Detective Conan and Magic Kaito characters, settings, and ideas do not belong to me but to Aoyama Gōshō.

Warnings: Language, minor violence

TMPD Antics

By Taliya

XXXIII: Kuroba and Kudou

The Kaito who was acting as Heiji pulled off a full mask and wig, shaking out long, wavy blonde tresses with a mischievous grin. She eyed in particular Shinichi's expression of unabashed shock with smug satisfaction as she greeted him with an unruffled, "Long time no see, Cool Guy."

The addressed detective choked on his own tongue. The former assassin had disappeared after the fall of the Black Organization and Shinichi had never been able to trace her. She had, in the end, provided the then-shrunken teenager the information necessary for the Organization's downfall: the location of their headquarters. "V—Ver—"

Kaito walked up to her and greeted her in a more European style by pressing his cheek to hers and miming a kiss on both sides of her face with a hug, and she reciprocated. "Thanks for doing this, Chris-san," he said, backing up. Yukiko gave the former assassin a warm hug in greeting. "This is Chris Vineyard. She's an actress whose mother knew my dad," Kaito said, introducing her to everyone who did not know her.

In reality Kaito knew full well who Chris, or Vermouth was. But considering that he found out that she had actually tried to save his father from the Organization's rival—the Syndicate in which Snake was a part of—he had been able to overlook the fact that she was an assassin after many years of struggling to come to terms with the fact. It helped that in the few instances Kaitou KID had stumbled upon Organization business she had covered for him, thereby protecting him and allowing Kaito to remain off the Organization's hit list.

"Chris Vineyard?" Saguru stared at the American actress in incredulity while Heiji blinked in confusion over Shinichi's reaction. The Osakan had never encountered the blonde assassin during Shinichi's pursuit of the Black Organization during stint as Conan and therefore had no idea he had been working alongside the retired killer. The half-Brit, on the other hand, had heard of her name in a few movie titles whenever he had returned to his mother's home in England.

"A pleasure to meet you," she murmured to the group, her ice-blue eyes dancing with a mischievous lightness Shinichi had never seen before, and he realized that with no orders from Ano Kata—the Boss was killed in the take down—she was finally a free woman. "I have heard great things about you all from Kaito-kun, and I could not resist participating in this little prank of his." She turned her eyes to Saguru and Shinichi. "I hope you aren't too brain fried."

Saguru smiled faintly. "It was a well-planned prank," the blond admitted, tossing a fond but exasperated glance at his friend, who grinned widely back.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here," Shinichi finally said, having regained control over his mouth.

Chris slanted him a smirk. "Well, when I heard you would be part of the collateral damage, I couldn't refuse Kaito-kun's invitation." She turned to the superintendent general. "A pleasure working with you, Hakuba-keisou," she thanked with a nod.

"The same to you, Vineyard-san," the policeman replied with a grin, unaware that he was conversing with one of the most talented assassins on the planet.

The blonde then turned to her former classmate. "Kudou-san, do you think you have a little bit of time to catch up?"

The former actress giggled. "Of course! And please, it's Yukiko!" she burbled as the pupils of Kuroba Touichi walked away. "Although how should I address you now…?"

Shinichi blinked after the pair of actresses, a befuddled, What the fuck just happened? expression on his face.

Author's Note: And the prank comes to an end! It's a little longer since I had to include some background information. So did the participants of Kaito and Heiji's prank surprise you? I hope it did. If you were confused, here were the people involved:

Kaito #1 (pretending to be Heiji): Chris/Sharon Vineyard, aka Vermouth
Heiji #1 (pretending to be Kaito): Kuroba Kaito
Kaito #2: Hakuba-keisou, voiced by Kudou Yukiko
Heiji #2: Hattori Heiji

Congrats to Lilith Jae for guessing who the final participant was, if somewhat accidentally. I had a lot of fun with this, but now, back to our regularly programmed… hijinks? I hope you enjoyed it.

Completed: 11.10.2015