Sorry, I have no excuse for taking this long.. I had little to no motivation to write, personal issues again.. only this time it's all over the place, and it's nearing Christmas D:

Well, I don't think I'll update any time soon, but I will try to get another update before the new year.. I'll try ^.^;

Chapter 3.

A Talent For a Thief.

Shinichi sighed as he relaxed into the comfortable chair by the desk in the library. As per usual, he was reading a book about Sherlock Holmes, because when you are under house arrest from a friend, you can't really do much else. That's how it had been this last week though. Conan had returned to Ran, and was still living there, but Shinichi had taken it upon himself to call his parents and make arrangements that might change a lot more than just some location of Conan's home. His parents had been surprised, to say at least. He really couldn't blame them as he had once been Conan, and yet, now they were two different people, with apparently no special talent like KID had. KID had his invisibility, and the fact that if you shot at him, the bullet went through, or it wouldn't bleed at all when it did hit. The real thief on the other hand, didn't have any special things either, except his shared mind link with his copy. It seemed Conan was rather envious of the two, but Shinichi had argued that it was probably because KID never had a different body, unlike Conan and Shinichi, who was two different people, well, now anyway. KID on the other hand, was just a disguise his real self used, thus making him slightly unreal. The detective sighed. It had been a week since the talk they had, and it was still fresh in his mind.

"Lies?" Conan asked, becoming rather serious for his age. Kaitou nodded.

"It would be best right? I can't really say I never lie, because I do, with keeping this secret, and I know you do too." he said, smiling a bit when Conan pouted. Shinichi nodded.

"That's about right yeah, but what do you mean introduction, you already know us, and we know.. well, a part of you." he said, motioning for the black clad. Said thief grinned.

"Well, you don't want to know?" the thief asked back. Shinichi didn't even move.

"No, well, yes, but in the fair way, not through this, it just seems so.. wrong." he said instantly. The Kaitou's seemed rather surprised at this, but then they nodded, smiling. It wasn't the first time Shinichi had been so humble, in a way. Conan too, as they had often come to work together and as a thank you, Shinichi, well, as Conan, refrained from mentioning that KID was there or something related to KID. It was their rule, to be of use to each other whenever they needed to and like that rule, they'd never tell anyone about what they learn from and about each other. But the white clad then shook his head.

"Does it count when the thief wants to reveal himself?" he asked. Shinichi sat back, eyes as wide as Conan's as the two just stared at him in complete and utter shock.

"W-what?" Shinichi asked, not believing what had just heard.

"I- but- are you sure?" Shinichi stuttered. Kaitou smiled.

"Well, I wouldn't tell you otherwise, would I? Besides, I don't think you'll use it against me." Kaitou explained.

"But why? Did you have a change of heart or something, you don't strike me as one to tell your secret's so easily." Shinichi said.

"No, I'm not, I just guess having someone that knows how it feels from lying and hiding and them knowing who I am, then I guess it's only fair.. besides, I'm kind of okay with it.. strangely enough.." there was a short pause.

"But I don't think right now would be a wise moment to tell it, first I think we need to sort out this new.. development." Kaitou obviously meant Conan and his own clone, but Shinichi smiled anyway, amused by the fact that the thief seemed a bit too serious, and yet, nervous about it. It might have something to do with being in the same room as two of the detective's that's constantly chasing him, and these two was the worst with their tiny tranquilizer watches and those enhanced, freaky shoes and soccer balls coming out of nowhere.

"That is probably a good idea.. and I guess you'll just sweep by any time, seeing you tend to do that anyway.." Shinichi stated, raising an eyebrows as he stared at the thief, who chuckled.

"Well, I'll let myself in then." he said cheerfully and Shinichi groaned.

"Please refrain from breaking and entering, just ring the damn doorbell next time." he stated.

"Where's the fun in that? And you know I can't do that, people would surely stop in the streets if they saw me knocking on your door." Kaitou answered happily, still smirking. Shinichi glared.

"That's barely anyone who passes by this house.. besides, I think you'd be able to conjure up some sort of disguise." he said, waving a hand. Kaitou grinned.

"True, then, I'll take your invitation." the thief changed his outfit to match the other white clad before they made their way towards the door.

"By the way, I'm using your backdoor." Kaitou said, waving over his shoulder. Shinichi sighed, then he turned to Conan.

"Let's start making plans then." he said and the boy nodded.

"I guess.."

Shinichi hadn't ever been that dense when it came to what others felt, however, how he felt about this development was a big mystery. Then there was the fact that there was now two Kaitou KID's.

"Great.. just what we needed.." he thought and put down the book, then he sighed. It couldn't be helped if KID was two people, however, it puzzled him as to why Kaitou was so willing to tell him who he really was. And then there was the matter of him being stuck here, without anything but books to read, and the violin of course. Haibara had -obviously joking- suggested that he could start making food and bake so that he'd hone his skills in case Conan would ever come over, because she didn't want the child to die from eating something that most probably wasn't edible to anyone by the teen detective. However, there was a downside. How could he bake or cook if he couldn't head out to buy the necessary ingredients, and Shinichi had, despite Haibara just joking, actually taken it seriously, because he knew, just like anyone else that had tasted Shinichi's food, that it was even beyond eatable. The detective got up from the chair and got his phone, deciding that he'd call Haibara, then realized it was still school time. Shinichi fell into deep thoughts as he realized that he too, would be back in school soon, only, he was lagging behind the rest because of his long leave of absence. There was a moment when he wondered if he was even allowed to continue third year, or if he had to redo the whole second year. Shinichi gave a grimace at that thought. There was no way he'd go back a year, even if he had to fight for it. So, he dialed the phone to his school instead, hoping the headmaster pitied him enough to let him just take the exams for second year and then continue third year.

"We can only hope I guess.." he thought. It didn't take him long to get in touch with the school and after some talking, Shinichi managed to get through that he wanted to continue the third year instead of redoing second year, even if he had to redo all the tests he had never done, and the exams too. The principal seemed very surprised that Shinichi was willing to go that far, but eventually accepted the terms and Shinichi was told to appear at a certain date and time to discuss further what to do. When Shinichi finally finished, an hour had already passed. The teen sighed as he put down the phone. It was still a few days until the set date and he had more than enough time to burn through whatever he wanted to, there was just one thing. He wasn't allowed to leave the house. Shinichi got up, deciding to get something eat. Something Haibara had brought to him from the convenience store. She wouldn't let him eat what he'd make, probably because she thought he'd kill himself if he did. The teen huffed.

"I'm not that bad at cooking.." he muttered.

"You can't cook?" was the question that seeped in through the doorway. Shinichi stopped his line of thought, tensed before he turned, having recognized the voice as a clear match to his own. Then he stared blankly at himself, or so it looked.

"KID, I swear, if you continue to dress as me, I will shoot you!" the thief laughed and ruffled his own hair.

"It's easier this way, I have a certain detective following me everywhere I go.. I doubt he'd like it if I hung out with a much more interesting and friendly detective.." the thief added. Shinichi raised an eyebrow at this.

"Another detective? Hakuba-san?" he asked. The thief continued to ruffle his hair, making sure that his hair stayed that way when he was finished before entering the kitchen.

"Yes, the annoying detective who looks like he has a stick up his ass all the time." the teen stated and Shinichi smirked. Even though they could casually talk like this, neither let their guard down, after all, they were still thief and detective, rivals on either side of the law.

"I doubt he'd mind it that bad, besides, if you appear on my door step as you are, I can actually get visitors that act at least a bit normal." Shinichi said. The Kaitou raised both eyebrows.

"You should be aware that I'm far from normal." he stated, laughing.

"I know.. but from the rest, I'm not sure your the most unusual one.." Shinichi explained, smiling when the thief just chuckled.

"Then I think I have an idea of how your friends are." he stated. Shinichi smirked.

"Strangely, that doesn't surprise me at all." he said. The teens stared at each other for a while before Shinichi raised an eyebrow.

"So, why did you come? Is it about what we talked about?" he asked. The thief nodded, making himself at home by sitting down by the table and 'magically' transfer a cup to his hand, and Shinichi could smell hot chocolate from it.

"Well, I know that your all set of telling me who you are, but is this really the best way? And is the time right?" Shinichi asked after a while. Kaitou sat down the cup.

"I'm not sure, I'm usually never unsure about most things.." he murmured.

"I have realized that." Shinichi stated, dragging his fingers through his hair, ruffling it a bit. The thief in disguise grinned before he took a sip of his cup.

"Well, I am now.. I was so sure it wouldn't be any problem telling, but now.." he fell silent. Shinichi eyed the thief, then he smiled and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

"I can wait, it's not the end of the world for me if you don't tell, I mean.. I would have figured it out on my own either way." he stated and earned a slight pout.

"Would you?" he asked back. Shinichi smirked.

"Well, you said you were followed by Hakuba-san right? So I can presume that you are close to him, either in work related situations or school, or maybe just living close to each other, so of course, with his mind, he'd probably be suspicious of you from the first day you met and he'd already assumed you are KID based on his train of thought, even if he doesn't have anything to prove it, he would still cling to this idea, going as far as making weird plans to somehow make you do a mistake and slip your cover." Shinichi stated. Kaitou stared back with wide eyes, and just as wide mouth.

"That pretty much based it yes.. you do know him don't you?" he asked.

"Of course I do, I've even worked with him on a case.. even though I was Conan then.." Shinichi sighed at the memory.

"He annoyed you?" Kaitou asked with an amused tone in his voice.

"What do you think? And to make matters worse, he pissed of Hattori as the case got worse, and what annoyed me the most is his seemingly nonexistent care of other human beings as long as he can solve a case.." Shinichi then sighed.

"In the end, Hattori solved the case right in front of him, and all thanks to his rashness and wish to save lives rather than just predict a murder of said life." the detective stated. Kaitou hummed.

"Yes, Hakuba can be like that, it's taken a lot of my time to soften him up, but he's still as stiff as they come." and then he groaned.

"I'd love to screw around a lot more with him, but he's just too good at noticing things.. like you." Kaitou then smirked. Shinichi raised an eyebrow.

"I'll take that as a compliment." he said, and Kaitou smirked.

"It is, for you, not for Hakuba.. apparently.." he stated, sighing. Shinichi chuckled.

"Well, he might be uptight, but I doubt it's that bad." Shinichi said. The magician thief sighed.

"You don't know him personally.. he's worse than that." he said, glaring at the cup in his hand before he made it vanish in a cloud of pink smoke. Shinichi narrowed both eyes as his mind automatically tried to deduce how he did it, but couldn't come up with an answer, at least not one that made sense.

"How do you do that, I've seen you make things disappear before, yet, I can't deduce how did time, are you using a new trick?" he asked. Kaito looked up at him, then he shook his head.

"No.. it seems that I too have a.. 'talent' as your mini-self called it, real magic, which my 'other' half has to for some reason, so I should advice you to check out what you might have caught." he said. Shinichi frowned.

"I don't think we have any.. because we haven't specialized in a certain thing like you.." he said.

"Don't you? What about soccer? Aren't you interested in that? And don't you play the violin?" the thief asked. Shinichi raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to ask how you know I'm playing the violin, but yes, I like both, but I would have noticed it, I have been playing the violin several times ever since I 'grew' back into myself, however, I haven't checked out my soccer skills yet." Shinichi stated.

"I don't know what you could have caught, but what about strength?" Kaitou suggested.

"Strength?" Shinichi looked generally confused. The thief nodded.

"Like, kicking? I mean, if you had the same strength as when you use those shoes, but without using them.." he tried. Shinichi slowly nodded.

"I see.. and even if it sounds farfetched, that might actually be something.. I don't know about Conan though.. we don't have that.. mind-whatever you called it, we do have the same brain, but is obviously a child, while I'm not.."

"So he's acting a bit more like a child now?" the magician asked. Shinichi nodded.

"Much more than before.. though it seems he's more adamant on coming over now, I have a feeling he wants to move, and I can see a reason why." Shinichi stated.

"The old man?" the thief laughed.

"Yes, him.. even if I can't really complain, the thought of leaving me- I mean, Conan, to breath more of that heavy smoke.. well, I think you can understand." Shinichi gave the magician a halfhearted smiled.

"There's nothing to do about that, and yes, I do understand.. have you talked to your girlfriend though?" the magician grimaced when he said the word girlfriend, it seemed to leave a bad taste in his mouth, for reasons even the person himself seemed not to understand. Shinichi's face darkened.

"No.. I haven't talked to anyone yet, we have already stated the facts that I'm myself again, however, we still have to worry about a few things, I don't want to pull Ran into these things.." Shinichi stood up.

"But soon I'll be out of this house, and I might head over.. there's still a promise between us." he said. Kaitou looked at him before he sighed.

"You left a promise of love." it wasn't a question. Shinichi sighed.

"Well, I told her a long time ago.. I'm waiting for.. her.." his eyes turned sad as he stared at something, but still nothing at all. The thief eyed the detective with a pitiful look on his face before he stood up.

"By the way, KID.. or should I call you that?" Shinichi asked. The thief laughed.

"You can call me Kaitou.. and the other me, KID.. he is here by the way." he said and the white clad appeared beside he doppelganger, startling Shinichi.

"Gah, don't do that!" he yelled, pointing a finger at the accused thief, who grinned back.

"Why? It's so fun, it seems I have more control of this than I first thought, I can appear or not, and even half way, so that you can see me, but still see through me." he said. Shinichi stared blankly back.

"So you're using this to scare people then?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it's more experimenting really, it'll come in handy on heists, because it seems that while choosing between these three states, I can chose wherever I want people to pass through me, or bump into me." the thief said. Shinichi frowned.

"So you chose between being real and not? That seems to be handy." he stated.

"It is, can you imagine the face Nakamori would make?" KID asked, laughing. Kaitou laughed too, cackling as he clearly could. Shinichi just sighed and shook his head.

"You're crazy, and you seem immortal.. great." the two identical thieves just smirked back. Shinichi looked past them before he turned away.

"Is there something wrong?" Kaitou suddenly asked. Shinichi laughed.

"Am I getting sympathy from a internationally wanted phantom thief now? And no, there's nothing wrong.." the thieves gave the same pout at the sentence. Shinichi just grinned.

"Now then, I have things to do, don't you have something to do too? Planning a heist or annoying someone of a trivial position?" he asked, amusement gleamed in his eyes as he gave a glance over his shoulder at the two identical thieves. Kaitou grinned, as did his counterpart. The two didn't seem to even need to look at each other as they mouthed the same thing before the thief in white disappeared in a poff of pink smoke, but the other thief stayed.

"I don't think this thing with Pandora is over just yet.." the thief said and Shinichi turned, maybe a tad bit too fast, but he was agreeing, even without nodding.

"Yes, yes, I think so too, if you aren't careful, who knows what will happen, when are you going to steal the fake Pandora?" he asked. Kaitou turned slightly, looking more stern than the detective had ever seen him. Shinichi could see the hesitation, the choices, the worry and the very real thoughts about the heist that would come, no matter how much they held it off.

"I haven't decided yet, we might do it as soon as possible, but it wont be a heist like the others.. it'll be boring.." Kaitou huffed. Shinichi raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms, but smiling never the less.

"Only you can find a thievery amusing.." he said. Kaitou just grinned.

"Yes, well, a normal life isn't cut out for me, you can't say anything otherwise, you who chase criminals no matter how dangerous he or her is, and no matter how thin the line of you life is." Shinichi couldn't agree more.

"True.. just sitting at home and being a normal teenager.. it's dull, far to dull for me." he said.

"I can understand that.. well, there probably wont be invitations for the next heist, but until next time either way." then he was gone, using the same smoke bomb as his clone. Shinichi stared at the spot where the thief had just been. He has seen the honest concern in Kaitou's eyes before he left, and the sincere worry lacing his every word. Shinichi slowly realized that this heist, the heist about to come, might be the one heist Kaitou feared the most. Shinichi walked out of the kitchen and into the library, trying not to think too much into it, because it'd only worry him too. That was one of the disadvantages of getting too close to Kaitou KID, you'd get awfully worried and always wonder if he was alright. Shinichi passed the desk just as his phone rang, startling him. He took it up and saw the display flash with a familiar name. Shinichi's eyebrows fell slightly, furrowing in the middle. School was finished, even he knew that, it was the moment Kaitou appeared, because he was obviously a teenager himself, even if he hadn't confirmed it.

"What could Ran possible want at this time?" he wondered before he answered, precarious in case it wasn't Ran, and something was wrong. She should already be home by now, but he still felt like ice was being dragged slowly down his back.

"Yes?" he answered, realizing he sounded hesitant.

"Shinichi? Ah, I didn't think you'd pick up, I heard from Conan you'll be back soon, is it true? Are you coming back to school too?" she asked, sounding almost breathless. Shinichi frowned, he hadn't known Conan would slip up so easily, so something was definitely wrong.

"Um, yes.. but how come Conan told you? I don't think.. he knew.." he said.

"Oh, I just asked, that's all.." Shinichi didn't like the answer he got.

"Ran, can I talk to Conan?" he asked

"Uh, sure." there was a moment of silence before Conan answered.

"Yes? What is it Shinichi-niichan?" the boy asked. Shinichi sighed.

"Did you really tell her that I returned Conan? You know how risky that is." he said. Conan made something close to a gurgle and a moment later, Shinichi could hear a door closing, probably Conan leaving the room.

"Yeah, well, Ran can be scary.. besides.. I felt like.. mentioning me- I mean, you, because.. something's wrong with Ran, she's hiding something.." Conan said and the tiny ball that had been rolling about in Shinichi's stomach suddenly grew in size and density, making his every move heavier, his swallowing thicker.

"So it seems.. it's not actually.." he seemed to be at a loss of words, which didn't happen often.

"Good? I know.. I understand how you feel.. I'll make up some reason for you wanting to talk to me because Ran's suspicious, Genta-kun noticed." Shinichi whistled.

"Really? Even Genta-kun? Then it must be really bad, I'll try to get Haibara to release sooner then so I can come over.. I have a feeling it's deeper than any of us think." he said.

"I agree.. um.. Ran-neechan want's to talk to you again." Conan switched to his childish voice just like that. Shinichi shuddered. Now he knew how Heiji felt every time he had done it as Conan, it was scary.

"Shinichi, when exactly will you return?" Ran suddenly asked. Shinichi blinked.

"What? Oh, oh.. the return.. I don't know, within next week I think.. I'm not sure yet, but it'll be soon." Shinichi said.

"Shinichi, a date to go by would be nice." Shinichi sighed.

"I don't know Ran, Thursday or Friday, even I don't know exact yet."

"Fine, but I'm busy next week." Shinichi sighed. It wasn't like Ran to keep a busy schedule when Shinichi was back in town, maybe she was moving away from him after all, even if she didn't let it on.

"Ran.. look, I.." he stopped himself.

"I have to go Shinichi, bye." then she hung up and Shinichi just stared dumbfounded at his own cellphone before he realized he looked like an idiot and shut it, putting it in his pocket.

"I'll have to head over and talk to her.." he decided. There was no way he could just let this go by, something was wrong, and he'd figure it out, one way or another. She had promised him, she'd promised she's wait for him and Shinichi knew that Ran wasn't a person to break a promise, in fact, she would keep them, no matter what. So whatever was wrong, would it have an impact on their relationship, or not? He didn't know, and he certainly didn't want to know if it was the first of the two.

"Ran.. what are you hiding?" he thought.

Blah blah.. yeah, I think it's obvious where this is going.. nah, just me..

Tell me how this is okay? I'm still working on their character design to fit the story, so yeah..

Until next time :)