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

Lure

Chapter 47 - Telling Tales

Hattori showed up at the Kudo Manor on Friday evening just as he'd said he would. He had come alone, which surprised Shinichi a bit. Kazuha had always been very pushy about going wherever Heiji went, apparently unable to believe that he wasn't going out to see other girls. But Shinichi supposed that it just might be possible that the girl had grown up a bit and no longer felt threatened when Heiji went off to cases on his own.

Shinichi and Kaito had been in the Kudo Manor library when Hattori rang the doorbell. The two looked at each other, communicating through their glances more than most others might have managed with a few hundred words.

"Guess I'd better make myself scarce," Kaito noted, rising and closing the folder of diagrams he had been designing for his next show.

"Actually, you can probably stay here for tonight if you want to," Shinichi replied as he too began putting away his schoolwork. "Hattori said we'd be heading straight out. The villa's pretty far into the mountains, and we want to get there before dark. So he won't be coming in."

"I see. Well, I thank you for your offer, but it's no fun here without you." He flashed the detective a winning smile that had Shinichi blushing and rolling his eyes. "So I think I'll be heading home too. But I can lock up after you."

"All right. Thanks."

On cue, Shinichi's phone buzzed, announcing the arrival of another text message from Hattori urging him to hurry up and get outside.

"Not very patient, is he?" Kaito observed.

Shinichi snorted. "That would be an understatement." He slipped on his jacket and double checked that he had packed everything he would need in his backpack before slipping his arms through the straps. Then he leaned up to give the thief a quick peck on the lips and was pleased at the surprised but happy expression that flickered through those indigo eyes he'd come to love. "I'll see you soon."

Catching Shinichi's arm, Kaito pulled the smaller boy back for a rather more thorough kiss before he pressed their foreheads together, smiling at the blush dusted across the detective's cheeks. "Keep me updated. And be careful. If you need me for anything, just call. All right?"

Feeling rather warm and fuzzy inside, Shinichi returned the smile and the hug. "I will."

And now he really had to go before Hattori got really impatient and busted through the door. While he intended to introduce his Osakan friend to Kaito eventually, that was not the introduction he had in mind.

"It's about time!" Hattori exclaimed when he saw Shinichi hurrying down the driveway towards him. He tossed his extra helmet to the smaller detective before putting on his own and swinging a leg over his motorcycle. "Hurry up and get on. We got a lot of ground to cover."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Helmet securely buckled on, Shinichi climbed onto the motorcycle behind Heiji and wrapped his arms around the taller detective's middle.

The motorcycle's engine growled. Then the vehicle was turning out of the driveway.

Shinichi couldn't help but glance back at the house just before they left it behind, gaze searching the windows for some sign of Kaito. He didn't see anything, but he felt the sensation of invisible eyes on them, and he knew that Kaito was watching.

He resisted the urge to wave.

Then the house was a dwindling shape behind them, and the sensation of being watched went with it.

It was rather difficult to actually hold conversations on a moving motorcycle, especially when you got into the busy streets of the city then out onto the highways, so the two detectives didn't say much to one another for the first hour or so of their journey.

Instead, Shinichi spent that time thinking about how long it had been since he and Hattori had gone out to a case together. Hell, they hadn't even really spoken to each other except over the phone since that incident with the photograph (when Hattori had been monumentally unhelpful by laughing so hard that Shinichi had barely been able to understand half of what he said. Their brief encounter while he had been in disguise didn't count). And that had been, what, months ago?

It felt much longer. And Shinichi found himself feeling suddenly rather guilty, though he wasn't entirely sure why.

"Ya know," Heiji told him as they finally turned off the main road and pulled up outside a rest stop. "You've been kind of hard to get a hold of lately."

Since he'd been thinking the same thing, Shinichi blushed in embarrassment and a hint of guilt. "Sorry," he said. It sounded lame even to his own ears. "It's just… There's been a lot happening."

Hattori gave him a look with raised eyebrows. "Yeah? Like what?"

Well, he'd certainly stuck his foot in that one. Shinichi thought quickly, trying to figure out how to explain at least some of what had been going on in a way that would not involve Kaito.

"I went to see my parents in America," he said as he thought. "I spent Thanksgiving with them."

"That's good," Hattori commented then frowned, probably recalling Shinichi's somewhat unconventional relationship with his flighty, footloose parents. "Or, I don't know, is that good?"

"It was, actually," Shinichi admitted. "They were being…not entirely crazy."

Hattori guffawed at that. "Hard ta believe. I take it that means your mom didn't spend the whole time teasing you about that photo, eh?"

Shinichi fought down a blush, failed, and decided to turn away from his grinning colleague instead and head into the rest stop. "It may have come up," he grumbled. "But mom was showing some restraint for once. I'd appreciate it if you did the same. I've had more than enough of photos and the media for a lifetime in just these last few weeks."

"Oh, right," Hattori said, the humor leaving his face as he caught up to the smaller detective at the doors to the rest stop. He pulled it open before Shinichi could reach out and held the door, gesturing for his friend to precede him inside. "That case against the Daikura Magazine lady and her cameraman, right? I read about that. Seems Kiseki-san's got them pretty much on the ropes. Still, they did cause quite a ruckus with their lousy excuse for journalism. Must have been hard on ya."

Shinichi grimaced. "It wasn't much fun, that's for sure. I had to keep all the curtains drawn for a while. But I think the police had it even worse than I did."

Hattori snorted. "I can imagine. Some of the stuff I heard down the grapevine was pretty crazy. It kinda got me thinking. Nakamori and his crew are a pretty damned tough lot, and really dedicated to their cause. They're always taking flak from both sides, but they just keep on trucking. It's admirable."

"You have a point," Shinichi agreed.

"Speaking of crazy, how's that thief of yours been doing?"

Shinichi nearly choked on the coffee he'd been about to drink. He managed to swallow instead before shooting the grinning Heiji a supremely irritated glare that did nothing to hide the blush climbing up into his cheeks.

"What do you mean my thief? And what do you mean what's happened?"

"Oh come on. Everyone in Japan's gotta know by now that KID's got a thing for ya. He ain't exactly been trying ta keep it a secret. Quite the opposite, in fact. There was that whole public announcement at that heist of his and all."

"I know that," Shinichi grumbled, doing his best to hide in his coffee cup. "I was there."

"So?" Heiji prompted, earning himself a nonplussed stare from Shinichi.

"So what?" the other detective asked right back.

The Osakan rolled his eyes. "So?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, smirking. "How's that been working out for ya?"

Shinichi stared at his friend, trying to figure out exactly what Heiji was trying to get at. Was Heiji actually asking him if he and the Kaitou KID were in a relationship? If so, was he asking in earnestness or in jest? It was kind of hard to tell with Heiji at times. Shinichi thought his Osakan colleague was just as likely to find the idea of Shinichi's dating a thief to be hilarious as he was to find it objectionable.

That being said, it would be helpful to figure out which side of the fence Heiji was on before Shinichi tried to introduce him to Kaito.

He found himself wishing he could just blurt everything out—that he and Kaito were indeed in a serious relationship. They'd even introduced each other to both their parents. And hey, wouldn't you know, the KID's entire family were thieves!

Shinichi kept his mouth firmly shut as he reined in the sudden and unwise impulse to spill everything that had been going on over the past few months since he and Kaito had set out to bring their respective civilian lives closer and closer together. For now, all he needed was to maybe lay some groundwork.

First, he had to find out what Heiji actually thought about KID and his amorous intentions towards Shinichi.

"He…may have approached mea few times outside of work," Shinichi said slowly as he tried to decide how much to say and what words to use.

"Really?" Heiji seemed startled that Shinichi would admit such a thing, but then his detective's curiosity kicked in, and he leaned forward. "Where? When?"

"Oh, uh…just sort of…here and there," Shinichi mumbled a bit lamely. He should have thought this through more thoroughly, shouldn't he? "He may have been by my house a few times."

Heiji's jaw dropped. "Kaitou KID visits you at home?"

"Keep your voice down," Shinichi hissed, trying and failing to suppress a blush.

Heiji made a face, but when he spoke again, it was indeed at a much lower volume. "Seriously, what are you thinking?!"

"Why are you asking me?" Shinichi grumbled back. "He's the one doing the visiting."

The Osakan detective's expression went through a series of peculiar contortions before settling into something that resembled a cross between incredulity, amusement and dismay. "If I didn't know ya, I'd say you were joking."

Shinichi just lifted a shoulder in a half shrug and drank some more coffee as he waited for Heiji to finish digesting the news.

"I can't help but notice that ya don't really seem ta mind," the Detective of the West said finally. "So I take it he hasn't been doin' anything weird."

Shinichi couldn't resist a snort of laughter. "Are we talking about the same person here?"

Heiji made a face at that. "Okay, yeah, forget I said that. Really though, what's the story?"

Shinichi shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. "It's…complicated."

Heiji didn't look impressed. "I could've guessed that much on my own. Kind of goes without saying, all considered." He paused, giving Shinichi a hard, searching look. "Well?"

Shinichi only looked down into his coffee cup, frowning. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"Ya can start with what KID's been doing at your house."

"Well, we play a lot of chess," Shinichi offered.

"Chess…" Heiji echoed, looking dubious.

"He's an excellent player," Shinichi said by way of explanation.

This made the other detective roll his eyes. "He's practically gotta be with a mind as twisty as his. What else?"

Shinichi shifted again. "We…eat together sometimes. Have coffee, talk… You know, just the usual." He shrugged, endeavoring to illustrate just how ordinary it all was despite the less than ordinary circumstances and company.

Heiji's face went through its odd contortionist routine again before he managed to say in slow, measured tones that gave Shinichi very little indication of his actual thoughts on the matter, "So, in other words, you've been having chess and dinner dates with the Kaitou KID." The Osakan shook his head. "Seriously, you're insane."

Shinichi couldn't help but feel mildly offended. "I don't know what you mean."

"You're letting a thief wander around inside your house."

"It's not like I own any large gemstones he might want to steal," Shinichi pointed out.

For some reason, his comment drew a smirk from Heiji. "Depends on how ya look at it." His mirth faded just as quickly as it had come to be replaced by a speculative frown. "I take it that means he really meant it."

Shinichi couldn't hide his blush, which was all the confirmation Heiji needed.

If ya know that though," the Osakan detective continued. "Why aren't you more freaked out about this?"

It was, Shinichi had to admit, a fair question. The normal reaction to catching the eye of an international thief should probably include a considerable amount of freaking out, especially if you were a detective. It was, however, one reaction that Shinichi had experienced very little of in regards to his situation with KID even back when he had been certain that the thief was just joking around.

"I think I spent so much time believing he was just teasing me that, by the time I realized he wasn't, it was all just…well, just KID," he mused. "I know he won't hurt me. So there isn't really any need to freak out."

Heiji blinked. "Okay… I guess I can see that. But ya realize he's still a criminal. Ya never know when he might decide ta change the rules on ya. Maybe ya turn him down, and he decides he's gonna take what he wants anyway."

"He's not that kind of person," Shinichi said hotly. He realized a moment later from the triumphant look that flitted across Heiji's face that he'd walked into the other detective's trap.

"Ya like him," Heiji stated more than asked. "And ya obviously trust him. So the only question is, what kind of like is it?"

Well, Shinichi thought, it seemed like that introduction was going to have to take place sooner rather than later.

Shinichi was teetering on the verge of just spilling the whole story (sans the more…personal bits that Heiji really did not need to hear) when he was interrupted by the ringing of a phone. Grumbling at the inconvenient timing, Heiji answered it.

"Hello? Yeah. We're on our ay now." Pause. "Ah, I understand. It shouldn't be a problem. Right. Just two. Nah, anything's fine. Okay. We'll see you soon then. Bye."

He stood as he hung up. "We better get going. There was some trouble on the road, so we're gonna have to take a detour. If we don't leave now, we won'tget there before dark, and the raod through the mountains is too dangerous to navigate at night. But don't think this means you're off the hook," he added with a pointed glare at the shorter detective. "We're going to have this talk."

Shinichi didn't doubt that for a second. Still, he was glad for the reprieve. This would give him some time to think about how to say what he wanted to say.

-To Be Continued-