Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Lure

Chapter 4 - To Those Who Persevere

Looking down at the detective's sleeping face, Kaito wondered if maybe this wasn't such a good idea. The detective looked far too tempting lying there on the hotel bed all oblivious and vulnerable.

He'd set himself up for one hell of a test of his self control.

Shinichi looked so peaceful when he slept. The worry lines that often marred his face when he was awake were smoothed away. His lips parted slightly as he breathed slow and even. Kaito's gaze lingered on those lips. They looked almost like they were waiting to be kissed. It would be so easy to just lean down and—

He shook himself and hurriedly backed away from the bed.

He'd brought Shinichi here so they could spend some time together away from prying eyes and without the pressure of encroaching discovery. Anything more than that… Well, only if Shinichi was willing.

Retreating to the window, Kaito fixed his gaze on the sparkling cityscape outside. Hopefully Shinichi would wake up soon. If he didn't, Kaito was going to have to leave or do something he knew he'd regret later.

-0-

Shinichi swam slowly back to consciousness. He was lying down, he mused. The surface beneath him was soft like a bed, but it wasn't his bed. That was strange. Wasn't there a KID heist today?

KID!

He shot bolt upright. It had been Hakuba—or rather it had been KID disguised as Hakuba. He must have put something in Shinichi's drink.

And now here he was, sitting in what looked like a high end hotel room, still dressed in that stupid outfit from the show complete with shiny, ruby brooch. Why hadn't the jewel been taken yet?

The room was dark but the curtains were open. The full moon outside cast its silver glow to flood the chamber with a soft light. And there, sitting on the window's deep sill, was a tall, lean figure clad in a familiar white suit and top hat. The thick, white fabric of his cape fell in heavy folds over the edge of the sill.

Shinichi opened his mouth to call the thief but KID beat him to it. "Good evening, Sleeping Beauty. Did you enjoy your nap?"

Shinichi fought back the instinctive blush and crossed his arms. "Where is this? And how long have I been asleep?"

"We're at a hotel about three miles from the building where the show was hosted. And you've only been out for two hours, give or take. I thought about waking you sooner, but you looked like you could use the sleep."

Shinichi unwound a little as the thief showed no signs of doing anything other than talk. Scooting to the edge of the bed so he could let his feet dangle over the side, he studied the visible part of the thief's face. It was relaxed and open. The thought helped set Shinichi's jangling nerves at ease as well.

"So…why did you bring me here? What do you want?"

"Want?" the thief tilted his head to the side as though thinking hard. Then he grinned. "Hmm, well, what I want most right now is to ravish you."

Shinichi flushed and threw a pillow at him. "I'm being serious!"

KID caught the pillow. "So am I~." He winked. "Though I must say, I never thought my task force would be so kind as to deliver you to me on a silver platter, so to speak. And so nicely wrapped too. Naturally, I couldn't let all that effort go to waste, so I brought you here."

"And no one noticed?" Shinichi knew he often marveled at the KID Task Force's ineptitude, but that seemed too extreme even for them. How could they possibly miss someone carrying an unconscious body out of the building? And not just any unconscious body but an unconscious body wearing the target of the night's heist pinned to his chest?

KID only laughed. "Remember who you're talking to, Tantei-kun. Of course no one saw a thing. Besides, most of them were too busy watching my show. Shame you had to miss it by the way, but I guess we can't have everything."

"So how long do you plan on keeping me here?"

"I haven't decided yet," came the offhanded reply. "I suggest you make yourself comfortable. No one's going to be coming to rescue you."

"Maybe I don't want to be rescued," Shinichi retorted, more for something to say than anything else. Then he snapped his mouth shut when he realized what he'd just said and turned beet red. He hadn't meant to let that slip.

"Oh? Is that so," the thief murmured, indigo eyes gleaming as his grin widened. His voice lowered into a purr that sent shivers up Shinichi's spine. "I'm glad to hear it."

He hopped off the sill in a swish of white cape and strolled to where Shinichi sat. The detective tensed, eyeing him warily, trying to decide whether he should stay or make a run for it. In the end, he remained still. Part of it was curiosity as to what the thief would do, but more than that he found that he didn't want to run anymore. He wanted answers, not just from KID but from himself.

By now the thief had seated himself beside Shinichi on the edge of the bed.

"Tell me, Tantei-kun, do you like me?"

They were so close that their noses were almost touching. Shinichi could feel his own breaths growing shallow, though if it was nerves or anticipation he didn't know. "What happens if I say yes?" he asked, his own voice so soft he could barely hear it himself. Blue eyes searched the thief's face.

"What would you like to happen?"

"I…don't really know," Shinichi admitted. "But I'm sure you had a plan. What would you do if I said yes?"

"That depends. Did you want the short term answer or the long term one?"

"Both."

"Well, first I would kiss you." A gloved hand ghosted up Shinichi's arm to rest lightly against his cheek, cupping the side of his face. "A proper kiss this time. As for my long term plans… I'm afraid you'll have to wait and see."

"That doesn't seem very fair."

"Oh? How so?"

Shinichi started to speak then stopped, not sure how to put into words the myriad of things he both wanted and didn't want to say. He found himself searching the deep shadows that painted the thief's face. This close, he should have had no trouble seeing KID's face, but in the darkness with the magician's top hat and monocle in place, all he could discern was the vague presence of features and the gleam of a single, indigo eye.

A quiet sigh escaped his lips and he turned away from the thief to look out the window, simultaneously pulling away from the thief's hand. Suddenly it all felt so quiet, so distant—like the world had fallen away and he was nothing but a feather spinning on the wind.

"You're not really real."

The thief blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"You can disappear any time you want to. The rest of us can't do that. Whatever we do, whatever we choose… We're stuck with them for the rest of our lives."

The thief didn't answer immediately, pondering the words. It would have been easy for him to brush them away. After all, he was just as real as the next person. He had to live with his choices the same as anyone else—and did. He was just better at not regretting them than most. But at the same time he supposed he could kind of see what Shinichi meant.

As Kaitou KID, he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted without repercussions to his life as Kuroba Kaito, the rising new star in the world of stage magicians. While the man behind the names was the same, the rest of the world couldn't see that (because he would never let them). The fact that the KID persona had already passed through two hands, his father's and his own, was proof enough of that.

He traced the detective's profile with his gaze, observing the hint of melancholy in those blue eyes he'd come to love. The thief had always been good at reading faces. And in Shinichi's face he could see wistfulness and a certain degree of resignation. But there was some hope there too, buried underneath it all.

It would be far too easy, he knew, to snuff out that hope altogether. It would depend on what the thief did now. And for the first time in a long, long time, Kaito found himself feeling uncertain.

If he made the wrong move here, he suspected he would never see Shinichi again. He couldn't let that happen. But they were standing at a crossroads here. There would be no going back to the way things had been.

"Shinichi."

The detective started. KID almost never called him by name. It was enough to make him tear his eyes from the window and look around. He got his second shock when he realized that KID had his top hat in his hands. As in not on his head.

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped as a finger was pressed to his lips. He couldn't help but notice that the finger wasn't covered in a white glove like it should have been. In fact, those were KID's gloves over there disappearing into his hat. Then both hat and gloves vanished in a small puff of smoke. Next the thief took Shinichi's hand in his and brought it up to press lightly against his monocle. Shinichi tried to pull away, but the thief had an iron grip.

"KID," he protested, moving to stand. But the thief's other hand gripped his shoulder, keeping him where he was.

"You were right. I can't expect you to trust me if I don't do the same. That is what you meant, isn't it? You think I'd just run off and leave you to pick up the pieces by yourself if things don't work out."

"I—I never said that—"

"It's quite alright. I am a little offended, but I can see where you're coming from. Consider this a promise from me. I will always be here for you. Hell, I'll be here even if you don't want me to be. You're not getting rid of me anytime soon! And since that's going to be the case, I really shouldn't be hiding my face, should I?"

"But—"

"Don't you want to know who I am?"

Shinichi swallowed, mouth dry. He did want to know. But…

The detective hesitated, nervous tension making all his muscles and joints feel like they were locked in place. A corner of his mind wondered why he was the one shaking when it was KID who had the secret identity that was about to become quite a lot less secret. But at an encouraging nod from the thief, he carefully removed the eyepiece. It was smooth and hard in his hands. He turned it over, watching the way the moonlight danced across the glass. Then he looked up and into KID's face, seeing it completely unshielded by object or shadow for the very first time.

Like a person in a dream, he set the monocle aside and reached out to run his fingertips lightly over the thief's face. He traced the man's cheekbones and the lines of his jaw, watching as the thief's lips quirked into an amused smile. There was no sign of a mask or other disguise at all. Warmth swelled in his chest, and he knew he was smiling too.

"KID…" he breathed, still half in awe that this was real.

"Kaito." Calloused hands caught his and the thief turned to press a kiss to his palms. "Kuroba Kaito. But you can just call me Kaito."

"Kaito," Shinichi repeated, testing the name. He almost laughed. "Is that really your name?"

KID—no, Kaito—grinned back. "Tou-san had a sense of humor."

Now Shinichi did laugh. "I'm sure he did."

They fell silent for a moment: Shinichi still digesting what had happened and Kaito relishing that small but genuine smile on his detective's face. A smile just for him. He gave the detective's hands a gentle squeeze and leaned forward.

Shinichi, who had completely forgotten that the thief still had a hold of his hands, blushed. Once again, they were so close he could feel the thief's breath against his face, but this time he could see the man's face. Somehow it made everything feel that much more real.

"So then," Kaito murmured. "Will you answer me now?"

Shinichi took a moment to gather himself. He didn't know what would happen after today, but he knew now that he wanted to try. He wanted Kaito in his life, not just as a thief he sometimes competed with but as a friend—no, as more than that.

"I—yes, I do."

"You remember what I said about my short term plans." The thief inched just a little closer.

The color in Shinichi's face darkened but he didn't move away. "I remember. But you might want to hurry up before I change my mi—"

He never got to finish as the thief closed the tiny distance left between their lips.

-TBC-