A/N:Ha, funny how the premise is about two cousins who love each other very much, but actually my real life family is so aggravating-give me some fucking space, thank you very much. I need my time to write up chapters and I can't be bothered by constant talking all the time. Seriously, how the hell do people live with constant talking all the time? I'll never get it.

Chapter 24 -Family-

Family. How anyone could bear with them was anything beyond Kuroba Kaito's idea of sanity. For god's sake, his mother was a well-meaning but crazy lady who traveled all the time and left Kaito alone a lot, but since he was manning his usual 'night-time' job, he supposed he really was used to being alone. He didn't give a damn, as long as she didn't get herself killed.

No, the only person he really knew who could have possibly understood what he was going through now was his father-but his father was dead, buried in a hole beneath the ground, never emerging again from the grave, like the person was in this horror movie he was currently watching, since he was too bored to do anything else.

The hospital staff were alarmed at the number of times they'd found Kaito out of bed, moving around, doing anything besides being forced to sit in a bed and do absolutely nothing with his life-nothing was more debilitating to the young thief's creative mindset. If he had nothing to do, his idle pranksterish hands would find ways of amusing themselves, and amuse they did-he wound up charming a few nurses with pretty bouquets of flowers that squirted water in their faces, wound up soaking a few doctors with some water balloons-elementary tricks that were easy enough to concoct while you were confined to a hospital bed.

Doing them successfully was another feat in and of itself, however, seeing as he was constantly being watched and followed by both the most precious and irritating member of his family...a certain someone who would not stop haranguing him about the dangers of being a thief and what it meant to those who enforce the law...especially his own danged relative.

"Kaito...what have I told you about trying to sneak out without permission? You can't do that..." The same, irritating voice he knew oh so well whispered in his ear like the devil on a hot summer's day did when finding the perfect sap.

"Shinichi, how many times have I told you to leave me alone?" Kaito whined.

"Shush," Shinichi said darkly to his cousin, sitting right by his bed. "Don't worry...I won't leave your side, not like last time."

"Shin, you're getting creepy...don't tell me you're into phantom thieves now, are you?" Kaito taunted, but the detective just smirked before suddenly and I mean suddenly hugging Kaito.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kaito yelped and then he was terrified to discover that Shinichi had secretly planted fish on his bed.

The wails and cries of help could be heard for miles and subsequently woke up every patient in the hospital as the crazed thief struggled to get out of his prison to deal with a harmless fish who flopped lazily on his bed.

"...Maybe I should try Magikarp next..." Shinichi said happily, who was now sporting a black eye as the result of Kaito's blaming his cousin for his flipout.

"They don't exist, Shin," Kaito taunted, now restrained to his bed yet again and being forced to read the same book he'd read over and over again; some stupid book about reasons why you shouldn't try to leave hospitals.

"...I was kidding, Kai. When did we start doing this stupid nicknaming business? I swear, it's like some crazy author is putting ideas into our heads and making us say stuff we would never say and do stuff we'd never normally do..." Shinichi mused, trailing his fingers over the case findings from the latest analyses sent to him from Inspector Megure.

Ha ha, if you thought I've forgotten about that plot, nope, it's still here and it'll be interwoven into the plot somehow. So be patient. I didn't just throw it in for no reason.

"If that was the case, this would be the moment where the two cousins decide to start kissing each other for no reason and do all sorts of stupid stuff worthy of Sword Art Online, right?" Kaito snarked. "But this is real life."

Shinichi sighed. "Kaito...why are you such a pervert? You make out everything I say to be something it's not."

"Because it's f-u-n-n-y, Shin-chan!"

"It's not and only my mother can call me that, now knock it off!"

"Bleah, so I suppose my healing isn't as important to you as my name choices for you!"

"Well, if you're going to be this immature, Kai, I suppose I'll have to ask the nurses to give you nothing but fish all week long...how about that?" Shinichi said evilly.

And so the two boys argued all night long until they got tired and both fell asleep, right next to each other...just like they did when they were little.

"Ah, man...Kudo's sleeping at this time of day? That sucks..." A very familiar, and very twangy voice entered his mind...he knew that voice but he wanted to go back to sleep...pursue Ran that much more...no, he was just about to catch that murderer...

"...Ah don't know, Heiji. It's yer fault for botherin' him in the first place..."

"Botherin' him? Who was the one to start whining about us being lost, 'Zuha?"

'Oh boy...I just wanna sleep...enough of this racket...'

Shinichi turned over and tried to ignore it, only to realize there was someone else he was sleeping right on top of...Kaito. Shinichi immediately shot up, immediately awakening Kaito, who cried out in pain...and then promptly deflated into a dummy...while the real Kaito shot out from behind a corner and sighed.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart. These two are here as part of my plan for how to conquer Snake and the bad guys who shot me," Kaito said with a smirk.

"Come again?"

Kaito sighed. "Shin, how many times do we have to repeat it to you? You think too much, you think too much of me getting hurt, but I'm perfectly fine!" He said.

Shinichi was silent. "All right...tell me exactly what this plan of yours is. I'm listening."

Kaito liked that smirk. It told him that something good was going to happen.

"Rise from the ashes, Silver Bullet, like a phoenix. Bring me my dream...let me see the downfall of the crows..." Vermouth whispered to herself.