Chapter 13: Zenigata's Realizations

Inspector Koichi Zenigata rubbed the back of his neck. In front of him were piles and piles of paper and files. He expected some files on Kaitou Kid… but not this much! Luckily, Inspector Ginzo Nakamori was right next to him, reading through the files. He learned through Megure-keibu about Nakamori-keibu being in charge of the Kid Task Force, and his drive to capture the white-clad thief. The man reminded Zenigata of his continuous task of capturing Lupin the Third. He suddenly grinned. Two minds are better than one.

"Wanted in some countries for thievery," Zenigata muttered under his breath. "Then about eight or so years ago, he vanished. About eight months or so ago he reappeared. He's been mostly stealing things in the Tokyo area." Zenigata stared at the recent photo of Kaitou Kid. Noticing something, he pulled out another file that contained a picture of Kaitou Kid at least ten years ago. The Interpol officer frowned. Something's off here. He realized that the two pictures of Kid looked similar to each other but the older picture had Kid with a slightly different hairstyle and with him looking older. He was told by the force that no one knew who Kid looked like and assumed that the way he looked when he appeared in his heists was another disguise. To him, the way he appeared was his real features.

This brought Zenigata to this intriguing little fact, that these two Kids are different.

There was a theory that was developing in his mind.

(Everyone in his own department always called him pathetic, simple-minded, and slow, stating that they could do a better job at catching Lupin. He inwardly chuckled when they all failed miserably, and then bowed at his feet when they asked for his help. He wasn't a petty man but he knew that Lupin could only by caught by him. That would teach them not to belittle him, those moronic idiots.) Oh, right… back to his theory.

Zenigata's theory was that the Kid of today was possibly the fan or protégé of the previous Kid… and that something happened to that previous thief. The gap between them was too wide for this Kid doing it for the previous Kid's kidnapping. The Interpol inspector had to assume that the Original Kid either retired or died. There, the theories diverged wildly. If the new Kid was a fan, then he, or she, would most probably train themselves in the art of thievery, magic, and disguising. This would have taken years of training, which was not impossible but only to the real devotee of Kid.

The second major theory was that the new Kid was a relative of the original. And had the better means to train in these arts most likely because that the original trained that relative, until the original retired or died. Then the relative further trained himself until he believed that he was ready to take on the mantel of Kaitou Kid.

There were other ideas that deviated more or less from his two main theories. But the most important thing was that the two Kids were different.

"Nakamori-san." The spiky-haired mustached man looked up from his own file-looking to stare at his superior. "When were—?"

"Years ago!" Nakamori-san muttered, with a half done cigarette dangling from his mouth. He looks almost as ragged as me! "I was always so close at getting him. But he keeps using his tricks to get away!! Damn Thief!" With a few more unsavory curses, (Zenigata didn't even think these words existed in the Japanese dictionary!) he added, "How were you able to catch Lupin?"

Oh, did Zenigata wanted to answer that … but he couldn't. The reasons ranged from accidentally bumping into each other to Zenigata actually thinking outside the box to 'this was all part of Lupin's plans.' Even if he did catch the thief, Lupin always escapes. His track record was better that Nakamori-san's but the escapes cancelled them out… at the end of the day, he was no better than Nakamori-san.

Nakamori-san stared straight into Zenigata's eyes. Eyes slightly sparkling and nodding in understanding, he said, "At least you were able to catch him." Both men sigh in tired disappointment. They can never get a break. "Why'd you asked?"

"I think this Kid is different from the one years ago."

The Kid Task Force inspector's eyes widened. Before he said anything, two men walked in. More like one stormed into the place with the second person being dragged, trying without success to pull the first man back. The first man, who wore a suit and had a moustache and slicked-back hair, cried, "Megure-keibu!"

"Mouri-san!" cried the unfortunate second man, who had on a blue-green suit… his name was Takegi-keiji, if Zenigata remembered. "Stop!"

"Takegi-kun, what's going on?" asked a man with a grey suit. He walked up to the two. His black hair came to a fluffy point on the left side of his head.

"Sh-Shiratori-san!" Takegi-keiji tried but once again failed to pull back the irate Mouri-kun. "Mouri-san came bursting in here—!"

"Shiratori-san!" cried Mouri-kun. "Where's Keibu-dono?"

Zenigata frowned at the man. Interesting! He's almost the same from all those years ago. He looked a little more clean cut, though. "So he's now known as 'Sleeping Kogoro'?" he muttered.

Nakamori-san gave a brief nod. "Never seen him do it though…." The inspectors were well hidden behind the file skyscrapers, so they weren't noticed.

Inspector Ninzaboro Shiratori sighed. "You probably somehow heard of the secret inspector, didn't you?" Takegi-keiji yelped in alarm as Shiratori-keibu glared at him.

"I didn't say anything!" the tan-skinned detective cried defensively.

"I figured it out myself," Mouri-kun beamed. "He's from the ICPO, right?" He folded his arms, nodding. "Nothing can escape the eyes and ears of the Great Detective Kogoro Mouri-sama!" He threw back his head and laughed. All of the officers in ear and eyeshot sweatdropped at this man, including Zenigata, whose mouth twitched.

"What's going on here?" Mouri-kun stopped laughing to see a pudgy man with a yellow hat and trench coat, followed by a short haired woman in a brown dress suit, and two kids with messy hair and dressed in their high school uniform. The kids had a striking resemblance to a couple of kids whom he had never seen since they were elementary schoolers. He frowned. Is that Ran-kun and Shin'ichi-kun? I don't think their hair was like that. The teens separated from the officers and walked towards Nakamori-san and Zenigata, the Ran-kun look-alike hugging Nakamori-san. The Shin'ichi-kun look-alike gave one raised eyebrow in Mouri-kun's direction before stopping next to them.

With a surprised grin, Nakamori-san whispered, "This is my daughter, Aoko and her best friend, Kaito Kuroba." Zenigata nodded.

"Is that 'Sleeping Kogoro'?" asked Aoko-chan. Both men nodded. "He's … um…."

"Interesting?" finished Kaito-kun with a slightly lopsided grin. The Interpol inspector bit his lip, everything that was said he didn't hear. Something's not right here. Zenigata's senses were going off; his gut feeling was telling him that… HE'S HERE!!! Zenigata grinned and chuckled. He slowly took out his handcuffs.

Kaito noticed the beige-hatted man taking out a pair of handcuffs. Why is he doing that? Kaito and Aoko were visiting the Beika police station since Aoko's father was working there temporarily to get both Kid and the mystery thief. They happened to come across the pudgy and female detectives, who were surprised to see them, mistaking them for Mouri-chan and Kudou-kun. He chuckled a bit. Then they came into the unfortunate scene of the egotistically laughing Kogoro Mouri.

The 'sleeping' detective smiled. "Keibu-dono! Where's that ICPO inspector? I want to meet him personally so he can see my skills and let us work together."

Megure-keibu sighed, while Kaito gave an inner chuckle. Kaito suspected that Mouri-san probably overheard Megure-keibu's and Takegi-keiji's conversation while Tantei-kun probably gave him hints, leading Mouri-san to the discovery. "You've already met him." Megure-keibu pointed to the table where the inspectors, Aoko and Kaito were, hidden well behind the file skyscrapers. The teen noticed the beige hat man sighed.

"So, Mouri-kun, it's been awhile." He rose from his chair and went in front of the table.

Mouri-san stood stunned. "Zenigata-sa –, I mean, keibu!" Both men shook hands. "It has been awhile!" He grinned. "I didn't think that it would be you!"

The tan-skinned timid detective looked on in slight interest. The female detective slowly walked next to him. "Are you alright, Takegi-kun?"

"Ahh!" he yelped in surprise. "S-s-Satou-san!" He started to panic a little as he patted himself. His face brightening, he took a flower and gave it to Satou-keiji. She looked on in surprise, a small blush on her face. "F-f-f-for you, S-s-Satou-san." Way ta go, man. Kaito had to admit, that was a good way to impress someone you like.

"Kaito," Aoko suddenly muttered. "Why is the room so cold?" Kaito shuddered. It indeed became like 10 degrees colder. He looked around to see why. Almost every male officer stared daggers at Takegi-keiji. Their death glares were actually freezing the room. He noticed Nakamori-keibu pulling up his jacket.

"Why is it freezing in here?" the man muttered. "The air conditioning shouldn't be that low."

Kaito himself wrapped his hands around his chest, shivering. What's with those looks? It's as if him doing it would spark world war three. It seemed Takegi-keiji felt the directed glares as he shrunk into himself a bit.

"Good show, Takegi-keiji!" Mouri-san walked over to the detective and patted him on the back. His yelp actually caught everyone's attention, so they all saw the exchange. Megure-keibu and Zenigata-keibu gave small coughs. If anything, the death glares from those same male officers intensified. Takegi-keiji chuckled nervously.

"Mouri-san…" he muttered weakly.

"Zenigata-keibu-dono," began Mouri-san, apparently ignoring that he had a hand in the detective's increasing plight. Kaito reeeeally felt sorry for the poor man. "Since you were sent here to find that other thief, 'L ,' I think that you already know who that person is. So can you tell me?" Kaito smirked. He already knew who that man was and knew that the thief may be way out of Mouri-san's league.

The inspector abruptly burst out laughing, gaining confused looks from everyone, as he began twirling his suddenly exposed hand cuffs on his finger. "I don't have to, Mouri-kun." Kaito wondered if the guy was just as… complex as the detective. In a slightly loud voice, "You know, you are in a police station, surrounded by cops with no chance for escape and you have the nerve to still waltz in here? I don't damn know how you found out about me being here but--." He threw his cuffs. "I finally got ya!!!"

The cuffs flew with such precision that they latched on to the wrist, turned and latched on to the other. Kaito was pretty much impressed with the accurate throw but was stunned by the person who was cuffed.

Takegi-keiji was stunned at the handcuffs on him; so was everyone else.

"Keibu, what's this?" he cried, slightly panicking.

"Keibu, you don't think…" Nakamori-keibu stared at the detective as he rose from the paper-covered desk, rushing next to the other inspectors.

Satou-keiji's eyes widened. "He can't be! But how?"

Aoko suddenly asked, "What happened? Why are you arresting that man? Is he…" She gasped. "Kaitou Kid in disguise?" Kaito gave a sarcastic snort. I'm right here. But then his eyes brightened. Then he's--.

Takegi-keiji raised his cuffed hand in protest. "But, I'm not—."

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.

Everything was silent as the detective looked at his watch. "4:00," he muttered out loud. Sighing deeply, he said, "He should be coming right about now."

As if on cue, a man rushed in, breathing hard, Along with a chubby man in pants, a sweater and a jacket. "Satou-san!" cried the Takegi-keiji. "I came in at 4:00, just like you said! And I found Chiba-san on the way." He then noticed his double. "Why am I there handcuffed…? WHY AM I THERE???"

"Takegi-kun, what are you talking about?" A wary Satou-keiji asked.

Still fixated on his twin, he answered, "You called me an hour ago, stating that Megure-keibu ordered that I could continue my rounds until four." He frowned as he took out his phone, pressing some button and showing it to the female detective. Some of the other officers, including Mouri-san and Kaito looked over Satou-keiji's shoulder. Her name and number, along with the date and time, 3:00 pm, of the call was shown .

"I didn't call you." She took out her phone and pressed some buttons. She gasped. On her cell was the sent call, showing Takegi-keiji's number and the same date and time of the call. "But I didn't call you, Takegi-kun."

Mouri-san chuckled, as if he knew how it went down. He pointed to 'Takegi' as he said, "Yuurei, anata da!" All eyes fell on Mouri-san. Kaito blinked and 'Takegi' just stood there, open mouthed. "Yuurei -san, you used your powers to steal Satou-keiji's phone and made a fake phone call to Takegi-keiji, so you can make yourself appear to us as Takegi-keiji. Then using more of your powers, you slipped back Satou-keiji's phone." He then barked in laughter which turned to a series of quiet coughs as blank stares focused on him. Kaito's Poker face was the only thing keeping him from falling on the floor in fits of laughter.

"Otousan, is Mouri-san alright?" asked Aoko. Nakamori-keibu just shook his head.

"I don't think that even I'm that off my rocker," the just as crazy, obsessed about Kid inspector muttered.

'Takegi' grinned, mouth twitching in suppressed laughter. "A yuurei, you say." With one hand in his pocket and the other scratching his head, he chuckled. "A kaitou is actually more like it." He suddenly grabbed Satou-keiji's hand and kissed it. The detective was too stunned to retaliate. "The rose is real, but it doesn't compare to your true beauty." He took back the rose and crumbled it up, out popping a small bouquet of red roses, which she took with a small blush. With a small smile, he added, "But it seems you're already taken." He gave a quick glance at Takegi-keiji.

Kaito noticed that something was wrong; at the moment, he didn't know what. Most of the officers began to surround 'Takegi', with Zenigata-keibu leading. Two large smirks shown on both his and the inspector's faces, albeit for different reasons. Then something clicked in Kaito's head. That's what's wrong! He's good!

"You're in trouble now!" cried the inspector. But he blinked. "What happened to the cuffs… oh crap, crap, crap!"

Shiratori-keibu cried in alarm as he raised his arms, handcuffs firmly on his wrists. "How did--?"

'Takegi' chuckled. "Trade secret."

An angered Zenigata-keibu cried, "Get him!" The officers that surrounded him lunged forward. 'Takegi' folded his arms and looked at the ceiling. What's he doing? They're gonna crush him and he's acting so calm…. That slightly reminded Kaito about the similar things he done, which coincidently made him realize what the fake officer might do next. That made him grin, despite himself. Everyone was too busy watching the scene to notice the grin.

Back to the oncoming dog pile, 'Takegi' gave the same grin, slightly wider, as he nodded to himself and jumped. The officers slammed into each other, forming said pile on the floor. The non-piled people, which were Aoko, Mouri-san, Megure-keibu, Satou-keiji, and Kaito, stared in wonder as the fake gave a circus style back flip to the chair behind a desk that was near the detective and pudgy inspector. He landed perfectly in it.

"Cool!" was the only thing Aoko said. Kaito could only nod. He himself can do that, too, so it was still impressive. 'Takegi' gave an amused smile as the officers groaned and slowly got off each other, Zenigata-keibu, the real Takegi-keiji, Nakamori-keibu, and the hand cuffed Shiratori-keibu being the last to rise.

Nakamori-keibu rubbed his head. "I didn't think you'd be that good."

"Kaitou Kid and I have two similar but different styles." 'Takegi' shrugged. "But it'll be fun when either one of us leave with shoes."

"Hm?" Kaito could have sworn that the guy gave a quick glance his way as he talked. The magician teen raised an eyebrow.

The fake 'Takegi' clapped and laughed. "Tottsan! You're getting better and smarter! You found out faster than I thought!" He then turned his attention to Mouri-san. "Long time, no see, Mouri-san!" When he frowned, the fake sighed and said, in a different male voice, "Didn't I say that I was a magician of sorts." With that, he grabbed at his neck and started to pull. His neck became lighter in color. As he continued to pull, gasps from everyone but Zenigata-keibu and Kaito was heard all around. Kaito personally felt all giddy all over again. It's him! I finally get to meet him! The man dropped the mask on the desk.

Mouri-san's jaw dropped. Kaito saw the desperate look on the detective's face as glanced at every officer in the room, eyes finally resting on the beige hatted man's scowl. Eyes as big as saucers, he weakly looked at the man sitting smugly behind a desk. With a slightly small emotional voice, he said, "L-Lupin-san! You're 'L' ?"

Lupin-san grinned. He raised his left hand in the form of a gun, 'shot,' and said, "My full name's Lupin the Third."

1) –dono, -sama : suffix: more respectful that –san, -dono really means 'lord or lady' and is more respectful that –sama. Naturally, people don't say their own names with suffixes. Kogoro calling himself –sama is because of the obvious fact that he's gloating with an inflated ego. There are many examples of characters calling themselves with -sama in such a way.

2) I didn't realize this until I fully read some other fanfiction and took a slightly deeper look at Magic Kaitou. When I wrote this originally I had no clue that these manga characters lived in another city but still in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Glad I figured it out before going further.

3) 'Yuurei', 'Kaitou': noun: the only similarity between the two is the common word 'phantom' so it's a semi-play on meaning. Kaitou means Mysterious or phantom thief. Yuurei means ghost or phantom. Kid and Lupin are kaitous to say the least.

4) 'Anata da': sentence: "It is you!" Said many a time in the manga and anime.

5) "Tottsan": noun: combination of the words for 'old man' and 'father.' Can mean either "Old man" or "Pops". Lupin calls Zenigata this.

6) It's getting interesting. What's going to happen between the meeting of thief and police? Tune in next time.