Pocket Full of Trouble
CHAPTER 2: LONG NIGHT
AN: Due to a reviewer pointing out the obvious mistake of which holiday Saguru's family were away on, I changed that. And to my reviewer – I actually have an explanation. I was toggling between this and another story and confused the holidays of the stories. Thank you so much for pointing that out! I didn't even double check until you pointed that out..heh…Anyway, here is the correct version, and I hope you are no longer exasperated!
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Kaito paced around the glassy top of the coffee table in Saguru's library, brow furrowed deeply and occasionally scratching under his itchy new clothes. The sweat suit was bugging him beyond belief, but not enough to distract him from his current thought pattern. He was muttering to himself, and once in a while Saguru heard snippets like "confounded magic," "stupid Akako," and "probably reversible." He wanted to interrupt the magician, if just to ask what he was thinking about, but he was lost in his own thoughts. On that rooftop, watching that tiny red beam pinpoint the thief's head, he'd thought Kid was going to die - that alone was enough to thoroughly shake him. His classmate, the one he knew had to be hiding under that dumb costume, the one he'd fought with, rivaled, and slowly began to feel comfortable around, was about to be shot through the brain at a nonviolent performance. Of course, Saguru was no idiot. He knew that there had been attempts on the teen before, but he'd always come out without a scratch, and thus Saguru assumed he was safe. He'd forgotten rule number one: never assume.
Watching the bullet freeze midair had calmed his racing heart. Seeing Akako put him to sleep, chanting some language he had never heard before, and suddenly making Kid disappear had reversed those effects; how did Akako, his beautiful also classmate, do things like that? And what had she even been wearing? It baffled his mind, and he didn't like it. When Akako had told him to look in his breast pocket, he naturally thought to find the jewel inside, as was customary for whoever cornered the thief that heist, but looking into the dark folds, he saw a tiny shape, chest softly rising and falling, and Saguru's breath caught. When he'd looked up to ask Akako about it, the girl had been nowhere in sight. Only Edogawa Conan had been left, stunned as he was, and pounding footsteps warned them that they had to make a decision and fast.
"Tell me, Hakuba," Kaito snapped, interrupting his train of thought. "Just how did I end up at your house the size of a mouse? I certainly remember being much taller and much, MUCH farther away." Saguru thought hard. What should he tell him? That Akako had left him in his pocket? That he was afraid just leaving him at his own house would get him killed? That the sniper hadn't been found and it was safer this way anyway?
"Um... well, you see," Saguru stuttered, "the truth is... Akako gave you to me to... erm... keep safe." Kaito blinked. Very, very slowly, he stilled, arms limply falling to his sides and feet not even fidgeting.
"What?" He said. It was more of a statement than a question, and Saguru winced. "What do you mean, gave me to you for safekeeping? What does that crazy girl even think I am, a TOY?!" Annoyed, he threw several smoke bombs at the wall, watching in irritation as the small clouds poofed into existence and then immediately disappeared, his tiny chest heaving. Saguru raised an eyebrow. He'd kept smoke bombs on himself?
"Listen, Kuroba, Akako vanished," Saguru told him. "I don't know how long you'll be like... this, so I took you with me. Do you really think you could've survived on your own?"
"Yes!" Kaito shot defiantly. Saguru groaned.
"Will you please listen to me, you idiot! I don't know how long this will last, and here's news for you, the sniper that wanted you dead managed to get away!" Kaito looked unimpressed.
"So? I'm going home! These clothes are too itchy, anyway!" He leapt off the coffee table, and Saguru, losing patience, stood and plucked him easily off the ground, holding his small self up to proper eye level.
"Now listen, pipsqueak, I think you'd be the laughingstock of the school - no, of the whole world, if your obituary read 'assassinated by shoe - famous master thief stepped on by sniper.' As much as I dislike you, I don't want you to die, now will you stop being such an utter idiot and sit back down before I put you in a mason jar like a caught butterfly!" Kaito's frown clearly showed how much he thought of the short rant, but he quit grumbling, and when Saguru put him back on the coffee table, he obediently sat, like a disgruntled toddler. Saguru let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he checked his wristwatch. "It's late, why don't we get some sleep before we talk about this anymore?" Kaito let out a whine.
"Whaaaat? What about school tomorrow? Man, Aoko's going to KILL me if I fall anymore behind on those geography lessons!" Saguru grunted.
"We're skipping. I don't think Aoko is as much out for your blood as a sniper on the loose. Follow me, I made you a place to stay while you were unconscious." Somewhat curious but more remembering wildly aimed mop handles, he followed after Saguru to a ground floor bedroom, the only one in the house. The room was very obviously a young girl's room, with pop star posters and doll houses and pink accents in the otherwise plain room. Kaito tilted his head as Saguru walked forward.
"I thought you were an only child," he commented. Saguru turned around, his irritation having died down some.
"Whatever gave you that idea? I've got six siblings, three on my mother's side before she got divorced. This room belongs to my second youngest sister, Eliza, who's visiting mother for the holidays." Kaito blinked stupidly. Observations had led him to believe that the half Brit nerd only lived with his father and nanny. There was nothing to indicate that he had other family somewhere. "Maybe that's why Akako thought you'd be safe with me for the time being," Saguru continued. "The house is practically empty right now because everyone's gone back to England for New Year's. I was actually on my way in the morning but it looks like my schedule got a touch rearranged." He patted the top of an elaborate doll house sitting in the middle of the room. "Anyhow, enough chit chat. This is where you'll be staying."
"WHAT?!" Kaito shrieked. Saguru smiled.
"Calm down now. It was the only thing I could find besides a pile of old sewing scraps from Baaya's room. It should do nicely." Kaito backed away.
"Uh uh, no way! I am not sleeping in a girl's doll house!" Saguru's grin only widened.
"But why not? You're already wearing doll clothes." Kaito froze. He was NOT...
"You've got to be KIDDING me!" He yowled indignantly. Saguru shrugged.
"Fine, have it your way. I was going to close up the house so my cat wouldn't mistake you for its midnight meal, but if you'd rather take your chances..." Kaito was visibly trembling from indignation and uncertainty, and finally he huffed an angry "fine. I'll sleep in the dumb house." The detective nodded.
"Wise choice. Now hurry up and get in there before Mintypaws sniffs you out." Kaito wrinkled his nose at the poor cat's name and clambered inside, horrified that he was stooped so low that everything in the mini mansion was just his size, if a wee bit small. Saguru closed the house, patted it goodnight, and left, turning out the light and shutting the door. Kaito curled up on the uncomfortable bed, pulling the piece of fabric that passed as a blanket over himself. It was humiliating, doing this in front of his biggest rival. It was humiliating doing this in front of anyone! If only it was anyone other than Saguru! Maybe... hm... actually... who WOULD he have preferred to take him home from a heist? There had only been three immediate options, Edogawa, Hakuba, or Akako. None of them sounded terribly appealing, but maybe Edogawa - no, wait, bad idea. Tantei-kun was not going to have the pleasure of giggling at him and asking if he should have Ran go pick up a pair of toy handcuffs so he could say he caught the Kid. Maybe Saguru was the better choice, but still, why did it have to be him?
"I better be my full height tomorrow morning or Akako is going to pay," he huffed, rolling over in the plastic bed. And saw a pair of gleaming cat eyes staring at him from the tiny window. He let out a frightened yelp and scurried away from the window, dragging the blanket with, and watched as the cat tipped its head. After a long staring contest in the dark, the cat let out a mighty yawn, laid down, and promptly fell asleep. Kaito silently snarled. He loved all animals, but cats weren't big on his favorites, seeing as he worked with doves and rabbits - both things cats hunted. Honestly, why did Hakuba have a cat and a hawk living in the same house? Definitely not nervous, Kaito decided to stay where he was rather than return to bed - the corner was more comfortable anyway, all hard edges and a bump right under his rear. He tried wrapping the blanket around his shoulders, but it was just small enough to not work.
How he did it, he would never know, but Kaito fell asleep, and woke bleary eyed to Saguru shooing the cat out of the room.
"Sorry about that, I thought I put her out before we came in," Saguru offered, opening the house and letting Kaito free. Kaito stretched stiff limbs, still feeling too tired to do anything but sleep. In his own bed, if you don't mind.
"What now?" He grunted, shuffling after Saguru to the kitchen for breakfast. The clock read noon. Kaito still wanted breakfast.
"I haven't had much time to think, but I believe we should go find Akako after school and talk to her about fixing the mess she's made," Saguru stated, putting together plates of bacon and eggs and waffles. "In the meantime, we can eat, and if you don't mind hiding in my pocket, then we can go talk to Inspector Nakamori and collect some information from last night." Kaito grudgingly nodded, climbing up a chair to sit on the table. It sounded like a good enough plan, even if he hated admitting it. Saguru poured some milk into a thimble sized container. They were going to have to have a long talk about how Kaito was going to eat - if he was presented with one more doll sized item -
"Here you go, Kuroba. Sorry, I didn't think you wanted to run around a big plate just to eat, so I borrowed Eliza's doll dishes. Eat up."
- he was going to scream.
AN: Also, for those who don't know, this was cross posted on Archive of our Own, and I posted a different chapter than this, so if you're interested, please check it out!