Chapter Summary: In which Hakuba and Kid finally talk, and some of Hakuba's past is revealed.

I really wish Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belonged to me, sadly they do not.

Chapter 17: (Mis)Understandings

The entire week he'd spent with his mother was pleasant but exhausting. Hakuba loved his mother, but things were still strained between them, as they always had been. He thought things were getting better but apparently not.

She couldn't seem to let go of the fact that he could see ghosts. He quickly learned about three weeks after the accident that he shouldn't mention it anymore, in fact, he began to pretend he couldn't see them in the first place. That appeased his mother slightly but when she caught him talking to himself one night his ruse was blown. Since then she stopped treating him like her son and more like an item one was forced to keep. It was not a situation Hakuba was comfortable with but since he was the heir to the Hakuba name he had no choice but to attend any public events his parents wished him too.

He was glad when after a week of nonstop meetings and get-togethers he was able to find an excuse to head back to Japan. Kaitou Kid had sent out a heist notice. Hakuba bought his plane tickets 2 minutes and 34 seconds after he read the heist note, afterward, he clicked on the contact labeled "G" and sent one word, 'Snipers?'.

"G" responded almost immediately with a simple 'No.'.

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..

...

Hakuba hadn't been able to go to the past three heists due to not being in the country, but since his flight landed six hours ago he had plenty of time to meet up with Inspector Nakamori at the police station. From there he was filled in on what he's missed and was given a copy of the heist note despite the time and place already being known. Kid was apparently targeting the teardrop shaped ruby, called the "Devil's Tears", the blood-red picture Hakuba was handed of the gem showed it looked ordinary enough, the only thing off-putting about it was the hand holding it made out of black stainless steel. It presented quite an eerie image.

The Museum itself was actually a hall rented in a hotel which was showing off a collection of gems to a select few. When the owner found out Kid was targeting his item, he opened the showing to the public and now the hotel had Kid's fangirls scattered all over the place and waiting outside the showroom.

Hakuba couldn't understand why getting stolen from seemed to excited so many of the victims of Kid's heists.

He spent the majority of the ride to the Museum answering Conan and Hattori's text messages asking him if there would be any snipers at the heist. Sadly, Conan was not at the heist so Hakuba couldn't count on him to have his back in chasing Kid. Once Kid arrived, everything happened much the same as it would any other heist night. The task force was distracted by Kid's traps and were all still on the last two floors, Hakuba, however, managed to evade every trap and was hoping his appearance at the heist was not one Kid had calculated for. Out of the twelve traps scattered throughout the floor, Hakuba managed to avoid eleven of them, sadly the one he didn't have left him with his hair dyed green and covered in pink glitter. He sincerely wished he would be able to wash it all out before he had to return to school.

Hakuba growled when he caught sight of his reflection in one of the hall windows. When he got his hands on Kid he was going to make sure the thief got what he deserved. Narrowing down Kid's escape routes, Hakuba managed to figure out one room on the next floor which was most likely to be used by Kid.

Hakuba raced up the stairs, yells of task force members reaching his ears as they didn't manage to avoid the traps like he had. Hakuba made sure not to make any noise as he entered the room, all the lights were off and the curtains on the lone glass door to the balcony were only open a sliver, letting moonlight light the room.

Something screamed at him that this was a trap but Hakuba knew Kid had to be here, hidden somewhere in the room. He wasn't too worried because ever since they'd all agreed to work with one another, things subtly began changing. Hattori and he stopped getting into as many arguments and Conan stopped acting childish around him. The biggest change was Kid willingly seeking him out to talk on some nights, Hakuba would've felt better had Kid arrived as Kuroba Kaito those times instead of in his Kid persona, but Hakuba would take what he could get. There was a no doubt this was one of the hotels smaller conference rooms, and on the table in the middle of the room sat Kaitou Kid's hat. Wary, but curious, Hakuba slowly made his way over to the table and just as he was reaching towards the hat, to examine it, it exploded.

Hakuba shut his eyes as thick goop coated him from head to toe due to the explosion. Kid's laughter echoed throughout the room, annoyed, Hakuba gritted his teeth and opened his eyes fully expecting to see a glitter bomb had gone off but froze when he realized that was not what had happened.

The logical side of his brain told him that it was only paint on him, but looking down at the Red covering his hands and arms, Hakuba found logic was not something he could focus on at the moment. It was splattered up his sleeves, soaking his chest, dripping in his hair, and coating his skin, bits of it had gotten on his pants as well.

"Please...please, it hurts…" His voice came out as a whisper and Hakuba had to strain to hear the words, "Hakuba...make it stops, please...please." He promised, he swore that he would get them out of there. He needed to make sure they got out of there. Hakuba blinked, he realized his hands were shaking, and the moonlight allowed for him to watch as one drop after another fell to the ground by his feet. Screaming, nothing he could do would get them to stop screaming, he tried, he really tried everything but nothing seemed to work. He couldn't save them. He couldn't save them-! Hakuba gulped, his breathing began picking up its pace as he struggled to take a breath in. There was blood everywhere, his hair, his clothes, all over his hands, he couldn't stem the bleeding…

"Tantei-san?" A white glove reached towards him and unable to help himself, Hakuba flinched, His head jerked up to stare at the figure in white in front of him, the figure took a step back from him, seemingly startled and Hakuba choked back the urge to scream, instead a strangled whimper left his throat. He knew who the person in white was but for some reason, his mind refused to supply him with a name.

It didn't help that there was literally a burned figure standing behind the person in white, calling his name and reaching out towards him.

"Tantei-san? Oh god," The figure in white moved towards him again but Hakuba hastily moved out of reach as he screamed with his chest heaving,

"Don't touch me!"

The burned figure froze, his eyes wide and mouth opened in a small "O" shape. The person in white held his hands up in front of him and made soft cooing noises as though Hakuba were a frightened child. Something that annoyed Hakuba greatly. "Tantei-san I won't touch you, but you need to calm down. You're going to hyperventilate."

Hakuba shook his head frantically, "Get it off, p-please get it off."

"Get what off Tantei-san? The paint?"

"No!" Hakuba hunched over slightly bringing one hand to cover the other as he began scratching at his skin, "T-The blood, get it off. Get the blood off! Please...please get it off!"

"Blood? Oh dear god...Hakuba-kun it isn't blood!" The burned figure cried out, "I don't know what you think you're seeing but...you're currently in Japan. You're at a Kaitou Kid heist and the one in front of you is Kid. I'm Kuroba Touichi, do you remember me?"

"Bl-?" A sharp intake of breath coming from the person in white reached his ears but Hakuba ignored it and the burned figures words as he began scratching harder at his arms, it started to hurt but he didn't care.

The white gloves were reaching towards him again and this time they grabbed onto his wrists forcing him to stop scratching.

"Tantei-san...no...Hakuba look at me. Look at me!" Hakuba looked up at the white figure and couldn't help but wonder when he had fallen to his knees, "It's not blood, do you hear me? It is not blood!"

"Hakuba-kun please listen to him. You're safe, I promise you you're safe." The burned figure looked about ready to cry so Hakuba looked away from him.

Hakuba tugged his arms, trying to get out of the white figure's grip,"Let go of me...let me go!"

"NO!" The white figure pulled Hakuba towards him until Hakuba's face was buried in his chest, "I don't know what you're remembering….but I'm sorry, I am so so sorry Hakuba." The figures words came out choked, almost as though they were fighting back tears. "I didn't...I-I wasn't trying too….damn it!"

Hakuba struggled but the arms around him only tighten their hold, eventually, as he began to tire himself out, Hakuba ceased struggling and instead buried his face further into the fabric in front of him where he then began silently crying. The only indication of him crying was the shaking of his shoulders and the steadily growing wet spot on the white figures' clothes.

Both the burned man and the man in white kept murmuring apologies to him and begging him to calm down, but none of it was getting through to Hakuba, he couldn't help but look up with accusing eyes at the figure as he forced a cloth over Hakuba's face and a familiar sweet smell overtook his senses before he slowly lost consciousness.

The last thing he was aware of was indigo eyes, one covered by a monocle, staring down at him and holding him close.

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,,

,,,

He awoke disoriented and confused. Something which caused his heart to speed up, it was pounding away in his chest as he hesitantly opened his eyes. Hakuba blinked as the view of his bedroom greeted him.

"Wha-" Hakuba broke off, coughing as taking with how dry his throat was hurt.

His head was hurting and the slight fatigue he felt didn't help matters at all. Forcing himself to sit up in his bed, Hakuba was surprised to see he was wearing a pair of sweats and was shirtless. Closing his eyes, Hakuba thought back to the last thing he could remember, which was attending Kid's heist and managing to find Kid's hat in one of the Hotel rooms….

"...Hakuba-kun?"

Startled, Hakuba's eyes flew open. Kuroba-san was kneeling down next to the bed and looking Hakuba in the eye. "K-Kuroba-san…"

"How are you feeling?" Kuroba-san asked softly.

"Like I got hit by a bloody truck." Hakuba looked down at his lap, "...What happened?"

When Kuroba-san didn't say a word and a few minutes passed, Hakuba quietly repeated his question.

"...Kaito….He set up a trap but...it ended up becoming a trigger for you. You had a flashback, I believe and nothing we did could snap you out of it."

Hakuba's eyes narrowed, "...He drugged me?"

"Haku-"

"You know as well as I do that Kuroba-kun carries knockout gas on his person at all times during a heist yet he drugged me! I'm able to recognize Chloroform by scent! Why does he even have that?!"

"You were panicking to the point of hyperventilation Hakuba-kun! Nothing would calm you down. Kaito did what he had to do to stop you before you hurt yourself."

Hearing that Hakuba couldn't help but feel betrayed by Kuroba-san, but then again he supposed it wasn't too surprising the man sided with his son.

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,,

,,,

Two weeks. He'd been avoiding Kaito for two weeks now ever since the incident at Kid's heist. Hakuba felt a tad bad seeing how Kaito literally has been sending him puppy eyes whenever they'd seen one another.

He wasn't even sure why he'd taken to avoiding Kaito, and Kuroba-san as well.

He just knew he wouldn't be able to face them after what happened. He was right, when Kaito managed to corner him in the boy's bathroom at school and Hakuba was terrified to be alone with him, he had a theory as to why but even to him it sounded ridiculous. Apparently, Conan and Hattori were aware of the situation as well since Hakuba didn't go to Kid's next heist and according to Conan, Kid had told them that they weren't speaking to one another. It annoyed him that he was allowing his emotions to get in the way of their planning to take down the BO but Hakuba couldn't help it.

He was forced to confront the situation between him and Kaito two days later when he was sitting in his bedroom and had gotten the alert on his phone of someone unauthorized entering the property. A glance at the security camera live stream showed Kid sneaking across the lawn and around the house until he stood underneath Hakuba's bedroom balcony.

Realizing what Kid was about to do, Hakuba stood up and crossed his arms in front of his chest, a position that was both offensive and defensive. After one minute 43.21 seconds, all of which Hakuba spent internally panicking, the curtains shifted as someone entered the room before pulling them to the side all the way to reveal a shocked Kaitou Kid who had frozen where he was.

"Long time no see, Tantei-san~!" Kid grinned but Hakuba could tell that the smile on his face was a forced one.

Frowning Hakuba asked, "...What are you doing here Kid?"

"Tsk," Kid put his hands on his hips, "Can't I come to check up on one of my detectives?"

"..."

When Hakuba didn't respond, Kid dropped his arms down by his side, "...Alright. I'm here Tantei-san because I want to apologize."

Hakuba's hand twitched, wishing he could pull his pocket-watch out and listen to the steady ticking but he knew if he did he wouldn't focus on what Kid was saying.

Kid slowly walked further into the room until he was standing directly in front of Hakuba, who was shocked because with Kid standing this close he could see his features under the hat and monocle. Hakuba quickly looked away to avoid seeing any more than he already had. Of course, he knew who Kid was but he didn't want Kid to give up his identity because he was more focused on apologizing, Hakuba would rather Kid willingly show him as a sign of trust then reveal himself by accident.

Kid looked hurt the moment Hakuba looked away but slowly moved so that he was sitting on the end of Hakuba's bed with Hakuba standing in front of him. "Tantei-san."

Hakuba took one look at the pained expression on Kids' face and knew he was done for. Mentally preparing himself for the conversation that was bound to happen, Hakuba moved stiffly over towards the bed and sat so he was leaning against the headboard facing Kid.

When a few minutes passed with neither of them saying a word, Hakuba realized he would have to be the one to start the conversation.

"Kid." Kid's head jolted up and he looked surprised that Hakuba had even addressed him, causing Hakuba to frown. "Kid...I...I'm sorry."

Kid gaped at him, "Why are you apologizing to me? I'm supposed to be the one apologizing to you!"

Hakuba blinked, "What? You already did, when you snuck into my room. I believe I should apologize due to my behavior towards you."

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Stop acting all formal with me!" Kid threw his hands up, "Tantei-han told me about that party you two were at, how you put up a formal front around all those strangers. I am not one of those strangers!"

"I.." Hakuba paused before nodding slowly, "..Alright….I can't promise that I'll stop being formal, after all, I am a gentleman, but...I can...try…"

"...ne, Tantei-san?" Kid shifted around on the bed so that he was sitting with his legs crossed and facing Hakuba, "...Can...can I ask…?"

"...You want to know what happened." Hakuba asked though he said it more like a statement.

Hesitant, Kid slowly nodded his head.

"I suppose you'd find out sooner or later," Hakuba dropped his head back and it thunked loudly against the headboard, "It's fine. Just...I...won't...I won't be able to tell you everything….I-"

"I don't need to know everything." Kid cut in, "Tantei-san, you don't need to tell me anything either just...just can you tell me what triggers you? I-I need to know so that…"

The 'so that I don't cause you to have another panic attack' went unsaid but the both of them clearly knew what Kid was trying to say.

"Well…" Hakuba closed his eyes, " I suppose you already know that I can't stand the color red."

Kid opened his mouth about to speak but quickly snapped it shut, before seemingly deciding that he needed to say whatever he had to say, "... I figured as much. But, uh, I don't really understand. I mean….you…you're a detective so…?"

"So basically you want to know how I'm able to be a detective when I have a fear that basically hinders me." Hakuba concludes, "... I have a method of calming myself down. My pocket watch, I keep track of its ticking…. the ticking or keeping track of time, in general, gives me something to focus on. I'm able to see anything involving the color red or blonde as long as I'm prepared for it. If it certainly shows up out of the blue then….most of the time I can stop an episode before it happens but not if I'm not expecting it."

Kid nodded slowly, "...Guess there's the reason behind your time obsession huh?" Kid chuckled weakly.

"...I suppose so." Hakuba yawned briefly, "Sorry."

Kid quickly glanced at his watch and frowned when he saw it was nearing three in the morning.

Hakuba shook his head, "Let's just finish this discussion, I doubt I'll be able to sleep peacefully anyway."

Hakuba supposed Kuroba-san planned to come over after his son left to talk as well, after all, he knew they both needed to talk things out as well. Hakuba was a bit sad to admit he'd been lonely without Kuroba-san by his side since the next night after the heist. Akemi-san had been trailing after Conan and Hattori respectively to give Hakuba his space.

"Tantei-san?"

Hakuba smiles ruefully, "You were asking what was a trigger for me? Well… I panic if I'm trapped. Mainly in small spaces and if I believe I won't be freed soon."

Kid paled drastically, "...I've handcuffed you during heists before….I've even locked you in a closet with Inspector Nakamori…"

Hakuba winced.

"I made you have a panic attack before?" Kid sounded absolutely horrified and Hakuba looked down at his lap.

"...You didn't mean to…" Hakuba said softly.

"I-"

"No," Hakuba cut Kid off firmly, " you did not mean to and the inspector was there to help me calm down. This is why I apologized earlier, I forgave you the moment happened...it's just….you drugged me. I…that's how...t-that's how I…" Hakuba took a deep breath, "...I was kidnapped...years ago….just...please promise me you won't drug me. I understand your use of the knockout gas during your heists, but please don't ever use chloroform on me again. It reminds me too much of….."

Kids eyes were opened wide and the moment Hakuba trailed off he began nodding his head almost frantically, "I swear. Oh God, I fucking swear I won't!"

Hakuba nodded slowly, "... other than that, the only thing I have to say is if you ever happen to witness me having a nightmare do not wake me up." Seeing the confused expression on Kids' face, Hakuba elaborated, "If you wake me up from a nightmare I won't realize I was dreaming, I'll think I was still there where whatever I was dreaming about took place. But if you let the nightmare play itself out, I'll wake up and I'll know it was a dream."

"O-okay…"

Hakuba sighed, "... Shall we call it a night? After all, we do have to get up in a few hours for school."

Kid nodded, not even denying the fact that Hakuba had just hinted towards how he believed they went to school together.

The moment Kid was back at the balcony with one leg over the railing, he turned back towards Hakuba and grinned, "Good night Tantei-san."

"Good night, Kid."

Sorry for taking so long to update this one, I needed to figure out how to work out certain scenes and then the plot sort of got away from me and I kept getting idea's for new DC/MK stories and...yeah. On the bright side, I started my next semester of College [I'm surprisingly good at Calculus...]