~Authors note: Hello Everybody! It's LadyShadow here bringing you the newest chapter of Moonlight Reflections. Thank you all for your patience while Misty and I dealt with some real life stuff. We're going to try and keep these chapters coming, but it's difficult with me working full time and Mist busy with schooling. Nonetheless I hope you all enjoy what we've got for you this time around!

This chapter was mostly written by myself with Mist co-writing and betaing as necessary. Before we continue I'd like to point out that this chapter heavily features Kaito/Aoko centric relationship. (Though this will probably be the last were seeing of Aoko for a while) However I would like to remind everyone that this is a "genfic". Romance is not the focus of this fic though you will see hints of both canon pairings and eventual KaiShin (though again not the focus) I apologize if that is all you came here for, but I truly hope you enjoy this fic regardless.

As usual disclaimer: we own nothing but our imaginations.

A big thank you to all the people who have reviewed/followed/favorited this story over its development. For all you ghost readers out there: Hello! thanks for taking the time to check out our story!

With all that said: Enjoy!~

Kaito stared at the wall, doing his best to keep his poker face straight. He could tell he was failing a bit at it though, as he felt the pain that accompanied the myriad of emotions he was facing at this moment. He had just had to face one of the hardest challenges of his life.

The guilt was weighing on him as he remembered the expressions of his childhood best friend as she read the lie of a note he had composed for her… True, it was filled to the brim with half truths and broken, weak reassurances, but that didn't make it any less painful. The only thought that gave him strength was the fact that she was safe, and no longer had cause to worry for him.

Kaito gripped his hands in fists. This whole situation was the worst. Ever since his father's death, Kaito had mostly kept people at an arm's length away from him. Aoko had been the only one in his life whom he hadn't been able to get rid of. She had given him his distance at first, but after a while, she had stubbornly refused to let him wallow away forever. She brought back a bit of normalcy to his life.

Even now, she was the most mundane thing in his life. The shock of the past few days was really only now starting to hit Kaito, as he realized there wasn't going to be any easy fix for this "problem" of his. For now this was all he could do, and it really hurt. Though, he was probably just overthinking things. Aoko would be fine, he had made sure of that. She had no reason to worry about him...

~^.v.^~

Aoko wasn't entirely worried when neither her father, nor Kaito, came home for dinner last night. She was pretty used to her father's late night sessions at this point, and Kaito had been rather distant lately, often going off at random times to places unknown. They rarely ever actually got together anymore, which left her to fend for herself.

Not that she minded all that much, she reminded herself. What business was it of her's to care about that stupid perverted magician and his life? Why should she mind if he decided to go out and do stuff without her? It's not as if she wanted to spend time with him…

Still, she couldn't help the anxiety that flooded the back of her mind over him. Especially after her father had come home late that night, looking altogether exhausted, muttering something under his breath about crazy lunatics, and shots being fired near the site of the heist.

Her heart skipped a beat as she thought about Kaito, and whether he was okay. From the lack of lights next door, it would seem her friend had never returned home. It was possible he had just done so discreetly, and gone directly to bed afterwards, but honestly her mind couldn't help but fear the worst in a scenario like this.

She had quickly chided herself on such thoughts, and decided just to let the matter rest. She would see Kaito in school the next day, anyway. No doubt with plenty of comments about his blessed "KID-sama" getting away yet again by the sounds of it. Ugh, why was she worried about that idiot again?

However, the next day she was surprised when she walked into the classroom only to find Kaito's seat empty. At first, she dismissed it as him just being a little bit late, he was known to goof off before class begins after all. Still, after the first bell rang and the rest of the student's took their seats, there was still no sign of him.

Normally Hakuba would be the first to take notice of such an absence, coming in with some ridiculous claim like "Kaito is gone the day after a heist... that must mean he's KID!" But Hakuba himself had been absent for some time now. Though, he was scheduled to return sometime soon.

As she glanced backwards she took note that Akako seemed to staring at his seat an unreadable expression almost akin to worry on her face. When Akako's eyes fell on her though, Aoko quickly turned away with a blush. She felt a shiver run over her, as she felt Akako's gaze linger on her momentarily before the teacher called out attendance.

Aoko took note that the teacher skipped over Kaito's name, which was peculiar. Could it be that he called in sick today? She decided she would investigate it later. If he wasn't really sick, then she would be sure to give him a real earful later on for staying out so late last night.

Just before lunch, she stopped by the teacher's desk and asked about Kaito. "Umm, excuse me sensei, but do you happen to know why Kaito is absent today?" She gazed down sheepishly at the ground, even as she asked the question.

Her teacher looked at her a bit confused. "Hmm? Kuroba? Well, it say's on the attendance sheet he's been granted an extended leave of absence by a family member. I couldn't tell you the details, really. Don't tell me this is some sort of ridiculous prank or something!" Her teacher gave her a bit of a skeptical look. They both knew all too well what a practical joker Kaito was. There weren't many who didn't know the terror of Ekoda-high.

Aoko quickly shook her head. "Uh, no, nothing like that…" Aoko's voice dropped into a barely audible whisper, "at least, I hope not…" Her teacher gave her another skeptical look, and Aoko quickly cleared her throat. "I mean, honestly, he's a real trickster, but I don't think even he would try and pull something like that off. At least not without good reason."

Her teacher continued to raise her eyebrow, before slowly letting out an exasperated sigh. "Look, as long as he keeps up his studies while he's away, I'm sure he will be fine. He should return before exams, but even if he doesn't he can always do the make up work over the summer, though there are online options as well…"

Aoko paused, taking in this new information. " Sensei...How long did it say he was supposed to be absent for?" Aoko bit her lip a bit worriedly. This was starting to sound more serious than she had first imagined.

Her teacher sighed and shrugged. "Honestly, as I said. I don't even know that. I'm not the one who takes care of such things, I just follow what I'm told. Will that be all, Nakamori?"

Aoko nodded her head and bowed. " you." With that, she turned to go eat lunch. She thought briefly of going to Kaito's house to check and see if he was actually gone or not, but she quickly threw that idea away, not wanting to break any rules herself.

She was left blissfully unaware of the presence listening in on her conversation from just outside the door. Said presence grinned evilly, and somewhat knowingly, to themselves as they disappeared down the hallway without so much as a word.

~^.v.^~

Later that day as the last bell rang, Aoko took a brief note of how Akako swiftly exited the room. She had been acting rather strange all day, though she had seemingly relaxed somewhat after lunch for some reason. Aoko shrugged it off as no big deal, deciding to focus on the task at hand. That task being going over to Kaito's to check to see if all this truly was a prank or not.

At this point, she wasn't really sure what to think. The question had been on her mind all day: what would cause Kaito to disappear so suddenly? For some reason, her mind kept coming back to the heist last night and there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that somehow the two things were connected. She shook her head, fighting off such ridiculous notions. Now was not the time for such thoughts.

With a renewed determination, Aoko walked home, her only thought being to confront the source of the matter. Her phone had recently been sent to the repair shop after a river related "incident" had left it unusable. So unfortunately, she had no way of contacting the idiot off-hand. Still, she could have sworn she had seen lights on this morning when she woke up. That meant he was probably still around, right?

Before she knew it, she was standing on his doorstep, her hands clenched in fists. Quickly, she pounded on the door, still being polite enough not to enter without an invitation. "Bakaito, I know you're in there! Come out and explain yourself!" She glared at the door as she stood there, waiting for an answer. She was met with silence, however.

Once again, she pounded on the door, her frustration and anxiety growing despite the feeling in the back of her mind that maybe she was indeed mistaken, and he was not here. "BAKAITO! YOU GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!" she yelled. Luckily, it seemed none of the neighbors seemed to take note of her, despite the scene she was making, because they were pretty used to the Nakamori's yelling at this point.

Aoko huffed, her cheeks red as she tried to calm her nerves. Eventually, she decided to try the doorknob. Surprisingly, or perhaps in a way unsurprisingly, she found it was indeed locked. Sighing, she searched for the spare key, but found it was missing from where she had left it. Puffing her cheeks up, she kicked at the doormat and turned to leave.

She quickly turned around, however, deciding to check the nearby window for any sign of movement. She stopped in front of it, putting her face as close to the glass as possible without smudging it with her hands. Peering through the closed shades, she honestly couldn't see anything.

Sighing to herself, she eventually backed away and went home to her house next door. Her own home was rather silent yet again, as her father had mentioned he had yet another meeting for work having to do with last night's incidents. Without her cell phone, or anyone around to keep her company, she was left to silence.

She turned on the tv briefly, only to see a slight recap of the previous night's events, with a blurry clip of the thief escaping into the night on his glider, shield apparently in hand. The image was really hard to make out, especially due to the glare that was probably caused from the reflectivity of the shield, but there was little doubt of the outcome.

According to her father, the shield had yet to be returned, not that she really cared all that much. The stupid thief was well known for messing around with the police. Sometimes he returned the things right away, other times he kept them for an indeterminate amount of time, though rarely over a month. The aggravating truth was that he always returned what he stole.

Shaking her head, Aoko pressed the "off" button on the remote. She was tired of all this nonsense. Slowly, she found herself nodding off, suffering from her lack of sleep. She tried to fight it, but the couch was so inviting, and her body was so worn out that eventually she just sunk in. She lay sprawled out limp on the couch in an awkward, yet carefree position. There, she lay for the next few hours, still unaware of the magic that was happening some miles away from her house.

~^.v.^~

Aoko awoke to the sound of ringing in her ears. Blinking groggily, she reached over and attempted to silence her alarm, only to fall off the couch flat on her face. Now, more awake, she continued to blink, registering that she was in the living room, not her bedroom. The ringing continued, and she quickly reached down to silence her phone, only to remember that it was still in the shop.

Finally, it registered in her mind that it was the doorbell, as she heard what sounded like a loud knock on the front door. "COMING!" Called Aoko as she nearly tripped over her feet in her haste to get to the door. Her hair was even messier than usual and she moved to push it out of her face, as she quickly slipped on her shoes at the front door, opening it casually only to find… nothing.

Aoko gazed around, her eyes still adjusting to the low light. Just how long had she been out that it was already dark outside? She must have really passed out...not unlike that time on the train where she had just felt so sleepy all of a sudden. Not surprising, given how little sleep she had gotten last night.

Aoko shook her head, trying to focus. It was then that she noticed a small white envelope on her porch step being carried by a black crow. "Hmm what's this?" She leaned down towards the crow, who let out a small shriek, ruffling its feathers, before dropping the note, and flying away. Aoko shivered briefly, unsure of what just happened, but she quickly shrugged it off carefully picking up the envelope.

As the daughter of a policeman and best friend of a well known prankster, she knew well not to trust first appearances when it came to strange letters. Still...her curiosity ended up getting the better of her as she carefully peeked into it, careful to try and disarm any "traps" that may come attached to it.

After determining that the envelope was safe, she carefully opened it and withdrew the piece of folded paper inside. She immediately recognized the messy scrawl of her best friend's handwriting. Glancing around casually, she found that there was no one around at the moment. So, he had sent this note to her via crow messenger? Why not deliver it in person, or on one of his famous doves?

She lowered her eyebrows, now even more suspicious that Kaito might be messing with her. Still…he had obviously set the letter up this way for a reason. Maybe if she played along, she'd get the answers she was looking for. Sighing, she shook her head and focused on the note.

"Dear Aoko," Aoko paused as she read the casual way Kaito addressed her. It was actually quite odd reading a letter from him, as opposed to a text or something. Of course, he of all people knew why she couldn't text right now.

"I'm sorry that I have to disappear so suddenly like this. Bet you worried about me, eh?~ Aww, Aoko that's really sweet, for a tomboyish girl like you ;)" Aoko groaned a bit at this. She was reminded here why she never worried too much about Kaito. The idiot certainly knew how to put his foot in his mouth, even in written form!

"I promise I'll text you when I can. You get your phone back from the repair shop tomorrow, right? Err...uh, you're not still mad at me about that right? You know I'm sorry I made you drop it. It was an accident, I swear!" Aoko snorted a bit at this.

She knew it was partially her own clumsy fault it dropped in the river. Kaito, for his part in it had only been trying to show off a new trick. For once, it had gone truly awry surprising both of them, and causing her to fall backwards. Kaito had attempted to catch her before she fell, but her phone had slipped from her hands, falling into the river in the process.

She had already forgiven Kaito for his role. "Accident" was the right word, and though she had been a bit miffed at first about it, she had never held any grudge against Kaito for it. Though honestly, he didn't really need to know that… Smiling knowingly to herself at her own form of revenge for all his other tricks, she went back to reading his note.

"So, I guess you're wondering where I'm disappearing to huh?" Again Aoko snorted lightly. Seriously?

"While I wish I knew...I actually have no idea. You see, mom decided to spring a rather interesting surprise on me last night. I guess happy early 18th birthday to me?" Aoko paused at this, remembering that Kaito's 18th birthday was a little less than a week away. That...made an odd sort of sense actually. Chikage was rather well known for her spontaneity. It was probably some sort of weird gift for him. Most likely having to do with magic.

"I'm going to be spending some quality time away from home by the sound of it. I can't really go into much detail at the moment, but yeah, I'm not going to be around for a while. Not sure how long… I'll try and be back before finals, but for now, I've got a bit of traveling to do. Going to do a bit of reconnecting with my dad's past. I'm sure you understand." Aoko's heart lodged itself in her throat as she read this last bit.

So Kaito's mother had kidnapped him to go globetrotting with her? That would explain the sudden disappearance, and subsequent school note about an extended leave of absence. Why she hadn't done so on Kaito's actual birthday…well, it was probably as Kaito stated; a surprise.

Aoko sighed to herself as she calmed her racing pulse. Finally, she began reading the last bit of the note, a small blush forming as she did so. "Again, don't worry too much about me while I'm gone, okay? I promise to write to you as often as I can and call you every once in awhile, though don't call me unless it's an emergency. Never know where I'll be, or what I'll be doing. Just trust me on this, okay?" Aoko shook her head. BaKaito. Just what did he mean by all that? She wasn't...that...worried about him. She blushed once more and read the last bit of script.

"Well, guess it's time to go. Ja ne, Aoko.

P.S. Oh and by the way, make sure to take care of my doves while I'm gone. I'm sure you will get along just fine.~ Also please stay away from Akako. Don't let her harass you behind my back, and don't believe a word that evil witch says. Bye-bye now!~"

Aoko wasn't sure how to react to that last part. She had heard Kaito call Akako a witch under his breath before, but to say something like that...she had to wonder what brought that on.

Shrugging it off, she scanned the note once more, her face showing a mixture of emotions. Just as she was reading the last bit over again, yawning to herself, and whispering under her breath "Bakaito."

She turned to go back inside. Had she been looking she would have noticed a streak of furry white disappearing around the corner from her and into the house next door.

~^.v.^~

After delivering the note, Kaito had made his way back inside through the back entrance to the hideout. He had been slightly surprised to find Conan had not only awoken, but found his way into the hidden room. Still, he couldn't help but grin a bit at Tantei-kun's natural curiosity.

The shrunken detective had even managed to find the KID suit almost instantly, much to Kaito's amusement. He had noticed the pencil floating after him, moving from one side of his head to the other as Shinichi studied the suit hanging in the closet. Kaito walked carefully up behind him, leaning so he could catch the deep curiosity and wonder that was in his gaze. The no longer teenage magician had waited a moment before greeting Shinichi, swiftly dodging as the pencil, which Kaito was sure had come from his desk, shot past his head.

They had exchanged a few more words with one another as Kaito showed his pride at his father's, and now subsequently his, secret lair. Though, for some reason Kaito couldn't quite comprehend, Shinichi seemed keen to leave already. It wasn't like they had other plans. Then again, he didn't really know just how long Tantei-kun had been in here.

Kaito had trouble holding on to his poker face as he stared off into space, recalling what had just happened and who was probably still outside at this very moment. He felt guilt eating away at his stomach, churning deep inside him. He wondered if Shinichi had felt similar when he had to leave the people he cared for.

He could almost understand the sentiment of Shinichi wanting to live with Ran after his...accident. Still, he knew that he couldn't do the same thing to Aoko. Being a master of disguise, meant he could almost pull it off, but staying so close to her would only end up hurting them both. No. At least until he found a way to get back into his teenage body he needed to stay far away from her.

Quickly recovering, he turned back to face Shinichi, giving him his brightest grin. "You shouldn't be so quick to leave, though. Shall I give you a tour?" He knew that it wasn't going to be easy to fool his favorite critic's keen eye, but he couldn't let him know about Aoko...not yet at least.

He watched as Shinichi gave him a bit of a skeptical look before quickly shrugging it off. He snorted lightly before replying, "Didn't know you were so excited to show me all your secrets, KID-san. Thurston must be rolling over in his grave right now. You've already broken two of his rules." Shinichi answered, with the heavy hint of sarcasm he was used to hearing from the not-child.

Kaito was taken aback for a moment before he shook his head, laughing. Slowly he cleared his throat, doing his best to drop into the deepest register possible. "Who said I keep all my secret's in here, Tantei-kun? Besides… have you forgotten who you're talking to?" Kaito gave a special signature KID smirk to Shinichi.

Shinichi had tried to get under his skin with a reference to a previous meeting. Well two could play at that game... Kaito then lightened his voice to that of Ran's, "I'm a perfectionist, remember?" Kaito continued to grin as he noticed Shinichi's face flush a bit.

Shinichi quickly shook his head, dropping his own voice. Though Kaito could tell he was slightly jealous at the fact that he had the ability to switch voices so flawlessly even in a child's body. "Never do that again. Seriously, you know I haven't forgiven you for that, right?"

Kaito chuckled, returning once more to his regular voice. "Yeah, the soccer balls at each of my next heists were a pretty good indication. Of course, at the time, I had no way of knowing that was your girlfriend of all things."

This, of course, made Shinichi blush even further, all the more to the amusement of Kaito. "She's...not my girlfriend," he stated, without much emotion in his voice.

"Could have fooled me," said Kaito as he shrugged, still grinning from ear to ear, though inwardly an image of Aoko flashed in his mind, causing him to wince lightly. Maybe it was best if he dropped the subject. "At any rate I promised you a tour, didn't I? Still...I suppose that we better do this the proper way." He wandered over to a small chest, opening it, and removing something.

Suddenly there was a *poof* of smoke, and when Kaito reappeared in front of Shinichi, he was standing in a miniature version of the KID outfit. "Well, Tantei-kun, what do you think?" He stood there twirling around, his tail still slightly visible, though, his ears had disappeared beneath a miniature top hat.

Oh, he was enjoying the priceless reaction he was getting from his dear detective. "That...what the heck is that?!" Shinichi stared at him, wide eyed.

Kaito laughed. "Ah, I thought you might like it. Can't say I was originally planning on using it this way, but it does seem it will come in handy now."

Shinichi just stared at him, clearly dumbfounded, before he lifted his hand to his face in a gesture akin to frustration. "Don't tell me...you made this ridiculous outfit for me originally…"

Kaito grinned a goofy grin and clapped his now gloved hands. "Brilliant deduction, detective. Though honestly it still suits me way better than you." Kaito knew he sounded childish saying such a thing, but who cares? He was stuck in this body for now, might as well flaunt it. Besides, it was doing the trick of distracting the detective.

He watched as Shinichi shook his head and groaned. "...just show me whatever you were going to show me." Kaito's keen sense of hearing picked up Shinichi's mumbled "You little! I can't believe this guy, he doesn't know when to quit does he?"

Ignoring that last bit, Kaito skipped backwards in place a bit as he went through the motions of taking on the tour guide role. "This is where most of the behind the scenes magic takes place. Over here are where I keep my various layouts and blueprints of all the local museums and art galleries." He pulled out a drawer that was filled to the brim with papers.

He watched as Shinichi raised a hand to his chin in thought. "This explains a lot. Though, really it's a bit odd…" he said aloud as he glanced at the various blueprints and building schematics. "I mean, with technology and all, I kinda expected you to be using some sort of super-computer to look over the various building plans. Though, I have to admit these do look impressive…"

Kaito shrugged, but grinned nonetheless. "Honestly, most of the stuff here used to belong to my dad…" he had no reason to hide it any more. He had already mentioned to Shinichi about the previous KID, might as well be honest here. "He was rather old fashioned even in the age where computer technology was first taking off. I do use computers for initial research purposes as they are much more up to date. However, I gather my information in a variety of ways, and there is just something about having a physical copy…"

"Hmm…" Shinichi looked rather contemplative. Kaito had to wonder what was going through the little detective's head right now. In truth, he still felt a bit averse to showing his would be rival all of this, but it was pretty clear at this point that Shinichi had no real intentions of turning him in any more. Not that he really could at the moment anyway. Plus, he would need the detective's help in the near future if he were going to get through this.

A lot had happened in just the past couple of days. True, the trust he had earned from the detective had come from their numerous meetings in the past, but it was still somewhat humbling. It was strange having a would-be ally in all this. True he had Jii, but the age gap kind of played a factor, and Jii had been helping him more from the sidelines recently as Kaito had been concerned about him ever since the Nightmare incident. Thus, he continued to show Shinichi the rest of his father's hideout, holding no fear of the repercussions of such a decision.

~^.v.^~

Conan was still rather surprised at the fact that Kaito was so willing to show him all this. He really was showing him the secrets of the trade, and Conan himself had rather mixed feelings about this. Especially now that it was obvious that the thief was under the impression that he had no desire to reveal these secrets to anyone. The scary thing? He wasn't wrong. How much had their relationship changed that Kaito trusted him so implicitly?

He listened as Kaito continued to senselessly babble about the various "tools" he used to get in, and past security measures. It was so surreal. Just when had things turned into this?

Kaito continued to show him around the room, speaking proudly of all of the various "magic" items that were stored in the various cabinets and drawers along the wall. He also lead him into the walk-in closet, attached to the side of the room, where the various disguise materials and makeup were found. Though, they didn't linger there for very long before returning to the main room.

Conan's eyes wandered briefly to the ceiling, where he noticed a few model airplanes, and one larger scale model that looked like a prototype of the early hangglider design. Kaito's father certainly had a creative knack, and an obvious love for engineering design.

He then took notice of the old articles on the wall in picture frames; dated anywhere from ten, to nearly twenty years ago. They were all centered around KID, from successful heists of his, to his sudden disappearance. Some of them featured a younger looking KID, which was obviously Kaito, but most featured the first generation KID. So this was Kaito's father too, huh? He gazed at the blurry photographs and semi-yellowed papers, a bit of awe reflecting on his face.

Kaito must have noticed his gaze at some point, as he felt him, more than heard him come up behind him. "Oyaji was pretty amazing," The thief said softly as he stood there, staring at the articles on the wall.

Conan nodded lightly, unsure what else to say. He recalled the one time he had met KID years ago in the library with Ran. He had seemed like such a simple, and yet complex, guy. The riddles he left were just as interesting and entertaining as that of his son. He didn't know him personally...not really, but looking at these articles, he really felt like he did. They projected the air of Kaito's father radiantly, and Conan had to almost wonder if there was magic tied into them. They just seemed so surreal in and of themselves.

He glanced back at Kaito, whose eyes were sparkling even more than before. He could tell how much Kaito had admired his father. He felt a pang in his heart as he remembered the information that Kaito had revealed on the rooftop. Suddenly, his devotion to his goals made all the more sense.

Conan swayed a little on his feet, completely moved by the scene. His chest was warm, his heart palpitating in a pleasant manner. It was so awe striking Kaito's father had left all this for his son, leaving all these wonderful things for Kaito to admire him by, to remember him by, in his wake. They had obviously cared for each other a great deal.

There were still some missing pieces there. KID had been open about the existence of the ones who had killed his father, but he had failed to explain why. Though, he knew it had to have something to do with the gemstone he was searching for. He had deduced that much earlier. Still, what was it about this gem that was so important that someone would be willing to kill for it?

His curiosity was killing him, yet as he looked at Kaito's face, he could tell now wasn't the best time to bring it up. He was actually starting to feel a bit tired again. He found himself inadvertently yawning, breaking Kaito from his trance behind him.

"Guess it's getting kind of late, eh, detective?" Kaito grinned at him, though Conan could see a certain degree of exhaustion in his features too. It had been a long two days for both of them, even if the overly energetic mini-magician was showing very little signs of it.

Conan just nodded, quickly covering his mouth as he yawned yet again.

"Well, why don't we just sleep in here tonight?" Kaito said as he motioned at the empty space in the wall.

Conan was confused for a moment before Kaito snapped his fingers, and out of the wall came a full sized bed. Conan gaped at it for a second, then remembered where exactly he was. Of course a magician who often came home late at night would have a murphy bed, of all things, in his lair. Deciding he was too tired to deal with this nonsense at the moment, he just trotted over and collapsed on the bed. With that, he shut his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

~^.V.^~

Kaito gazed at the small not-child laying in the bed he usually collapsed on alone after late night heists, barely awake enough to put his costume away carefully.

He couldn't keep the warm smile off his face, as he gazed at his "master". He knew they still had a long way to go before they were able to fully understand each other, but for now, he was so glad the tiny detective was the one who had been with him when he had discovered his kitsune side. He couldn't have asked for a better partner in this situation.

He swished his tail, then walked over to where the detective had collapsed on the bed. He went over beside it, reaching over to a shelf where a white blanket was folded neatly. He gently picked it up, undoing the folding job, and drooped it over his shrunken friend. He then cuddled in next to him, gazing at his peaceful sleeping face, tilting his head a bit. He had to ponder on how Tantei-kun could sleep so peacefully after everything they had been through just that day.

As soon as that thought had finished, there was a spark of some sort, gently pulsating through Kaito's mind. His ears perked involuntarily, his fur standing on end, then relaxed. His eyes drooped as his whole body seemed to sink into the mattress, and he felt himself give into sleep.

~Well that was a bit longer than originally intended. Hope you all enjoyed. This author LOVES reviews/comments!~