Detective Conan and Magic Kaito characters, settings, and ideas do not belong to me but to Aoyama Gōshō.
TMPD Antics
By Taliya
LXII: Kudou and Hakuba
Both Shinichi and Saguru had unanimously decided that this particular KID heist was all Heiji's, since the Osakan had already—rather vociferously while he was at it—claimed it as his own. They were, however, immensely surprised to discover that Kaitou KID was an extremely proficient practitioner of ninpou and all that it encompassed—including wielding a katana. It explained quite a lot when one stopped to truly consider KID's skill set, though why neither detective had connected the dots before this point in time was beyond either of them. Perhaps the idea of KID as an actual ninja with all the skills to go with it was a little too scary an idea to contemplate. Kaitou KID as a phantom thief was already a veritable force of nature, but at least he was as showy as a peacock and harmless as a jackrabbit on caffeine. Were KID to become a shinobi in order to perform the assassinations they historically enabled… both detectives were interminably relieved KID had chosen thievery over the much more lucrative but infinitely more wicked assassination profession. They would never have a hope of capturing him otherwise, what with how easily he melted into the shadows if he so chose—even when clothed from head to toe in white.
As it was, they, along with the rest of the Task Force, observed as KID managed time and again to evade Heiji's attempts to either corral or disarm him. Heiji, after having had his bokken sliced cleanly into two, had been tossed another katana from the museum's collection by a Task Force member—much to the outraged dismay of the museum curator—in order to counter KID's offensive moves. Watching the flashing, clashing dance of blades between detective and thief was… awe-inspiring, if any of the observing policemen were to be brutally honest.
Heiji attacked and countered as if he had been born with a sword in his hands, so easily did he move. The katana was but an extension of himself, and to anyone watching it was plain to see why he was the reigning national kendo champion. KID was the utter opposite of the Osakan. Heiji moved with controlled, beautifully flawless technique. If he was earth personified—stable, structured, and tenacious, then the thief seemed to literally ebb and flow and twist like air as he dodged and parried Heiji's strikes. To be fair, KID's style was vastly different from Heiji's, with much more avoidance and deflection and less reliance on brute strength. But not only that, the phantom thief added in more kicks, elbow jabs, and hand strikes into the mix than Heiji did. And through it all KID's cape, swirling and fluttering like bird's wings behind him, never once felt the bite of tempered, folded steel.
The two detectives watched as Kaitou KID tossed out taunts and jabs at the increasingly frustrated kendo master, who was growing more and more red in the face the longer KID continued to remain unharmed and uncaught. Eventually the magician cornered and pinned Heiji to the wall with the wakizashi through his right sleeve and disarmed the immobilized kendo practitioner in short order with ease.
"Think we should help him?" Saguru murmured reluctantly, watching with clandestine glee as KID, holding the sharp edge of the blade once again to the Osakan's neck, leaned in to whisper something in the homicide detective's ear.
"No," Shinichi, who leaned comfortably against the wall while continuing to watch the spectacle Heiji was making of himself as he erupted at whatever the now cackling and retreating KID had said, answered immediately. "Not at all." He did, however, blush the instant when KID caught his eye while dodging the grasping hands of the Task Force and simultaneously winked with his uncovered one while sending him a left-handed police salute, all before disappearing in a burst of smoke.
Author's Note: So for those of you unfamiliar with my other works, in my general 'verse Kaito is a very adept practitioner of ninpou, or ninjutsu. For me, it's the rationale behind his ability to do his acrobatics and his knowledge of methods of diversion, stealth, etc., magic aside. Also includes abilities to handle a variety of weapons, though guns are obviously not part of a traditional shinobi arsenal. And there's also the second little bit of Shinichi's revenge, as well as Kaito/KID's own on behalf of Saguru. Again, backstabbing like crazy going on around here! I hope you enjoyed it.
Completed: 01.02.2016