The hissed nickname caused one shadowed eye to twitch, eliciting an annoyed huff from the female agent. She folded up the paper nonchalantly, slipping it into her pocket in an easy motion as she turned around, "I have two codenames, Snake. I'm sure you can remember one of them."
The new arrival, Snake, chuckled and backed away from the irate blonde. He was clad as he always was, the heavy black trench coat and hat clearly displaying that he had just come in from an assignment. Wolf rolled her eyes, maybe it was just the spy in her but the organization's chosen garb was anything but inconspicuous. She much preferred her own navy blue suit; it was far easier to slip into a crowd dressed as a well to do American business woman (her fair hair and her gender supporting the deception) than dressed in an outfit that screamed "Suspicious!" to anyone with half a brain. Or to anyone who had watched the recent influx of crime movies, either worked.
She didn't ask about Snake's purpose, the jewel thief loved to torment her whenever she happened to be doing work with Pandora. As it was she should be working with her other division, trying to track down the little deserter, Sherry. Unfortunately, due to Snake's incompetence, he'd lost an important factor in Pandora's operation and forced the boss to reassign her to the current investigation. She understood why they needed her, after all she was the only member to ever see the jewel, but that didn't lessen her irritation. She preferred working with Gin and the others.
"Chrissy…" Snake started to speak again, completely ignoring Wolf's disinterested look, "Any news?"
If it had been anyone else Wolf would have at least told them "yes", even if she would keep the nature of the news to herself. However, since it was the much disliked Snake standing there, his hard, square face set in a sickening cross between anticipation and paranoia, she didn't even bother with that much. She rolled her shoulders in a shrug, dismissing the question with no hesitation that would indicate a falsehood.
Instead of disappointment, a crooked smile flashed at her non-committal action, "There won't be any. That sneaky little thief is trying to lure us into a trap."
Wolf didn't give him a response, taking satisfaction in the fact that she had proved him wrong already. There had been news; she just didn't feel like telling him. Her eyes flashed in contempt when he finally decided to leave her alone—she hated working with Pandora because of that one man. It didn't matter in the end; there was nothing she could do about a direct order from the boss.
She lightly touched the folded square of paper in her pocket, returning her straying mind to the situation at hand. She'd sit on this little tidbit of information for a while, until Fox (that was the name!) came back with his results. A small smile came to her face as she sat down at her desk, pulling out a small black contact book and flipping through the pages. To be truthful, she was almost positive Gin had screwed up someway—there was no way Kuroba Toiichi's son would allow himself to be killed like that.
Her searching finger finally landed on the number she was searching for. There was no name next to it, or any of the others in the small book, but she knew exactly whose voice would be at the other end of the line. She closed the small black book, the number fixed in her memory, and picked up the phone.
A little extra information never hurt anyone.
-
"Your knowledge of makeup is still somewhat odd." Shinichi stated quietly, eliciting an amused snort from the working Kaito. The magician was currently making use of a little step-stool, messing with Shinichi's hair in an attempt to coax it out of its naturally occurring unnatural style. It took quite a bit of effort to force the neat strands into something resembling Kaito's messy mop, not to mention copious amounts of hair gel, "Stage make-up; it's all part and parcel of being a magician. You should know by now that everything I do, I make a point to do well."
The detective shrugged, not meaning anything by the comment beyond an attempt at stating an observation, "I've realized that Kuroba, even though I haven't really seen the extents of the skill. You never need to do much during these sessions."
That one cause Kaito to pause, sneaking a glance at the mirror he'd positioned his work station in front of. The detective was right—it wasn't that he hadn't noticed before, but it wasn't as obvious due to the size difference. The only thing he'd done so far was mess with Shinichi's hair and yet he could only see a few more spots where he'd have to apply a little bit of makeup. It wasn't much, just to sharpen the detective's slightly more rounded features. Hair color, eye color, height (before the incident, obviously) age… "Maybe that was why my plan worked. The blonde one had been far enough away that he figured we were the same person."
Kaito chuckled a little, shaking his head in reminiscence before tugging on a particularly stubborn lock of hair. Shinichi winced at the slight but sudden sting, "Do you ever wish you didn't do that?"
"Nah," Kaito ducked out of the mirror's view, hopping off the step to search out the makeup he used for these sessions. It wasn't difficult to find, he remembered where he'd stored it from the last time he'd had to turn Shinichi into a near carbon copy of himself. It was always in the same place, one of the supplies that he didn't bother to hide from the detective. The rest of his recovered items—wigs, contacts, and other items—he kept carefully hidden under a loose floorboard in the closet of his room.
He stared down at the small jar, seeing it but not really seeing it as he thought back to The Incident. Shinichi had done so much for him since then. He gave Kaito a place to stay that would not keep him in constant contact with his old life—being so close yet so far would have killed him, especially if his friends really did start treating him like a child. Childish he might act, but all of his friends had known it was just that, an act. Shinichi saved him from having to repeat the horrors of elementary school, refusing to even consider the idea. Screw keeping up appearances, apparently unleashing a prankster with 17 years of experience and knowledge on an unprepared primary school teacher was out of the question. Kaito had nearly fallen over laughing when the detective explained that bit of logic although he had to admit that Shinichi had hit the nail on the head.
Kaito noticed it every now and then, just how much the other teenager had done for him. He wondered sometimes, would it have been the same way for the detective if Kaito hadn't spotted him that day?
'Probably not' came the unbidden thought, winding its way about his mind as he moved back toward his patient victim, 'After all, he wouldn't have known me if this never happened.'
When he stepped back near Shinichi, he found the elder half turned in the chair, thoughtful blue eyes watching him approach. "Something the matter?" he asked Kaito.
"Nope. Just thinking about stuff." at Shinichi's questioning gaze he grinned and wagged his finger, "Uh uh. Turn around so I can finish, Tantei-san."
With a roll of his eyes the detective complied, giving the magician room to work. The rest of the session passed in silence, and it lasted until Kaito was nearly finished. At length he stopped his attentions to Shinichi's disguise, steeling himself before breathing quietly in the detective's ear, "Thanks"
-
It was some time later that Shinichi found himself leaving the school, progress report in hand and in an overall good mood. The overly long delay had been caused by the school's repeated attempts to convince him into physically attending the school for regular classes. He always declined, obviously. It didn't matter that "Kaito" would be valedictorian if he kept up his grades, there was no way the detective would drop out of his own school to attend another one.
The entire excursion hadn't taken too long—the detective had left about two hours after normal school let out, and it was currently one more hour on top of that. But still, the sun was closer to evening than noon, lowering the temperature from its former comfortable level toward the chill that autumn was known for. It wasn't uncomfortable; indeed Shinichi rather liked the crisp, cool air against his skin. He'd long since shed his jacket, the black article of clothing was hung over his shoulder in a manner that fit Kaito's casual stance better than Shinichi's formal one. It was odd, being without his blazer and tie, but the fact of the matter was that he wasn't supposed to be Shinichi right now, and Kaito was far less formal about these things.
He sighed and stretched his arms over his head, glad to be out of the stuffy school. He'd only been stuck there for an hour or so, but considering the circumstances it had been just a tad bit too long. He had only needed to get in, get the report card, and then leave but the principal hadn't agreed with his little plan. Ah well, at least he'd managed to fabricate an excuse to leave, the man hadn't seemed keen on letting up anytime soon.
He strolled on down the sidewalk, contemplating whether to walk home or take the bus. On one hand it would be rather awkward if he ran into anyone who knew Kaito, but on the other hand it was a nice day and during the afternoons the mass transit got quite crowded. He mulled it over as the sign loomed ever closer, before finally making a decision and bypassing it all together. It wasn't like the exercise would hurt him and it wasn't like he was in the Ekota district. Kaito had admitted that he didn't know many people in Beika, and had hardly ever visited so the possibility of meeting one of them was slim to none.
He moved to the edge of the sidewalk and glanced both ways, taking the opportunity to make his way across the street and join up with the milling afternoon crowds. Unnoticed among the other pedestrians, another young man began to weave through the people, following behind at a safe distance.
It didn't take long for the detective to notice the tail. The streets began to steadily empty as he moved away from the busier central areas and towards the residential ones, allowing him to catch a few glimpses of the black coat and hat when he turned to check nearby signs. A vague feeling of uneasiness settled in his gut during those moments, his photographic memory drawing up vivid images of the black coats, black hats, blonde hair and sunglasses that still remained clear in his mind. He squashed it, chalking it up to coincidence. After so long there was little chance that those two would show up again. It was probably just someone wearing similar attire, although why they'd want to wear such heavy clothes so early in autumn was foreign to the detective.
Unfortunately, that happy delusion vanished like the wind when, no matter which obscure roads he turned down, he could not lose the very same man. It was then that he was forced to assume the worst, that this person wanted Kaito for some reason (since he still retained the disguise) and he also happened to be wearing the same thing they had worn. He set his jaw into a grim line doubling his efforts to lose the man. There was no way he'd lead this guy to his home.
-
Fox briefly considered pulling his hair out by the roots to relieve his frustration, growling quietly as he glanced around the empty street. He'd only glanced away for a moment—just a few seconds!—and he could see no sign of his target. At least the incident settled the lingering doubt in his mind; the kid had known he'd been followed. He'd started wondering when his target's route had begun to be a lot more meandering and winding, and now he had his answer. The agent pulled a cell phone out of his coat, flipping it open and letting the automatic dial do the job. As soon as it connected he spoke into the phone.
"I lost him, but it was Kuroba."
The funny thing was that he could imagine the 'cat-that-ate-the-canary' grin on Wolf's face as he said it.
-
Kaito had been all the way upstairs when the detective returned home. His placement might have been the reason he did not hear the hurried slam of the door and the accompanying sigh of relief. He'd been occupying his time by reading through some of Shinichi's father's case files, having discovered the bland looking binders while searching for something to read. The man added a novelistic feel to what would otherwise be an objective retelling of a crime scene and the deductive reasoning involved in the case. It intrigued the thief in more than just a professional sense, more than just a "know thy enemy" type thing. He didn't think Shinichi would mind too much, the detective hadn't put many restrictions on what Kaito could and couldn't get into.
Shinichi's room was off-limits, as were his parents' rooms, but otherwise Kaito was free to roam and poke around wherever he wished. He'd found the case files in the library; some were scattered across he many shelves and others were in the drawers of the computer desk. Much to his amusement he'd found a—quite large—file on Kaitou Kid, and discovered that the elder Kudou and his father had been quite the rivals. He hadn't read too far into it, setting it aside to browse through later at his leisure. He was currently looking through a small binder that had been stored with Kid's file, one on other, less known thieves. Kaito flipped absently through the pages, looking for anything that caught his eye, any that he recognized.
He froze when his eyes traveled across a title page somewhere near the center of the binder, a little disbelieving at the neat script that spelled out the subject, "Snake?!"
Before he could open it further, a sound caught Kaito's attention, the detective finally deciding to come up the stairs looking for him. His voice was originating from somewhere near the stairwell, sounding distant and muffle through the walls. With a sigh Kaito got to his feet, gathering up the scattered binders and stacking them neatly on the desk for late examination. The 1412 folder and the one containing Snake's entry were tucked under his arm as he made his way toward the stairs.
Apparently his footsteps had been noted, the conclusion coming from the cease of Shinichi's calls and the faint sound of the detective heading back down stairs. Luckily, Kaito had an idea as to where the detective was heading. He pushed open the door to the living room, his guess proven correct by the image that greeted him as the wooden portal swung back. A windswept Shinichi stood near the couch, utilizing a towel to try and free his hair from its gel prison. "What's up?"
Shinichi stopped at the question, blue eyes falling to Kaito's own, half-hidden beneath the white towel, "We have a problem."
-
A/N: I'm sure most of you can guess who Wolf is…if not you probably haven't gotten that far into the manga. The idea to use her is credited to one of the reviewers (not saying who, but you know who you are), originally she was just gonna be an OC but this is better. Poor Kaito, he's got Snake on the brain and is about to receive some bad news… is he gonna tell Shinichi about that murderous thief without telling him about Kid? I know, but you all don't n.n
Sorry for taking so long. I've gotten swept up in replaying all of my Zelda games…Still haven't beaten any of 'em yet since I've been skipping from game to game in the middle. I'm almost done with my friend's Phantom Hourglass though…Hate Lineback…I wanna just push him overboard x.o
Please drop a review if you like it! I love reading them. I even respond to some of the longer ones. I hope you all like it now that the plot is starting to show itself. Romance won't really have much of an impact until closer to the end—sorry to those who want it faster but I wanna make it realistic. At this point they aren't really spending time together beyond Kai's garden days, but with the Org rearing its ugly head that should change.