Chapter 3 Wait… That's not Snake!

Heya Guys. Welcome to Chapter 3. I have decided to keep calling Shinichi Conan until he grows again. Still haven't quite figured out how yet, a few ideas but nothing concrete. If you get confused about what the hell I've done to the inside of Kaito's head, then read the small AN at the bottom. That should help you all understand.

Shinichi: I hope that you let me return to normal soon. I think a few years of being a runt is enough, don't you?

Kaito: But shin-chan, you're so cute like this. [glomps Conan] And how else can we go flying if you are all big?

Me: Anyway, I'll leave them to argue that, whilst you start reading. Enjoy.

DCMK POV

"SHINICHI!" screams Kaito as he wakes up, sitting bolt upright on the bed. He tries to bring his hand up to rub his forehead, but finds he can't. Looking for what is restricting his movements, Kaito notices a shining handcuff, cuffing him to the bed. Looking around, all he can see are white walls and the bed he's on. Nothing else. Footsteps can he heard from the distance: must have heard me shout.

Being the magician he is, he's out of the handcuffs quicker than Shinichi can reel off a Holmes quote. His hand automatically reaches for his top hat, more habit than conscious thought, but he realises that his monocle has been left on: no one has unmasked him in his sleep. Hiding next to the door, he slips out as soon as two unknown people barge in. Shit! They are dressed in black suits. We must have gotten caught by Snake. Oh god, I hope that they haven't killed Shinichi. They'll think that he's just an annoying brat. Well he is an annoying brat, footballs and all, but still, they have no reason to keep him alive. Maybe he bled out from the wound in his shoulder. Shitshitshit. I've got to find him.

Running down the hallways, white cape flowing behind, morbid thoughts keep entering his head. Round and round they go, until all he can see is an image of Conan, laying in an alleyway somewhere, a pool of crimson blood staining the floor around him, pain etched on his face… Forcing himself not to gag at the image, Kaito dives into an empty room, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath.

The inside of his mind is not as crazy as you might think it is. Of course there is a separate room where his childish 'crazy' side lives, coming up with pranks and ways to draw squeals of glee from the audience, but Kaito isn't here for a way to please the audience. Immediately in front of him, on a wall connected to nothing but a black mist, is a portrait of him, Kuroba Kaito. The same one that leads from his room into the KID base. Not the one of his father, that's in the study. Placing his hand on the right side he gives the painting a shove, not in the mood to be gentle. The painting, realising Kaito's impatience, immediately stops spinning, showing a portrait of KID. Kaito jumps through the ghostly picture and enters the room belonging to his night persona, that of International Phantom Thief 1412. All four walls of this room are covered in stars, as if they are standing in the middle of space. Seeing the thief further away than anticipated, Kaito runs, and doesn't stop until he's run through the apparition, allowing the thief to take control of his body. But control is a two way street in this body.

"Calling me out already? I'm still tired from that heist, don't I get a full day's sleep? I did as I promised and left you to chat to that Conan kid in peace didn't I. Oi, Kaito you're shaking, what's wrong?" asks the thief, not having moved since Kaito entered his personal space.

In answer, Kaito takes a step backwards, connecting him to the thief. Thinking of what happened since the thief left last night, Kaito passes those memories into the thief, saving both time and words. Cutting the connection off Kaito steps forward, still not looking at the other him behind him.

"Oh, okay. I see. Don't worry, I'll do what I can, but you owe me!" Turning around, the thief faces Kaito's back. "I'm ready. Let the show begin!"

And with that phrase ringing in his ears, Kaito extends his arms, and just like in a trust exercise, falls backwards, straight into the thief's arms, held there for a second. Slowly, too slowly for Kaito, the thief becomes more substantial, and a ghostly Kaito continues to fall, letting the cooler, calmer KID side of him take over. Sorry KID, I'm too attached to Shinichi- I can't put my head on straight. Please find him. Feeling, more than seeing KID's replying smirk, Kaito falls into the starry sky.

Releasing the breath and opening his eyes, Kaitou KID looks around and exits the room. He presses himself against the wall, and slides around the corner, as stealthy as the phantom he's named after. Grabbing the door handle, he slowly turns it, smiling when neither the handle nor the hinges make any noise. Opening the door a few inches, he peers inside. This area seems to be some sort of kitchen, a table and chairs situated in the middle of the room. Closing the door, KID moves on a few more doors before trying again. This time the room is filled with shelves of linen. Closing the door again, KID sighs. Realising he's going in the wrong direction, KID turns around, strides around the corner, and comes face to face with some guards

"Whoopsie! Shouldn't big bad criminals be in bed? Here, let me help you." Pulling out a can of sleeping gas, he sprays it in the guards' faces before they can even register that they've met someone. Well, back in the linen closet they go, minus one suit. Pulling out his victim's wallet, he searches for some form of identification. Nakajima Daisuke, what a great help you've been. Studying the man's features he places on a latex mask and suitable brown short hair wig. A little bit of makeup, add in a scar down his left cheek, and done! Pleased with his work, one Nakajima Daisuke walks out of the linen room, and strides confidently down the hallway. Step one of infiltration: act like you belong there. Now to find my beloved Tantei-kun. I hope he's not dead, even he's got a soft spot for the little guy. Heists aren't fun without him there.

Seeing that random room checks aren't working, KID decides to change his plan. Noticing a man similarly dressed walk down an intersection, KID goes after him.

"Oi, wait up a second." He pants, pretending to be out of breath "do you know what room that kid's in, the one that was at Kaitou KID's heist. Boss told me to wait in there until he's woken up, but he didn't give me any directions. Too busy I suppose." Pulling a face as if to say the boss is always too busy, KID looks at the man again.

"Yeah sure, he's down that hall, take a left then continue down. His rooms at the end of the hall, on the left." Replied the man, not questioning the orders of the Boss. Thanking the man, KID moves on.

Wait a minute, this looks familiar. And indeed, when he gets to the corridor he sees two doors. The one on the right is open, with a few men outside shouting that KID's gone missing. On the left, straight in front of the other door, is a door that's shut. Sliding past the men running down the corridor wondering how KID escaped, he slips unnoticed into the room. And there laying on the bed is Tantei-kun, his favourite critic.

Leaning against the door to keep it closed, KID closes his eyes and opens them to his room, a starry sky all around him.

Walking over to the portrait of himself, he pushes the right side, and when it stops at an image of a boy in casual clothes, he walks through. And straight through his alter ego. Silly Kaito he was straight in front of you this whole time. Shaking his head he takes a half a step back, and shows Kaito the corridor, and the door to Conan's room.

"Oh, that was a little silly of me. But now they know that we are missing, and they'll start looking for us." States Kaito. Well that's your problem. Come on turn around. I really need to go to sleep now.

Ignoring the arrogant tone of his other self, Kaito turns around, and accepts the falling thief into his arms. "Now let real life begin" whispers Kaito.

Opening his eyes, he sees he is in a room just like the one he woke up in. There, on the bed, is the one he's been looking for. Steps making no noise as usual, Kaito steps up to the bed, and brushes the hair away from Conan's face. But he's not really Conan. He's Shinichi. That answers so many questions. Those knowing eyes, those eyes that have seen too much, those eyes that make expressions no child would make, they belong to Shinichi. That adult way of speaking, that knowledge that only an adult would know, that brain, just as fast as my own, all belongs to Shinichi. Oh, I'm so glad he's safe.

Carefully removing the mask and the wig, Kaito stashes them away in their places, before sitting down on the side of Conan's bed. He observes the boy, checking to see if he's really alright. His breathing is normal, there is no temperature, his face is slightly pale, but that's to be expected, he did get shot by a gun after all. Wondering about the wound Kaito lifts the boy up, sits himself against the headboard of the bed, and places Conan on his lap. One arm propping up the kids back, the other lifts the collar of Conan's shirt, and looks at his shoulder. And blinks. And blinks again. Rubbing his hand across his eyes, Kaito takes another look. Yes, his eyes are not deceiving him, the wound really has disappeared. All that's left is a small scar that looks years old. Bringing the chibi in close, Kaito hugs him, relief flooding him. But he squeezes a little too hard, if an indignant squeak has anything to say. Immediately releasing his hold, Kaito pulls back and stares into the sapphire blue eyes of Edogawa Conan , one shrunken Kudo Shinichi.

"Shin-chan, I'm so glad you are okay" whispers Kaito, hugging him again.

"well I won't be if you keep hugging all of the air out of me." Comes the muffled reply. Loosening his hold, but not letting go, Kaito rests his head on Conan's shoulder.

"But Shin-chan, I can't believe that you're Conan. How did you end up like this?" wonders Kaito, his highly imaginative brain not supplying any theories at all.

"I'll tell you later, Kai. But first look at this…." Conan shifts, leaning out of Kaito's embrace and grabbing something next to his pillow. It's a perfect crystal cube, almost perfectly see through, apart from a small red dot in the centre.

"I guess that Pandora has cried all of her tears then. I never believed in this kind of magic. It's not logical at all. But seeing it with my own eyes, it's hard not to believe." remarks Conan, showing Kaito the jewel.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. But once you had the jewel in your hand, you started to act a little differently, almost as if possessed." Kaito slowly remarks, not wanting to offend the mini detective. Conan only shrugs. Nodding, Kaito takes out his card gun and opens the magazine up. Removing a few of the cards in there, Kaito reaches into a compartment of his belt and grabs a new card. Taking the card in hand Conan analyses it, taking in its heavier weight, and noticing that its thicker than a normal card.

"Careful" remarks Kaito, cautiously taking the card from the boys grasp. "This card has been specifically designed to shatter jewels like this one. I don't want you hurting yourself on it." Loading the card into the magazine, an experienced flick of the wrist shuts it, another loading the card. Taking the jewel from Conan, Kaito tosses it towards the opposite wall in a high slow arc. Taking aim, Kaito shoots the card, and watches as it speeds towards the falling gemstone.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" says the man who has suddenly materialised. Kaito heard the door bang open, about the same time as the gun went off, but he wasn't expecting this. There stood in front of him is a man, a young adult really, about the same age as himself. He's dressed in a suit, with a bright orange shirt, the feel counteracted by his gravity defying hair, an even bigger mess than Kaito's. In one gloved hand is the jewel, in the other, the modified card. The thing that catches his eye the most, is the flame, flickering away gently, that is on his head. Kaito looks into the newcomers face, straight into cold uninterested orange eyes. "This gem can't be destroyed, the card would only rebound back at you…or the boy." Sharp eyes move from Kaito's face and take in the defiant stare of the boy.

"Wh-w-w-what do you mean it can't be destroyed?" stutters Kaito in utter disbelief. Conan can feel the tension release in Kaito's body, the magician himself becoming despondent. In a gesture of comfort, Conan moves closer to Kaito, arms wrapping around his waist and squeezing gently. "That can't be true, you just want to keep the jewel for yourself, or for your boss Snake. Prove it!" Shouts Kaito words tumbling out one after another, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts.

"Prove it? Okay then I shall". The man holds his hand out flat, palm facing the ceiling, with the jewel sat on top. His orange eyes close slightly, in concentration. A flame appears on his gloved hand. Slowly the flame increases in size, until Pandora is covered in a hard looking, unforgiving flame, quite a few shades darker than the man's eyes. Kaito and Conan can feel the heat of those flames from where they are sat, at least 2 metres away. Yet the man seems unfazed. The ceiling starts to slope downwards, having been partially melted from the flames. It looks a lot like a water drop is about to fall. The end of the bed, made of solid metal, starts to melt away too. And as suddenly as if a switch was turned off, the flames caging Pandora cease. And the flame on the man's forehead fizzles out. But the colour still stays in his eyes, a dangerous reminder of the power this young adult holds. "Only about 5%, but any more and I'd destroy the room, and then Gokudera would shout at me again. If you want me to try again at full power, I'd have to try it in one of the training rooms."

"What have I been fighting for then?" voices Kaito, the sound coming out in a harsh whisper.

Oh God, poor Kaito, He losing it. He's forgotten where we are: Snake's Hideout. I need to remind him… But that guy and those flames, I've seen it somewhere before, but where? thinks Conan. The man across from them takes a step forward, and Conan hisses, just like a cat warning off predators. Kaito looks at Conan, wondering what's going on. I've never heard him make that sound before. It sounded just like a …Snake. SNAKE! I've got to get that jewel and Conan out of here. Even if the jewel can't be destroyed, that doesn't mean I'll let it stay in Snake's possession.

Acting like he's lost all hope, Kaito lowers his head to Conan's shoulders, effectively hiding his eyes from view. "Thanks. Be ready" he whispers, lips brushing Conan's shoulder, voice so low that Conan barely heard it. The only way that the small detective knew that's what he meant, was through the tightening of Kaito's muscles, getting ready to move at a moment's notice. Conan, making sure to keep the magician's face covered, decides to distract the glowing man in front of them. Doing some acting of his own, Conan pulls up his best, and most hated weapon- that of the scared 10 year old boy he appears to be. Bursting into tears, hands moving from Kaito's waist to tightly, and securely, around his neck Conan shouts "Nii-chan! I'm scared"

Whilst this is going on, Kaito has closed only one of his eyes, half entering his inner world. It's not a full transfer that needs to take place, just a little transfer of skills. Pushing the painting, it stops at an image of a magician. Placing his hand through this painting, he grabs the hand of the Magician, and opens his eye.

Kaito's hands go around Conan's back positioning him as if comforting the crying child. A light tap on Conan's knees, and the small boy wraps his legs around the thief's waist, careful not to catch the cape. Kaito raises his eyes, and stares straight at the jewel. Pulling on the connection to the Magician, Kaito holds out his hand and clicks his fingers. In a puff of smoke the jewel is gone from the man's hand, and is firmly planted in Kaito's.

"Tell your boss Snake, that I will never let him have Pandora" spits Kaito

Immediately Kaito is off of the bed, Pandora pocketed somewhere safe, and dashing towards the jewel. His hands firmly keeping Conan in place, he runs through the already open door. Seeing more men in black suits standing idly in the next corridor, Kaito closes his eyes for less than a second, still running down the corridor.

A powerful pull from the other side of the painting and Kaito is pulled backwards into the colourful domain of the Magician, falling straight into the Magician's arms. At the same time, the Magician rushes out the transfer phrase: "Let the magic begin"

Opening his eyes, he straightens up slightly more, a grin spreading across his face. Whilst not as big as the famous KID grin, this grin promises more fun, slightly softer and less psychotic than its counterpart.

"Ladies" shouts the Magician, and all of the men in the corridor turn around. Giggling to himself at the joke, he decides to forego the gentlemen "let the magic begin!" Tapping Conan's arms, the boy grips onto the Magician tighter, knowing that Kaito'll need his arms for whatever he has decided to do. Let the magic begin? I've never heard Kaito say that before. Then again, it's always hard to predict Kaitou KID, why should Kaito be any different?

Still running forward, the Magician jumps, places his hands on the shoulders of one of the guards, and levers himself to standing on the guard. Extending his leg, foot pointed, he spins it around the guard a few times before jumping to the next guard and repeating the gesture. By the time he has reached the 5th guard, he has a trail of hopping guards following him. Looking over the Magician's shoulder, Conan notices something glinting in the light. Oh, I see. He's tied them up with clear wire. A little tug, and all of the men are pulled into one tight group. Stepping back and admiring his work, the Magician clicks his fingers. In another puff of smoke, the wire has changed into an orange ribbon, a large bow sitting on the captured guards heads, with a large note saying 'For the Boss XX' proudly displayed at the front.

He runs, laughing manically away from his present, and down a few more corridors. Wow, this place is like a maze, Oh shit, we've run into a dead end, thinks Conan, said dead end staring him in the face as the Magician whirls around. The guards run around the corner and scream, trying to turn around, scrambling to get over one another. Shouts of "Monster!" can be heard.

These guards came around the corner expecting to see one Kaitou KID holding a small boy. Instead, all they see is a phantom mask and gloves floating in the air. The shock was enough to scare them away.

Conan wonders what's going on, not being able to see due to the cape covering him and the Magician's body. As the cape is removed, Conan breaths in a deep breath, and looks up into that mask. "Didn't you use that trick on Nakamori-keibu the first time you reappeared?" Conan asks, having been kept up-to-date with the thief. A nod and a wink is all Conan gets in answer, as the magician puts the mask away.

Back tracking a few hallways, they come to an intersection, with three possible ways to go. Hearing noise from his right, the magician reaches into his sleeve and pulls out a capsule. Throwing the capsule to the ground, the Magician takes the path in front of him, whist pushing the balloon Kaitou KID towards the left. "Wait, won't the balloon just hit the wall?" Hisses Conan.

"New gadget I developed. It senses the area around it and changes the fans output to turn the dummy accordingly. Lead them on a nice long goose chase that will." chuckling, the Magician turns the corner, cape waving goodbye to the guards behind it. And two capes rounding the corner are exactly what the guards see.

"What, there are now two Kaitou KID's? Which one do we chase?" Asks one guard to the others.

"Don't worry. I've got it. Uri, Natsu, fetch."

"Kaito, I can't hear anyone chasing us. Don't you think that it's weird that the man on fire hasn't caught us yet?" asked Conan, in detective mode.

"Yeah, considering how quickly he opened the door and caught my card, he could have had us caught in an instant." Replied the Magician. "Shin-chan, can you stop pulling on my cape please."

"What? I'm not pulling on your cape. Let's see" confused, the detective peers over the Magician shoulder and freezes. There pulling on the cape of Kaitou KID's outfit is a small cat, with yellow and black spot like a leopard. But no leopard has red flames bubbling out of their ears. "Gak.. Kaito it's a leopard cub."

Laughing at Conan for making a joke at this time, the Magician stops and grabs his cape in one hand. In a familiar KID gesture, he fans his cloak about him, bringing the tag-along into view. The magician stops laughing. For there really is a small cat attached to his cape. Shifting Conan over to his right arm, Kaito uses the other to grab the cat by the scruff of its neck. The cat is not pleased with this man-handling and roars. But mid-way through the roar, it deepens, and the cat becomes covered in red and yellow flames. A moment later, Kaito (connection lost at the shock) stumbles, landing flat on his back on the floor, pinned under the now fully grown leopard. Making sure to keep one paw on Conan, the cat examines its prey, and let's out another roar, before sitting on Kaito, one paw still on his shoulder, forcing him to stay flat on the floor. With one paw on Kaito and the other on Conan the pair has no chance of escape.

What the fuck? Is the only coherent thought the pair can think of at the moment. A transforming cat, a man on fire, what next? Where the hell have we ended up?

Footsteps sound, loud on the tiled floor, and Kaito looks up into grey eyes framed by sliver hair. "Good work Uri!" shouts this newcomer. "Now let's wait for Juudaime to get here. Oh he's going to be so pleased that I caught them." The man sits next to Kaito's shoulder, on the opposite side to Conan, still glittering over thoughts of the praise from his boss. Juudaime, that means Tenth doesn't it. I wonder who that is. Certainly not Snake the pair think. The leopard starts whining and butting its head against the man's hand. The movement puts a bit more pressure on the captured ones, but neither make a sound. "Alright Uri, you deserve a reward." A flame appears on the man's ring. This flame starts off as a small rose pink flame, before growing bigger and becoming blood red at the tips. Once the flame is about the size of a two pound coin, he offers it to the cat. To the shock of Kaito and Conan, the cat starts lapping at the flames, as eating a delicious treat.

Silver hair, red flames. That's the guy with the dynamite I saw when I was looking at Pandora. And that other guy too, the one from earlier, I saw him in that vision too. Didn't the silver-haired guy say Juudaime. Juudaime means Tenth, and Tenth in Italian is… Decimo. Oh shit, we're not with Snake, we've been caught by the mafia. It's just like in that book I saw in Pandora's vision- Vongola Decimo. Realising this, Conan shuts his eyes, and presses his face into Kaito's blue shirt, and shuts out the world. Just what I fucking need, another criminal organisation to deal with

"Gao" comes a cute purr. Tilting his head up, Kaito sees another small cat, this one looking more like a lion, with a small metal plate on its head.

"That's right Natsu- look, Gokudera and Uri are getting along. You don't see that everyday. I didn't even know you could make a face like that Gokudera." Answers the man from before. "Uri you can let them go now". The cat happily obliges, and transforms back to its smaller form before jumping off of Kaito's chest, straight onto the face of the man sat beside them, Gokudera, I think. Thinks Kaito

"Akk, get off you stupid cat. You should be more grateful after I just fed you." Shouts Gokudera, trying to pull the cat off his face. But still the cat continues scratching, until another soft 'gao' comes from the other cat. At this signal, the cat jumps off and in a burst of flame disappears into a ring on Gokudera's hand. "haha… sorry you had to see that again Juudaime. Well She did manage to catch these two though. So what was Natsu chasing after then, if Uri found the real thing?"

"A balloon, attached to a directional gadget and fans to create movement. Quite ingenious really. Spanner's taking a look at it" States Juudaime, taking a step closer to the pair still laying on the ground. "Come with me to my office, we need to talk. Don't worry I'm not going to harm you. I'm not related to this Snake person you seem to think I am." And with that, he turns around and starts walking. Gokudera roughly grabs Kaito by the arm, and hauls him up. Placing Conan on the floor, the pair follow the man on fire, both thinking about who this man is.

AN:

Yes I've decided that Uri is a girl. She just looks like one to me. I don't really think that box weapons have a gender anyway, so it really doesn't matter.

So for those of you who are wondering what the hell I've done to the inside of Kaito's head, I'll explain now. The idea of split personalities first came to me when I was watching the 3rd movie (admittedly in English dub). Its the bit when Ayumi goes onto her balcony and asks KID of he's Dracula [lol]. But the way he acts there is totally different to the Kaito you see during the Magic Kaito episodes. He acts a lot older, a lot more serious, and seems a lot more dangerous. I mean there is one scene in an different episode where he runs, spins and jumps backwards off of the building, spinning in mid-air before opening his glider! To me he just seems really different. I know that a few other fics have Kaito and KID as separate personalities. Three thieves by Ysabet and nightingale being one. (BTW this is a really good fic, a must read as in go read this now!) The idea also coincides with my views on the way Tsuna is different when in Dying Will mode. Again, he seems more adult, more calm, but more dangerous. So I started to think about what different types of Kaito there are. The three introduced here are normal Kaito, the Magician, and Kaitou KID- the most obvious. In some ways Kaito and the Magician are very closely linked, more so than KID and Kaito, since Kaito uses magic tricks nearly 24/7.

Anyway, enough about me and my views of Kaito's mental state. If anyone has any more ideas on what different types of Kaito there are, then just drop me a note.

And I've based the underground part of the Vongola mansion on what you see during the Future arc. The Kitchen here is the one which Haru and Kyoko dominated.

See you guys next time.

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 14/ Dec/ 2011

Minor edits on 21 dec 11

A thousand and one spelling corrections 15 jan 2012