It started with a rumor in the wind.
Hagiwara the weasel, gossips to his friend group, "Apparently, there've been rumors of a wolf pack that mysteriously disappears at dawn."
"If we encounter them, I could handle them with just a swipe of my tail," Matsuda the dragon, is smoking from his pipe as per usual, lazily listening to Hagi talk.
"Are they hurting any humans?" Hiro, the calico nekomata, is curious, his two tails waving.
"No. Just hunting like normal but they disappear like they were never there."
"Well, as long as they aren't a threat, I say we leave them alone," Matsuda shrugs.
"There has been another rumor. A kitsune has been seen during moonlit nights. A few have gotten a glimpse of them."
"Really?" Rei, the golden nine-tailed kitsune, is interested in this other kitsune. Mostly because he's never seen another one like him before now.
At Rei's interested look, Hagiwara smiles, "Yeah… They're apparently as beautiful as they are powerful. They might even give Furuya-chan here a run for his money!"
Hiro smiles, "I'd like to see that."
"It's a full moon tonight, so I might see if I can find them," Rei smiles with interest like a dog about to go hunting, his tails lazily wagging.
Date the human, who has listened thus far, sighs, "Just be careful, and come back safely, alright?"
"Hai Leader!" The youkai reply happily, despite Date's misgivings.
This thing about this odd group is that they all remember their past lives as police officers who died in the line of duty. A few others remember too. Even so, Rei still wants nothing to do with Akai the Thunder God though.
Just as the sun finally sets in the forest, a boy in a dark blue yukata appears from his temporary den in a hollow tree.
He howls like a wolf as illusions of a wolf pack appear before him.
"Happy hunting," the boy says.
The wolves bow to him before going off to hunt prey, the boy silently following behind them.
It only takes an hour before the wolves "kill" a mountain chicken.
The boy sighs as picks up the dead chicken. It was dead with no actual wounds, the illusion wolves having tricked its mind and scaring it to death. Literally.
As the boy took his dinner home, escorted by the wolves, they saw a light in the distance.
They hide, the pack retreating as they warily watch a human disappear into the distance. Sighing in relief, the boy quickly goes to prepare his dinner, dismissing and thanking the pack, who usually play until dawn, disappear in an instant, leaving no trace of their existence behind.
The boy defeathers the chicken before cooking it under a blue fox fire. Once fully cooked, he dug into its sweet flesh and crispy skin, eating as much as he could stomach. What he couldn't eat, he leaves somewhere else or cashes it for some animals to find later.
It was a full moon tonight…
Rei was wandering around, hoping to catch a glimpse of this mysterious kitsune his friend had heard rumors about. He didn't expect to find them so quickly though.
At a nearby lake, he sees a boy wearing a dark blue yukata, black fox ears and eight tails out. The boy, the kitsune he was looking for, was washing himself up, the water reflecting the moonlight and his sapphire eyes.
The black kit was certainly younger than him, not even an adult yet but… he feels that his power is more or less equal to his own. It felt strangely like déjà vu though.
Ears twitching, the boy turns to him, and Rei looks right back.
They were both silent, staying still for a moment.
Eyes narrowing with mischief, the black kit steps onto the water's surface, walking on the water before starting to dance on it, the water rippling under him like raindrops. Rei could only stare in awe as the kit performs for him…before the kit smiles at him. He aims a finger upwards before releasing a foxfire into the sky, which explodes into fireworks. As Zero is distracted by the fireworks for a second, a whirlwind comes out of nowhere, covering the kit before dissipating, the kit disappearing along with it. The fireworks also dissipated shortly afterwards.
By the next morning, reconvening at Date's house…
Rei was beside himself, unusually quiet as the others got breakfast.
"So… did you see that mysterious kitsune last night?" Hagiwara asks, hoping for good news.
"Nope," Hiro shakes his head before turning to his best friend, "Zero?"
"...guys…"
"Yeah?"
"I think I'm in love," Furuya sighs dreamily.
Their faces are blank for a moment as they process before shouting, "...WHAT?!"
Rei explains to them what happened last night.
"Wow! I wish I could've seen him!" Hagiwara comments, a bit jealous.
"He feels familiar… I may have met him in my past life," Rei mutters, "Still…that performance was like a magic…show…" His eyes widened in realization before suddenly laughing happily.
"?"
"Haa...I want him," Rei confesses, smiling ferally.
Most of them don't know what to do as they've never seen Furuya like this before. Hiro…just sweat-drops and wryly smiles.
So, Furuya starts hunting that kitsune, which he's calling Kit, down, trying to woo him.
His friends support him…with the sake prepared for when he gets potentially dumped. According to Hiro, once Zero gets like this, there's just no stopping him.
Of course, they laugh when he's dumped multiple times by the mysterious Kit, who keeps avoiding and running away from him.
"...I got dumped…" Zero would whimper in sadness, his ears flattened as he downs a shot of sake. They know he won't give up though. He'll be back at it tomorrow.
On another note, someone's been leaving whole chickens and sometimes boars in front of Date's door. Zero suspects it was Kit's doing since Zero always tries to lure him in with sweets. Though Kit just ends up stealing the sweets from him anyway before running off…not that he minds.
It wasn't until sometime later that something changed.
While on a walk with his friends, Furuya senses a familiar presence.
He eyes the tree-line, his ears twitching, hearing the slightest sound, "...Tell the others I'll catch up later."
"Eh?" Hiro could only watch as his best friend turned and walked towards the trees, "Wait! Where are you going?!"
He grins ferally, his eyes narrowed into slits, "I'm going hunting," before disappearing into the forest, climbing up.
Unbeknownst to the group, a white dove was watching them like a little spy.
Only for a brown, clawed hand to suddenly grab the dove from its perch in the branches, letting out a distressed, "Coo!" and leaving a few feathers behind as the leaves rustle, the bird disappearing from sight.
A little while later, Zero came back to the group.
"Zero! What…?" Matsuda blinks in confusion.
Zero was smiling smugly like a predator that just caught its intended prey, a struggling white dove firmly in his grasp, pecking and scratching at him furiously even though it's a useless endeavor.
"...are there usually white doves around here?" Hiro asks.
"Nope. Not that I've seen," Date replies.
"Hm~ should I eat you?" Zero playfully teases.
"!" The white dove panics even more, struggling desperately, and flapping its wings frantically…until Zero lets it go.
As soon as the dove escapes from his hands into the air, poof , it quickly transforms into a black fox with eight tails before landing back down before them.
"Ah…well, I guess we won't have squab for dinner," Hagiwara jokes.
Matsuda hits him.
"Ow!"
"...Kit?" Zero smirks at his victory.
The fox's ears lower, unsure what to do, nervously glancing at the others.
"It's OK. They're my friends," Zero assures.
With a small nod, the black fox transforms into human form, tilting his head at them cutely.
"!" They're surprised by how young and powerful Kit is…as well as…
'He's cute!' They now understand why Zero's interested in him.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Kit!" Hagiwara greets.
He blinks, tilting his head to the side in confusion, "...Kit?"
"Yeah. That's what Zero's been calling you," Matsuda yawns.
"Hah…" Kit huffs, not seeming to mind his new nickname.
"So…why were you spying on us?" Zero politely smiles.
Looking down at the ground, Kit mumbles, a slight blush on his face, "...you caught my interest."
Zero's eyes sparkle, smiling, his tails swishing, "Really?"
"Yeah," Kit shyly nods.
The others introduce themselves to Kit, and…
"Kaito…"
"Eh?" They blink.
"My name is Kaito," Kit introduces himself.
They look at each other before smiling, "...Nice to meet you Kaito-kun!"
As they talk for a bit, they learn that Kaito-kun is traveling alone, mostly wandering the lands. Kaito has sustained himself on bird eggs, mice, rabbits, and mushrooms…before eventually moving onto wild boar and wild chicken. He doesn't know for how long he'll stay in the area. And that yes , he's the one who left those presents in front of Date's door. (Date thanks him for it, which Kaito sheepishly accepts.)
Of course, this only hastens Zero, who asks, "Will you be my lover, Kaito-kun?"
Kaito's ears flick in irritation, frowning, "...this again?"
"Please~?" Furuya asks, using his puppy eyes.
Grumbling, Kaito sighs, "...if you can catch me, I'll consider it."
Furuya's tails wag excitedly, anticipating the hunt to come.
Meanwhile, Kaito cringes, looking like he's already regretting saying that.
'Zero…'
'He's having a lot of fun with this…'
Hiro, Matsuda, and Hagiwara wryly smile, and are looking forward to the chaos that's going to ensue respectively.
Date just prays that this love affair will work out somehow.
It's been three days since then. Zero is still no closer to catching Kaito at the moment. It seems Kaito upped his game…but so has Zero. It's quite the stalemate, according to Hagi.
However, something happened yesterday. The wolves were being unusually aggressive.
'Hopefully, it's a coincidence,' Hiro tells himself as they all worry about Kaito. He's still a kit, a child, so of course they're worried about him… Zero especially.
The group all agreed to try and find Kaito, mostly because they're worried for his safety and partially because they don't want to see Zero pace in worry any more.
Suddenly, they're surrounded and attacked by wolves.
*Growl~!*
As the wolves attacked them, of course they wouldn't sit still and let it happen. Hagi and Hiro sliced a couple up with their claws, Date punched one, Matsuda swung his tail like a bat, and Zero burned them in a foxfire.
However… as the wolves were defeated, they disappeared… only for more wolves to appear straight after.
*flicker*
Zero growls, his eyes narrowed.
"Zero?" Hiro asks.
"Something's not right… though I can't put my finger on it…" Zero says as they fight off more wolves.
They just keep coming with no end in sight… although most of the wolves seem to be avoiding Zero for some reason.
Hiro sees the wolf he's defeated flicker before just disappearing out of existence.
"Huh?"
Hagi and Matsuda notice too.
"The wolves…"
"They're…"
"Illusions?!"
Once they said that, the wolves stopped attacking, just standing there, growling at them.
A white wolf, most likely the pack leader, approached them calmly.
*whimper*
"Kaito-kun?" Zero says, very worried.
With a howl, the white wolf gestures for them to follow him, and they do.
The white wolf leads them to a den surrounded by illusion wolves, protecting something.
Staring at them carefully, the white wolf guards the den as the other wolves disappear.
Zero pats the wolf's head, "We'll take care of him now. You did a good job."
With a tail wag and a bark of acknowledgement, the white wolf also disappeared.
Looking inside the den, they find an injured Kaito, still bleeding from a deep wound in his leg, and unconscious from the blood loss.
After retrieving Kaito-kun, they went back to Date's house, Zero carrying Kaito like a princess.
They put Kaito in a bed after treating his wound, all of them sighing heavily afterwards.
'Just what kind of trouble did you get into?' they wonder, but can't ask until their kit wakes up.
When Kaito wakes up a few hours later, a full moon high in the sky, its light letting Kaito see Zero by his bedside.
"Ah…" Kaito blinks, noticing that he's been patched up.
Zero's ears flick, opening his eyes, "You're finally awake…"
All the others were asleep around them as the fight tired them out.
"...I'm sorry…" Kaito clutches the blanket, muttering with his ears lowered.
Zero just pats his head, "Can you at least tell me what happened?"
"...a hunter got a lucky shot is all," Kaito huffs, "I took care of him, don't worry."
"And by that you mean?" He raises an eyebrow.
"I messed with his memory a bit," Kaito sheepishly smiles.
"Foxes can do that?" Zero blinks as he's never tried that himself before.
"Yeah. I try not to use mind control too much, but I do know how to use it," he boasts.
'I'll ask him to teach me later…' Zero sighs, "So those illusion wolves are yours?" Those wolves were semi-solid. Tangible to the touch yet disappear as soon as they get hit. It's quite a feat for a fox.
"...hai. They mainly hunt for me, and protect me," Kaito wryly smiles, "Sorry about them attacking you guys."
"It's OK… They were only trying to protect you," Zero huffs, "Just…next time, you can call me or the others for help. You can rely on and trust us, OK?"
"But…" Kaito tries to interject timidly.
"No buts!" Zero scolds, "You have the right to ask for help. You're not alone anymore. You don't have to fight alone anymore."
Tears fell from Kaito's eyes as deep in his heart, he's always longed for someone to say that to him.
Zero licks up Kaito's tears from his cheek, his other hand gently wiping them away on the other cheek. Seeing those teary eyes made Zero want to hug him.
"How do I repay you?" Kaito asks, staring up at him.
Humming, Zero replies, a mischievous smile on his face as he lazily stroked Kaito's cheek, "If you want to repay me… then, let me woo you again."
"Huh?" Kaito blinks at him, surprised, flinching away from him, "You still haven't given up?"
"I don't have the habit of letting my prey escape," Zero smiles, shrugging.
After a minute of silence, Kaito buries his face into a pillow to hide his blushing face, groaning, "...you're so scary."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Zero chuckles.
They transform into their fox forms, a golden fox and black fox respectively, curling up with each other, cuddling as they fall asleep.
(The others may or may not have been pretending to be asleep, and heard every word…before falling asleep themselves.)
"Eh?"
The Police Academy Group were suddenly in the city, just like from their past lives.
Matsuda was in his police uniform, sunglasses on his face. Hagiwara and Date were also in their police uniforms. Hiro was dressed like a guitarist, a hood over his head, and Zero… was in a gray suit, the usual wear for Public Security.
"Uh…what happened?" Hagiwara asks.
They're all confused as to how they ended up here…
"More importantly, where's Kaito-kun?" Zero asks as the kit was nowhere to be found.
Deciding to try to find answers, they start walking, the full moon lighting up the city overhead.
Then they stumble upon a very familiar cafe, which Zero immediately goes into, the others following behind him.
"Welcome to Cafe Poirot!"
They're face-to-face with Amuro Tooru, according to his nametag, who is one of Furuya's past identities.
"..." Amuro and Furuya just stare at each other in shock, the others just looking back and forth between them, speechless.
"Um…" Amuro sweat-drops before someone from the back comes out.
Another look-alike, who is dressed like a handsome gangster, came.
"Bourbon?" Hiro blinks in surprise.
"Ah…" Bourbon sees what's happening before heavily sighing. Ruffling his own hair in frustration, Bourbon calls, "Oi, Amupi! Get us all coffee! And get me some bourbon! I need a drink so I can deal with this!"
Amuro sighs reluctantly, "Hai, hai…"
They sit down at a table, Amuro getting their drinks. As they sip their drinks, Matsuda and Hagi just couldn't help it.
"Yo, Amupi!" Matsuda and Hagi smile teasingly.
Furuya growls, "Don't call me that."
"Now, now, let's calm down," Hiro appeases.
Bourbon just downs his shot of bourbon before saying, "What are you guys doing here?"
"We have no idea how we got here. Can you explain what this place is…please?" Hiro politely asks.
"...fine, Scotch," Bourbon sighs, "This is the dream world… more specifically, Kaito's dream."
"Hah?!"
"Kaito probably unconsciously dragged you guys in here while he's sleeping," Bourbon shrugs.
"Is there a way to get out?" Date asks.
"It's simple. Just find Kaito and get him to wake up."
As they were talking, Amuro was busy making chocolate ice cream.
"Um…why is Amuro making so much chocolate?" Hagiwara asks, sweat-dropping.
"Ah that . Kaito hasn't discovered chocolate or chocolate ice cream in this world yet…so until then, he can only eat it in his dreams. It's his favorite food, which is why Amuro keeps making it for him to satisfy the cravings, at least a little," Bourbon explains, wryly smiling, "He's also calling us, collectively : Triple Face bastard."
"...Ah…" Furuya's brow twitches as the others try not to laugh. They barely succeed.
After finishing their coffee, Hiro asks, "And where do we find Kaito-kun?"
It was then that they heard cheering, "KID! KID! KID!"
Bourbon just smirks, "Follow the audience."
They go outside to find a crowd gathered around a venue with a Big Jewel smack-dab in the middle. The jewel is a sapphire, put on a pedestal in the middle of a stage.
"3! 2! 1!" The crowd cheers before a smoke bomb goes off, and Kaitou KID appears, the crowd cheering.
"Kaitou KID, huh…" they smile as for most of them, this is probably their first encounter with the infamous phantom thief.
"Yeah…the one I'm familiar with, anyway," Furuya wryly smiles as he's the only one with experience with the thief.
As they make their way to the front, Furuya just jumps onto the stage, smiling, "Hi… Kaito-kun."
"Hi… Rei-san," KID just smiles back at him, the crowd disappearing in a mass of sparkles.
With a bow, KID's figure flickers as Kaito, wearing a high school uniform, appears before them, smiling happily. Seeing the two of them, both identities of Kaito-kun, Furuya smiles as the others are just amazed. Their little kit was Kaitou KID in his past life!
Zero just grabs Kaito's wrist, pulling him into his arms, "Hm…what should I do? Should I handcuff you again?"
"No!" Kaito immediately yells as Zero just laughs.
As Kaito pouts at him, it was so cute that Zero just couldn't help himself. He kissed him on the lips.
It was at that moment that they woke up from the dream.
The kitsunes woke up in human form, Furuya hugging Kaito from behind, their tails tangling together.
"Caught you…" he smiles as he hugs his love tighter.
Kaito blushes before just nuzzling him, making a satisfied and happy sound, mimicking a cat's purr as he surrenders.
Of course, the others all smile, very happy for them as they welcome Kaito into their group.
Omake:
During the welcome party (Hagiwara and Matsuda insisted), Hagiwara curiously asked about Kaito's past life.
"Ah…well…" Kaito laughs sheepishly, "I may have destroyed a gem that needed to be destroyed, along with an organization I was fighting by myself…at the cost of my life."
All of them were speechless. This heartfull, good-natured boy died destroying an organization by himself!
Zero was especially upset with this since with what he remembered, KID never asked for help with that. ' I could've helped him , dammit!'
Kaito heavily sighs, "Hopefully in this life, Kaitou KID won't be needed."
"...yeah. Hopefully…" Zero pats Kaito's head, ruffling his soft curly hair.
Since they can't do anything about it now, they have to let it go… but vow to help if it happens again.
At some point during the festivities, both the foxes decided to go into their fox form for a while.
Suddenly, Zero muzzle grabbed Kaito, lightly biting Kaito's snout while lightly growling. Not enough to hurt him, but enough to pinch. They stayed like that for a while, Kaito whining for him to let go, his ears folded back. When Zero finally did let go, they both transformed back into human form.
"Wha-what was that for?!" Kaito blushes, glaring at his lover.
Zero smiles and shrugs, "Honestly… I feel like I can't leave you alone. So, I won't."
Kaito just hugs him, burying his face in his lover's strong chest, grumbling, "...you better not."
Zero just pats his back, stroking him comfortingly, having satisfied his instincts to confirm their relationship.
For entertainment, Kaito volunteered.
Ever the entertainer, Kaito started with simple magic tricks before going into fox tricks.
He shapeshifted into a black nekomata, "Meow!"
"Nya!" Hiro meows back.
Then a weasel, which made Hagiwara happy.
"Can you do a dragon?" Hagiwara asks with curious eyes.
Kaito transforms back into human form for a moment, blinking, "I…don't know, actually. Never seen many dragons, but I can try."
He pictures Matsuda in dragon form, which he seldom saw a few times when he spied on them. However… he ends up a kitsune dragon.
The proportions of Matsuda's dragon form with a kitsune's head and tails. Unlike Matsuda, Kaito still had his fur, but gained wings, and dragon-like feet and talons.
This both impresses and terrifies them as they're once again speechless.
Kaito quickly changed back though since it seems dragon form takes a lot of energy to maintain.
Collapsing on the grass next to Furuya, Kaito sighs, panting like he's out of breath, "Remind me to never do that again… unless I absolutely have to…"
"Hai…" they all agreed.
To replenish Kaito's energy… That was when the food was brought out.
"!" Kaito yelped in fear before hiding behind his lover.
"Kaito-kun? What's wrong?" Zero asks, concerned.
The others were surprised by the kit's reaction too.
Matsuda had brought a basket of some seafood, which included crayfish, shrimp, and fish.
"G-G-Get the finny things away from me!" Kaito pleads, tears in his eyes as he clings to Furuya, not wanting to even look at it.
Matsuda just covers up the basket with a large leaf.
They never thought Kaito would be so scared of fish.
"It's OK, it's OK now. They're out of sight," Zero comforts his lover, nuzzling him as he makes reassuring noises.
Blinking away his tears, Kaito looks and sees the basket is covered up. He sighs in relief… even if it's only temporarily.
When he's calm again, Date asks, "I'm sorry if it's insensitive but…why…?"
Kaito shutters as he remembers the recently awful experience. Even in his past life, he couldn't catch a break!
His ears lowered, he answers, resting his head on Furuya's shoulder, "When I was practicing shapeshifting, I almost got eaten by one so… yeah…"
"Oh…" is all they could say.
Hiro quickly cooked the shrimp and crayfish, making sure the fish stayed out of sight. The fish was cooked and eaten whenever they thought Kaito-kun wasn't looking, Furuya distracting him successfully.
Other than that, they had a good time, and will probably spend the rest of their lives sticking together like this… hopefully.