DCMK || KaiShin || DCMK || The White Collar Phantom Thief || DCMK || KaiShin || DCMK
Title: The White Collar Phantom Thief – The Secret of Pandora
Fandom: Detective Conan / Magic Kaito
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Gosho Aoyama for he created the awesomeness that is Kaitou KID. Ah, and Detective Conan, too. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Tags: m/m, future fic, post-Conan Shinichi, secret reveals, slow-burn, hurt/comfort, canon-typical violence/death, canon-typical magic, canon-typical crossdressing, fake relationship, fluff, adoption, found family, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, f/f, m/f
Main Pairing: Kaito/Shinichi
Side Pairings: Sera/Ran, Saguru/Aoko, Heiji/Kazuha, Makoto/Sonoko, Takagi/Sato
DC/MK Characters:
Task Force: Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou KID | Tsukino Guinevere, Kudou Shinichi, Hakuba Saguru, Nakamori Aoko, Hattori Heiji, Sera Masumi, Koizumi Akako, Furuya Rei | Amuro Tooru | Bourbon, Akai Shuuichi, Takagi Wataru, Sato Miwako, Jii Konosuke
Others: Mouri Ran, Suzuki Sonoko, Kyogoku Makoto, Tooyama Kazuha, Suzuki Jirokichi, Nakamori Ginzo, Megure Juzo, Mouri Kogoro, Kuroba Chikage, Kudou Yuusaku, Kudou Yukiko
Detective Boys: Agasa Hiroshi, Haibara Ai, Yoshida Ayumi, Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko, Kojima Genta
Black Organization: Gunther von Goldberg II | Spider, Snake, Rose
Summary: Akako gives Kaito a prophecy: If KID is not captured by the demon of light, both of them would die and only if he gets captured will he be able to reach his goal. Kaito would rather go to jail than risk Shinichi's life
With Kaitou KID gone, Snake starts going after the jewels more actively and people get killed. It doesn't take Shinichi long to see a connection to KID – and that this is the last branch left of the BO he had taken down.
Shinichi forms a special task-force to end the BO for good. And for that, he needs Kaitou KID's help.
The White Collar Phantom Thief
The Secret of Pandora
Case 20: One Truth
After another conversation with each other when they went to bed that night, they decided to also add Sera and Ran to the list of people who should know the full truth. The outfall between Ran and Shinichi was still far too new, they were still dancing around on eggshells more often than not as they adjusted to this new dynamic between themselves. However, additionally, both of them also knew about the apotoxin, they knew about the impossible things that science could do – which, they assumed would set them up more open minded to magic.
"Okay, okay, hold on, you are going to put on a jacket, it might get cold."
Kaito got up to grab the cute pink jacket to give a pouting Mizuki. "I don't need one!"
"Listen to Kaito," Shinichi called out from the kitchen. "It's gonna be cloudy and potentially rainy later on. You don't want to get in the rain when you get back home, do you?"
Mizuki wiggled her nose and dragged her feet over the carpet. "No—o."
Kaito couldn't help but smile so warmly. There was something about Shinichi with kids that made Kaito have visions of a future, like ten years down the road, Shinichi wrestling their kids. Was getting so far ahead of himself with that, but he couldn't help it. A 'normal' family life was something Kaito always thought he couldn't have. Whoever he'd be with, he would either be lying about being Kaitou KID, or he would feel too guilty about the danger and pressure he'd put on his family and his child. The daunting feeling of being the heir to Kaitou KID, of feeling like he would have to take on the mantle from his father. And while Kaito himself had blossomed into this role, had come to love it, love performing and love bringing justice, he still wouldn't want to make any future kid of his feel pressured to do something they might not want.
But this was different. Shinichi was different. Because Shinichi was Shinichi.
Shinichi was – Shinichi was everything. He was brilliant, strong, cunning, he knew about this world, the dangers of science, magic, crime. He knew about Kaito's secrets, all of them, and he still loved Kaito. Stood by Kaito's side. Came up with very not-so-legal plans to find the truth, because in the end, they both cared about what was truly important – human lives and justice. More important than the law, if the law didn't suffice.
And with Shinichi, with Shinichi, he could imagine a family. He could imagine raising their own little gang of Detective Boys, filled with curiosity and mischief. But between the two of them, they could absolutely wrangle any kids. And Shinichi, he wouldn't – Kaito knew deep down that Shinichi would not ever let their kid take on the mantle of Kaitou KID, not unless that kid would be pushing for it, demanding it, because their kid turned out as reckless and obsessed with seeking justice as the two of them. But Kaito knew that Shinichi would never just disappear on their kid.
And he didn't mean to sound so bitter toward his mother. He loved his mother dearly. He understood how much his father's death had wrecked her. He understood why she couldn't stay in that house, where all the memories lived. And he understood that she could have taken him with her – and maybe his life would have been amazing then, who knew – but she chose to let him stay, because he didn't want to leave, he couldn't leave the place where all his memories of his father lived, where all the people he loved lived. He didn't want to leave and she didn't want to stay and she had done her best trying to do what was right for the both of them. And at the time, as a rebellious teen, Kaito had mostly thought he was fine with it, it was the right call.
It was now, as an adult, that he looked back at it mildly mortified. He'd spent his formative years living all alone, carrying the burden of his father's legacy all alone. No child should.
The reason why Kaito knew that Shinichi would never make that choice was because Shinichi had lived a similar life. His parents always traveling, Shinichi even before he became Conan living all alone in this large mansion, getting warm meals and a sense of family from his best friend and her father, just the same as Kaito. And even when Shinichi had been burdened, turned into a child after an attempt on his life, his parents still didn't return. Just like Kaito himself, Kaito knew that Shinichi had relished in it for the most time, had been annoyed by his parents. But… what teenager wasn't? What teenager didn't think they were mature enough to live alone and conquer the world? It was a parents' duty to step up and reign them it, to be there.
Like Kaito, Shinichi had the perspective on his own childhood and teenage years. And Kaito knew that sometimes, Shinichi wondered if things had gone differently, less dangerous, less escalation, if his parents had been present, had put their feet down. It was a strange feeling, to realize that your parents weren't perfect and that they made choices that weren't all perfect. It was a strange feeling to love them unconditionally and yet still see the flaws in their actions.
"Hey," Shinichi's voice was low and close. "Where did you go just now?"
"Mh?" Kaito blinked a couple times, staring directly into Shinichi's sapphire-blue eyes. "What?"
"You were just… very fast away," Shinichi tilted his head. "Not scheming though. I know your scheming face and that wasn't it."
"Mh…" Kaito smiled softly and leaned in to peck Shinichi's lips. "Nothing. Just… thinking about the past, I guess. Mizu-chan ready to leave yet?"
"Yep," Shinichi stepped away with a smile. "All set, right, kiddo?"
"Ye—es. Can I go no—ow?" Mizuki whined. "Ai-chan and Agasa-hakase are waiting!"
Kaito couldn't help but smile, nodding. "Okay then. Go. Have fun!"
She ran up to the door, just to halt and turn around, running right up to the couple one more time to tightly hug their legs before running out the mansion for good. When Shinichi turned to look at his boyfriend, the look on Kaito's face was one of pure love and adoration. That thief was smitten. And Shinichi couldn't even make fun of him for it, because he adored Mizuki too.
This little girl was so strong. She'd lost her parents and her home, living with two practically strangers. Most nights, she woke up screaming and crying, haunted by the memories. But other times, like right now, she was just… a happy little girl living her life. Maybe it was because she couldn't fully grasp it yet. Yes, she knew death existed, but most children that age couldn't grasp the concept of 'forever'. That her parents were truly gone forever, wouldn't return. She may know they were gone, but still, they could return, right?
"I love you," Shinichi's voice was a whisper, his hand resting on Kaito's chest.
"Mh?" Kaito looked at him with curious eyes. "I love you too? But you don't just… say that?"
Shinichi shrugged in reply, patting Kaito's chest before walking back to the kitchen. He loved Kaito, because was just as strong as Mizuki. He'd lost his father, watched him die, and he had managed to go on, for a long period of time all alone. He loved how strong his thief was, and that Kaito had never let that tragedy destroy his playful nature.
/break\
"Magic is real."
Shinichi groaned softly and covered his face with one hand. Why was his boyfriend like this? Hakuba made a disgruntled noise, the others in the room with them just looked confused. Kaito and Shinichi were standing before them, Hakuba and Aoko on one couch, Sera, Ran and Heiji on the other, all five of them looking at Kaito in befuddlement.
"Kuroba-kun, we know you're Kaitou KID, but-" Ran started, unsure.
"No," Shinichi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "No, not… not Kaito's magic tricks."
"I just take offense when you say it like that, Shin-chan, it makes them sound cheap."
Kaito pouted in that manner that usually made Shinichi want to kiss him (and if Shinichi didn't want Kaito to figure that out, he needed to get better at controlling that instinct). However, the presence of their currently very confused friends helped damper that desire some.
"Use better words, thief," Shinichi made his voice sound as pointed as possible.
"Ri—ight," Kaito turned back from Shinichi toward their friends. "Real magic, not my brand of magic. Witches and spells and potions. That kind of magic."
Amusingly enough, Hakuba mimicked Shinichi's earlier actions of groaning and rubbing his face. "Kuroba-kun, after all these years, are you telling me you've now fallen for Koizumi-san's spiel?"
"The thing is," Shinichi spoke up, hoping Hakuba would put more faith in his words. "Koizumi-san's magic is real. Magic is real. That's why Mizuki-chan's parents were killed."
"I wanna tell ya to stop tryin' to pull our legs, but…" Heiji furrowed his brows as he regarded Shinichi for a long moment. "These aren't your usual brand of humor and the situation's too serious for you to joke about this. I just have a hard time…"
"I know," Shinichi looked up, both eyebrows raised, with the most frantic and unhinged look in his eyes. "Believe me, I know that. I am still struggling with this myself. I don't like this. This contradicts my every belief in reality. But when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. There is always only one truth… and this is it. Believe me, I've investigated every angle, I took it all apart, where is no other explanation. There is no trick to Koizumi-san's magic, it's… real."
"Magic," Sera muttered to herself, arms crossed over her chest.
"Think of it that way," Shinichi waved his hand around vaguely. "You know of a drug that deages people. And while, yes, the angle there is science, not magic, the outcome still seems completely impossible. I'm not entirely convinced, perhaps magic is a science we are simply incapable of understanding just yet. Whatever the deeper level explanation for it, the surface level one, right now, is that it's magic, and that magic is real."
"What does that mean, for Mizuki-chan?" Ran asked, concern on her face. "You said that magic is why her parents were killed, which I assume is why you're telling us that."
"We're telling you this for transparency reasons," Shinichi's eyes were soft as he looked at his oldest friend. "We'll tell everyone else a… more believable version of this, but we want you guys to know the truth, the full truth."
The look on Ran's face softened at that, but she didn't speak up again, waiting for Shinichi to continue. Sera reached out to rest a hand on Ran's knee, patting it gently. Shinichi took a slow breath. He would prefer not to tell them, there was still that gut-instinct to keep dangerous things to himself, to figure them out on his own, to not drag others into his mess. But he had worked years now on being able to rely on others, sharing his burdens.
"The organization we're chasing," Kaito took over.
Shinichi wasn't sure if it was because this was more his story than Shinichi's, or because he could sense Shinichi's tenseness, or perhaps both. Either way, the detective knew this was the hard part. The part that would never stop hurting Kaito. Reaching out for his thief, Shinichi took Kaito's hand, linking their fingers and squeezing it. Letting him know that he was not alone. Some of the tenseness left Kaito's shoulders at that and the magician took a deep breath before continuing.
"The organization that killed my father, they… they did that for a reason. The gem they're looking for, the one called Pandora, it is a magical gem. There is a legend to it, that it would bleed red in the moonlight and that drinking its tears will grant you immortality. That is what the organization is after. That… That is what my father, and what Mizuki-chan's parents, died for."
He grunted softly at the sudden impact of Aoko jumping him in a bone-crushing hug. Because she knew the pain of losing his father would never fade away, because in recent months, Aoko had learned why Kaito's father had died, why Kaito had become a thief. Because she had been working hard on bridging those two together. That Kaito had become a thief to find his father's killers. When it came to his father, Kaito would forever be that lost little boy, that little boy who had only just watched his father die before his eyes. And Aoko would always have a hug for that boy.
"What we will tell everyone else is that the organization believes in magic, believes in this wild tale," Shinichi took over again, letting Kaito soak up that hug and gather himself. "Nobody needs to know that all of this is real, all they need to know is that these criminals think so. And people do… awful things with the right motivation."
"That makes sense," Heiji nodded slowly.
Sera looked up. "I'm still unsure how the Akatsuki parents fit into this."
"The legend of Pandora is… it was altered through all the centuries that it has been passed down," Shinichi spoke slowly. "The gem that the Akatsuki family owned, that the organization tried to steal when they killed Mizuki's parents, that is Pandora. It does glow red in the moonlight."
They'd met late enough in the evening for the moon to be out, specifically for this demonstration. Mizuki-chan was spending the night at the professor's, after their fun trip to the museum. Aoko had by now let go of Kaito, though she was sitting next to him at this point. This gave Kaito enough freedom of movement to get the magical gem out of his pocket. He got up and walked into the rays of moonlight shining through the window. He held up the gem in the moonlight, allowing it to bathe them all in its brilliant red glow for just a few seconds before he pocketed it again. Not just fracturing the light that hit it, but fully glowing.
"You can feel free to try and take this apart like it is a trick, try to figure out what kind of minerals or chemicals this gem could be made up of to react this way when moonlight hits it, spend as much time on it as you'd like," Kaito looked, very decidedly, at Hakuba at these words. "But it's not. This isn't a chemically made fake, it's a real ruby. It's a real magic gem."
Hakuba looked fully up for the challenge of trying to figure out how Kaito had just done that, however he also had the decency to not say it aloud and allow Kaito and Shinichi to continue on with this conversation on the premise of magic being real. It was greatly appreciated.
"So this gem… what was it? Cries tears of immortality?" Heiji looked unconvinced.
"No, that's where this legend having changed comes into play," Shinichi heaved a deep sigh. "The gem, according to Koizumi-san, only indicates where to find Pandora. Who is… a real person. Not the Pandora, but her descendants. Pandora, the first woman in creation. Drinking their blood – 'red tears' are metaphorical here – will… supposedly… grant you immortality. I'm not… convinced on that part. But, again, what is important is that they believe this to be true."
"Mizuki-chan," Ran whispered, voice devastated.
"Mizuki-chan," Shinichi nodded solemnly. "They want to kill her, because they think her blood makes them immortal. There is a ritual involved, it requires a special dagger that we are still looking for. We think the only way to fully prevent this ritual from ever being performed is to destroy this unique dagger. The dagger is made from the so-called Volley comet that had crashed onto Earth. That is the current target we're looking for."
A solemn silence settled over them for a while as everyone digested what had been said. A couple minor questions came up, mostly about the non-existent progress that Kaito and Shinichi had made. They stayed for about another hour before they left to head home, to do their own investigations – knowing Hakuba, Heiji and Sera.
"Thank you," Ran whispered into Shinichi's ear as she pulled him into a tight hug. "You didn't have to include me in this. Or… any of us. You didn't have to tell us this… truth that you yourself can't really explain. That must be hard."
"Yeah," Shinichi huffed out a laugh. "It was. But I know… I've learned that… the truth is important, even if it's a hard truth."
/break\
It had been far too late by the time Kaito and Shinichi finally went to bed, because talking about the Red Moon and Pandora had ignited their need to figure it all out. Both couldn't express how much it meant to do this research with someone, someone brilliant who understood the need to solve the puzzle. Nothing made them feel closer than these moments, not kissing or even sex, but sharing their minds like that? That was their most intimate connection, had always been.
However, they were also both very obsessive and tended to overwork themselves. So by the time Mizuki got home, they had gotten roughly two hours of sleep in. Both startled awake when the kid burst into their room, radiating excitement.
"Kaito-nii-san, Shinichi-nii-san! Wake up, wake up, wake up, why are you still asleep? I wanna show you all the pictures I took at the museum!"
The next moment, the girl was jumping on Shinichi's bed, making everything bounce to a degree that made Kaito feel mildly sea-sick. What a way to be woken up. He groaned and rolled over to hide his face in Shinichi's neck and avoid the sun a little longer. All the motion and noise was enough. Shinichi made a huffing noise that sounded like agreement to Kaito.
"Kiddo, slow do—own," Kaito requested, voice cracking. "Please."
Mizuki plopped down with a pout. "But I took pictures of all the knives for you!"
Silence. Shinichi blinked, repeatedly, feeling more awake as he slowly sat up.
"You… what?"
"The fancy knives," Mizuki motioned around wildly. "You've been talking about looking for a d… dagger? Yes! That! Ai-chan says that a dagger is a fancy knife, so I took pictures of all of the fancy knives at the museum for you so I can help you find the right one!"
A strangled little noise escaped Kaito as he melted more against Shinichi. "That… That is so sweet of you, Mizu-chan. C'mere, show us all of the pictures and tell us all about how your trip and your sleep-over with Agasa-hakase went?"
The magician scooted over a little, smiling at the kid and patting the spot between them. Mizuki offered the broadest, toothiest grin as she scooted closer to sit between them, getting her phone out to show them all of her pictures.
"Okay, so!" Mizuki held up her phone with a photo of the Detective Boys crammed into the professor's beetle. "Genta-kun's mom made lunches for us all, but we had to wait on Mizuhiko-kun because he couldn't find his wallet so it took way longer to get there than we thought."
There was a weird feeling gripping Shinichi's heart as he listened to her and looked at the photos of the smiling Detective Boys. They'd grown so much. Children that age grew so fast. Soon enough, they would be going to middle school, thinking about high school.
It felt like a lifetime ago when he had been that little kid, sitting in that beetle together with the Detective Boys. When he used to go on museum trips with them all. When they'd go on childish adventures that Shinichi hadn't been able to appreciate as much as he should have, because he had felt too old and mature for them most of the time. Now, when he looked back at it, he saw it for what it was. His second shot at childhood. Yes, he'd missed years of his teenage life, but he would never get them back. All he could do was appreciate the good he had experienced.
And it had been good. The Detective Boys were precious, loyal, clever – for their age, maybe he hadn't been able to appreciate it as much back then because they weren't as clever as seventeen year old teen genius Kudou Shinichi, but for the little kids they were? They worked hard and they loved mysteries as much as him. And they were so strong. All the things they had seen, all those murders, that wasn't something a child that age should see. And then Conan had 'left to go home', and they had been devastated. But these kids picked themselves up again, every time.
"-And then there was a murder, but we all worked together and we solved it together!"
"...Of course there'd been a murder," Kaito muttered beneath his breath.
He side-eyed Shinichi like it was somehow his fault. He hadn't even been there!
Author's note: Now that the truth is shared with their trusted circle, we're gonna tackle the Volley Dagger next ;)
