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

Lure

Chapter 8 - Let's Try Again

Shinichi was slowly starting to really dislike Hakuba. He had never had much issue with the blond before. They worked together on occasion, and though Hakuba was a bit uptight and picky about some things, he was a decent enough detective. Shinichi respected his abilities. He also quite enjoyed having someone around with whom to discuss Sherlock Holmes.

Recently, however—or not quite so recently anymore—every time he met the blond, he would inevitably find himself being interrogated about KID.

"Has he contacted you recently?" was how this latest conversation had begun outside of the coffee shop where Shinichi had stopped to buy a few bags of coffee beans to replenish his stock before heading home from the bookstore. He no longer had to ask who Hakuba was referring to. Judging from the blond's questions today, it seemed that he and the police were still trying to figure out where exactly it was he and KID had been that night after the heist in the hopes that there might be some evidence there or something. They'd scoured the city's hotels and come up empty handed. Now they were looking into other places that might offer lodgings (and therefore getting further and further from their goal). The fact that it was almost impossible that they would ever find the place, let alone any evidence in it, didn't seem to daunt them at all. Then again, that was just one of the traits of the KID Task Force—no matter how futile they knew it was going to be, they would try it anyway on the off chance that they'd strike gold. It wasn't a bad trait to have when chasing particularly devious criminals, but it did lead to extremely busy and often fruitless days.

Hakuba had wanted to know if Shinichi could remember anything else that might help the search. He'd asked for details about the color of the curtains, the pattern of the bathroom tiles, the types of wall art, and even the make and model of the television. Shinichi dodged what he could and was as vague as he could manage and still be believable about the rest. He felt a little guilty about it, but the evening really had been private business, and he reasoned with himself that it wasn't hurting anyone. When Hakuba was still at it almost an hour later though, he'd had enough.

"You've asked me all this before. I've already told you everything I can," he snapped. "Asking me everything three times isn't going to change my answers."

The blond actually looked affronted. "I only wished to make things clear. You should understand the necessity of having accurate evidence."

"I do, and I appreciate that you're working hard on this," Shinichi conceded. "But I really don't have anything else to say about it. If I do think of anything new, I'll be sure to call you."

Hakuba studied his face for several moments as though trying to read his sincerity before giving a stiff nod. "In that case, I shall take my leave. Good day, Kudo-san."

Shinichi watched the blond go with a certain degree of foreboding. He shook off the feeling once Hakuba was out of sight and continued on his way home.

Halfway there he spotted a familiar figure with shoulder-length hair in the crowd and ducked hurriedly into a side street. The last thing he needed right now was to bump into Sonoko. His hair stood on end just thinking about it.

Fortunately, he eventually made it home without tripping over anymore nosy or homicidal acquaintances or being called into another case. Relieved, he made sure to lock and bolt the door behind himself. He walked into the kitchen to make himself some coffee—and found Kaito sitting at his kitchen table, drinking a cup of the aforementioned coffee while reading a newspaper.

Shinichi blinked, but the thief was still there. "Kaito?"

"Welcome back," the thief said without looking up from his paper. "I went ahead and made the coffee. To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to be out so early on a day with no classes. Did a case come up?"

"Uh, no, I just had to run a few errands… How did you know I didn't have classes? I don't remember telling you my schedule."

Now the thief did look up to give him a sly grin and a wink. "What kind of kaitou would I be if I couldn't find out something as simple as a detective's schedule?"

"…You can be a little creepy sometimes, you know that?"

Kaito feigned a look of innocence. "Whatever do you mean?"

Sighing, Shinichi walked past him to put away the handful of food items he'd gone out to buy. "I met Hakuba while I was out."

"Did you make sure he didn't follow you home?"

Shinichi's brows drew together as he poured himself some coffee and sat down across from Kaito. "I didn't realize I had to."

Kaito wagged a finger at him. "Never underestimate a detective's ability to be a pest—present company excluded, of course. But in any case, I have birds watching the area. They'll let us know if any unwanted guests show up."

"Does this mean you don't have classes today either?"

"Strictly speaking, I had one, but today's a review section so it doesn't really matter if I miss it."

"So…are you going to tell me why you're here?"

"I'm here to take you out on our first date."

Shinichi looked confused. "But we already had a first date."

"That one didn't count. Much as I enjoyed our little photo shoot, hiding in cramped spaces half the time isn't a proper date. I did promise you a proper one, didn't I?"

Shinichi flushed at the reminder of the photo booth incident and the pictures he hadn't managed to get rid of.

"So then what did you have in mind?" he asked.

Kaito only grinned. "You'll find out soon. Just finish up your coffee so we can head out."

-0-

It was warm on the train. Kaito still hadn't told Shinichi where they were going, but the detective had decided that he didn't mind waiting to find out. It was enough to be here with Kaito.

The magician was sitting in the seat beside him with a baseball cap and green contact lenses. He had left Shinichi's house as Takagi-keiji. They had walked part of the way chatting about made-up cases like they were real before "Takagi" took his leave. Shinichi had gone on to the train station by himself, only to be met just inside by a bearded gentleman with a nasty scar and even nastier squint. Where he'd discarded that disguise, Shinichi had no idea. He only knew that by the time Kaito had ushered him onto a train, the magician had looked more or less like himself—albeit with the aforementioned contacts. The detective didn't know if this rather extreme level of caution was really necessary, but Kaito had insisted that it was.

But now that operation Board the Train was over, they could relax.

"And this time I made triply sure we won't be running into Aoko or the idiot," the thief was saying.

"Do I want to know how?" Shinichi couldn't resist asking.

"Probably not. But if you really insist on asking, I will oblige you with an answer." He cocked an eyebrow at the detective, eyes agleam like a little boy eager to share his tarantula collection.

"Er, no thanks," Shinichi said hastily. "By the way, Ran sort of…implied that she would like to meet you."

"Oh?" The thief considered this ambiguous statement for a few moments. "Would this be the "I'm going to practice my karate moves on his face for being a pervert" kind of wanting to meet me or the "I'd like to get to know him better to make sure he'll take good care of my friend" kind of meet me?"

"Probably the second. And did you just call yourself a pervert?"

Kaito waved a hand airily. "I was just illustrating a point."

"Oh. Anyway, I get the feeling that she approves of the idea of…" Shinichi trailed off and waved a hand to indicate the two of them, a hint of color rising in his face. "Us. Though I'm not sure why."

"Because she knows I'm awesome and there couldn't possibly be anyone better?" Kaito suggested, smirking.

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Somehow, I don't think that's it. I think it's more like she thinks I don't meet normal people, and you're the lesser of many evils, so to speak."

The thief laughed. "Well, if circumstances allow, I would be happy to meet her. Though that brings us to a certain little problem."

"You mean the one where we haven't actually met?"

"That's the one. I don't intend this to be a secret forever."

Shinichi was glad to hear that. It gave him a certain sense of security, like it was a promise from the thief that he would be staying. "Did you have something in mind?"

"I'm working on it. I was just wondering if this means I can take Mouri-chan's cooperation into consideration. It does considerably expand the possibilities, although it would also raise the risk."

They tossed around a few ideas, but somehow managed to wander off topic into a discussion about mystery literature. Neither of them minded though. After all, they had all the time in the world now, right?

-0-

They had disembarked in Osaka.

"First up, lunch!" Kaito announced, slinging an arm over Shinichi's shoulders. "I had a show here not long ago. Found some pretty good restaurants while I was at it."

"Do you travel a lot for your performances?"

"Quite a bit, though mostly it's not so far that I can't be home by the end of the week."

"Almost all your heists have been in or around Tokyo though."

"Well~, I wanted to make sure you could make it. You don't often show up when I'm not working in the area. Which, by the way, was most impolite of you, ignoring my personal invitations like that."

"If you wanted to see me, you could have just come to visit."

"I did, actually, but you generally weren't awake enough to talk to me."

"…That's the kind of information you should keep to yourself."

The light bantering continued all the way until they reached the restaurant. Shinichi was slightly confused by the fact that they were in one of the few eateries overlooking the bay that served no seafood, but when he'd asked about it all Kaito had said was that seafood was overrated.

Things were going well until they neared the end of their meal. That was when the shop's door opened again to admit another customer—two of them, in fact. Two that Shinichi recognized immediately. He froze.

Kaito noticed instantly. "Shinichi?"

"That's Hattori," the detective whispered, sliding down lower in his seat. "And Kazuha."

Kaito cast a casual glance in the direction Shinichi was staring like someone simply taking a look at his surroundings. "Yep, looks like him. You might want to stop staring if you don't want to catch his attention."

Shinichi groaned and brought a hand up to his face. "Of all the people to run into…"

"Well, Tantei-han does live in Osaka," Kaito pointed out. "And he rarely attends my heists. From what you've said, he also doesn't like Hakuba much, so it's unlikely they're going to sit down for a friendly chitchat."

"You don't know Hattori. He's the worst person at keeping a secret. I can't even count the number of times he slipped up over my name while I was still Conan—and you should have heard his excuses."

"I take it they were lame."

Shinichi winced. He wouldn't have been quite that blunt about it. "For the most part. He really is a good friend, but…"

"In that case, I suppose we need to make sure he doesn't see you."

That, Shinichi thought, was going to be easier said than done. Hattori was currently distracted as he waved his arms while talking to Kazuha, but soon he would look around. People like Hakuba scoffed about how the dark-skinned detective could be hotheaded, but Shinichi knew that his friend was a good detective despite that—and that meant he was observant and above averagely nosey.

On the other side of the table, Kaito took a moment to finish up the last of his food before speaking again. "Go to the restroom. I'll meet you there after I talk to the front desk. I can whip us up a disguise in no time."

Seeing as it was probably their best option, Shinichi got up and hurried towards the restroom at the back of the restaurant. Stepping inside, he was relieved to find it empty. It would be pretty pointless to put on disguises in front of an audience.

The door opened and he spun around quickly. Seeing Kaito, he relaxed.

"It's a shame I don't have any more contacts on me right now," the thief said as he produced a whole string of materials from what looked like thin air.

"We can't be in here too long or someone might come in and see," Shinichi reminded him.

"Right. Nothing too complex. Got it. Come here."

A blond wig and a dash of makeup later Shinichi looked at himself in the mirror and marveled at the stranger staring back. While a close inspection would reveal a certain similarity between this person and himself, Kaito had managed to create the effect of a completely different person with only a handful of subtle changes. While the detective studied his handiwork, the thief set about adjusting his own face. A few minutes later a slightly older man had taken his place. He still had his green contacts on, and he'd used some gel to restyle his hair into something a little less reminiscent of a bird's nest. Lastly, he handed Shinichi the baseball hat he'd been wearing earlier.

"Just a little extra precaution," he explained. "Ready?"

Disguises in place, they left the restroom—and walked straight into Hattori on his way in. Shinichi stumbled back a step, hand flying up to make sure the hat stayed on his head as Kaito caught his shoulder to steady him.

"Whoa, sorry!" Hattori exclaimed.

"I—it's alright, I'm fine," Shinichi blurted out then cursed himself as Hattori frowned. He should have tried pitching his voice higher or lower. He could just see the other detective trying to figure out why his voice sounded so familiar.

"Hey, have we met somewhere?"

"Uh, what? I—I don't think—"

"It's pretty unlikely," Kaito cut in before Shinichi could dig the hole any deeper. "This is our first time in Osaka," he continued with a brilliant smile that all but glowed with false honesty. "I have to say, it's an amazing city."

"Sure is," Hattori agreed with a proud grin of his own. "Best city in Japan. So you guys been here long? If ya haven't seen it yet, ya gotta go see…" Hattori continued to ramble on about several of the must-see sites around his beloved home city, egged on by Kaito who seemed to know exactly what to say and when to say it to drive the conversation farther and farther from troublesome waters.

As they talked, the suspicious curiosity melted out of the dark-skinned detective. By the time they heard Kazuha calling for him, he had already put together an entire itinerary for the two 'tourists' and even offered to show them around. Kaito declined the offer with a regretful declaration that they had relatives to catch up with.

Shinichi began to breathe more easily as they watched Hattori making his way through the tables to where his girlfriend was already seated. "That was close."

Kaito chuckled. "At least we learned a lot about Osaka."

It was only fifteen minutes—though it felt like years—later that they emerged into the outside.

And of course, just to put the icing on the cake, that was when somebody screamed.

-0-

The train ride back to Tokyo was a quiet one, but the easy warmth from the trip away had dissolved to be replaced by a more somber mood.

"I'm sorry."

Kaito turned to the detective seated beside him, eyebrows rising. "What are you apologizing for?"

Shinichi had his face towards the window, but the thief could see his face reflected in the glass. He didn't particularly like the expression he was seeing. It was withdrawn and much too grim. He had seen a hint of it earlier when they'd run into that case, but during all the running around and gathering of evidence it had been eclipsed by that fierce concentration and determination that he had seen many a time on his detective's face. With the case closed, however, that light had faded, leaving this behind.

"Tantei-kun?" he prompted gently when Shinichi didn't immediately respond.

The detective sighed and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry we ended up spending most of today on that case."

"That's hardly your fault. Besides, I've been itching to try that putty bomb on someone. Today was an excellent test run."

"This sort of thing happens a lot though, when I go places. I just thought I should warn you."

Kaito chuckled. "Believe me when I say that that is not news to me."

"It means my schedule can be a bit…unpredictable."

"My dear Shinichi, you are speaking to the king of unpredictable."

The detective finally cracked a smile. "I guess I can't really argue with that. I just…I mean, I know it can bother people—the bodies and stuff, but it just sort of happens and I can't ignore it—"

"Shinichi," Kaito cut in before the detective could ramble any further. "It's okay. These things happen. And you shouldn't ignore it. Murderers shouldn't be allowed to walk away from their crimes." Indigo eyes flashed, hardening to ice for an instant before softening again as they refocused on Shinichi's face. "Besides, you wouldn't be you if you ignored these things." He ducked and placed a quick peck on the detective's cheek before straightening with a grin. "And if you weren't you, and I wasn't me, then we wouldn't be here. Don't worry, I'm going to make sure we get our uninterrupted date or my name isn't Kuroba Kaito!"

-TBC-