the detective

Kaito, hurry up! Aoko will only take a few minutes but with you walking so slowly it'll be dinner time before we even reach the police station!"

Kaito let out a huff, loud enough so that his childhood friend could hear even when she was ten steps ahead, and purposefully let his strides slow. "Why are you in such a hurry, Ahouko?" He taunted, ignoring the strain it was putting on his stomach to talk. "It's not like the station is going to disappear if we don't get there soon and you were the one who insisted I come even though I said I didn't want to."

"BaKaito! You promised Aoko so you need to stick to your promise! It'll only take a few minutes so hurry up!"

With another huff Kaito hurried his steps a bit until he was side by side with Aoko, not really wanting to aggravate her enough to start a chase. It's been five days since the strange detective had saved him and Kaito was still in pain. But, at least he was in pain outside of a jail cell, which was much more than he thought could have been possible with someone besides his mother and Jii-chan knowing what Kaitou KID's real face looked like.

He even managed to go to school today, returning from his 'sudden family emergency leave'. Aoko wasn't happy about his sudden disappearance and to make up for it she made him promise to treat her to some ice cream after school. Kaito — who was being threatened by a mop and with the hole in his stomach not feeling so up to doing acrobatics — agreed.

Except now he was following Aoko as she led him to the police station, needing to drop off her father's dinner since he had to stay late today.

Kaito always hated going to the police station. Everything about it just reminded him about how much everyone hated KID and just wanted him behind bars. Really, it was filled with people who dedicated their work to see him caught and he rather not be stuck in a building surrounded by them.

Though, he supposed it was rather hard to not be surrounded by KID-haters when literally everyone was one. Except for his mother and Jii-chan…and that detective, maybe.

The thought of the detective distracted Kaito as he tried yet again to reason out why his identity wasn't reveled yet.

Not that he wanted to have the police at his doorstep or anything. (And how fast the police could be knocking on his door when the Inspector in charge of bringing him down was living right next door.) But ever since he could remember, people hated KID.

So why would the detective not expose him?

He researched as much as he could on the detective but everything he read only confused him further. Apparently this Kudou Shinichi was rather famous with tons of fans across Japan — and even some in New York and London due to some case he solved there. People praised his high morals and his sense of justice, always going above and beyond to solve a case with as little casualties as possible.

But, if that was true…why didn't he turn Kaito in?

He could maybe understand why the detective might have treated his wounds, if the stories of how he 'bravely' stopped murders from committing suicide are real, but once Kaito's life wasn't at stake what was stopping Kudou from turning him in?

It just didn't make any sense…

"—ito! Kaito! Kaito!"

With a jolt (Ouch. Right. Hole in stomach. Sudden movements not good.) Kaito was startled out of his musings. Gathering his bearings, Kaito pointedly covered his ear that was being yelled in a moment ago. "What is it? You don't need to be so loud, you know."

"Really?" Kaito was expecting Aoko to get riled up and start shouting, not give him a concerned look. "Kaito's been acting strange all day. You didn't do any of the things you usually do and you've been…quite. Aoko's worried."

And damn, that just shows how out of it he's been today, huh? Maybe he shouldn't have returned to school so quickly, his wound has been bothering him so he didn't want to make any unnecessary stunts, but of course that would seem strange when he would usually never stop with them. He quickly masked his face to drop, giving a tired grin, "Sorry, Aoko. I just returned home this morning and didn't have much sleep is all."

Immediately Aoko's face lit with understanding and Kaito felt the familiar guilt for lying to her hit. But, it was necessary, even if he wished he didn't have to trick his own childhood friend so often.

"Idiot, why didn't you say so before? We could have just gotten ice-cream another day…" And now Aoko is looking guilty and that was not what Kaito wanted at all.

With a quick snap and a small burst of smoke, a dove was perched on his finger before it jumped to Aoko's shoulder to tuck a rose behind her ear. Aoko smiled, the worry fading slight from her face (but still lingering), and reached over to pet the dove gently.

"Don't worry so much," Kaito reassured as he watched his dove nuzzle into Aoko's touch. "If I was really not feeling up to it I would have said something. Besides, who could resist ice-cream? Even if I was threatened to pay for it all…"

"Aoko never threatened you!" Aoko's sudden voice made the dove fly up in the air, disappear in a puff of smoke.

Kaito made his grin turn teasing, "Really? I'm pretty sure if you brandish a weapon at someone it's considered threatening behavior. Shouldn't the daughter of an inspector know this? Actually, wouldn't your father be really disappointed if he knew that you were threatening poor, innocent, magicians?"

Although the resulting chase had him aching, the way the worry disappeared completely from Aoko's face was well worth it in his opinion.

Kaito was an idiot. He was an idiot who was going to be put in jail and never see the light of day again. (Except not really since he was sure he could break out of any jail cell they put him in, but he still wasn't looking forward to having to go into hiding for the rest of his life.)

Point was, he was an idiot.

Aoko had given him a chance to back out. To get ice-cream another day so he would rest (and more importantly not go to the police station), but no, he just had to go anyways and now he was going to go to jail.

The reason for his current mental freak out was sitting at the conference table. Kudou Shinichi, the one who knew what KID looked like, was sitting at a police conference table. During a conference about KID.

Which meant he was helping the task force and likely giving any information he knew which included KID's identity and now Kaito just walked in like an idiot and he was so going to jail now wasn't he and oh my gosh they just made eye contact poker face poker face —

He quickly cut off his mental tirade because while he was surely justified in doing so, it didn't really help with his act of being an innocent teenager who was not the infamous Kaitou KID.

The fact that Kaito could see the recognition in Kudou's eyes didn't help so much either, but he tried to ignore it and instead slowly inched his way to the door so he could get a head start on his escape.

He managed to make it to the door when the scraping of chair legs on the floor startled him enough to freeze and turn immediately to the source of the sound.

Kudou gave a polite smile before he coughed and said, "I'll be right back. Bathroom." And then made he his way to the door. Which, incidentally because of his attempt to get a head start, was exactly where Kaito was standing.

His first instinct was to bolt right there and it was only because of how obviously detrimental that would be to his cover that he didn't. After all, Kudou had said he was going to the bathroom, right? He didn't say anything about Kaito being KID. But what if he had said something before Kaito came in and now was approaching Kaito in a casual way to catch him off-guard? No, he highly doubted Nakamori could pretend to act so calm if he knew KID's real identity.

But then what?

Shoot, he was out of time Kudou was right there and coming closer.

Instantly Kaito jumped to the side, wincing when the movement pulled at his stomach unpleasantly, and watched for any signed of handcuffs. Kudou for his part merely raised his eyebrow — Kaito swore there was a smirk there too — and closed the door behind him.

Not before giving a little tilt of his head towards the hallway. Kaito only wished he didn't know what that meant.

So, right. He had a decision to make. Because obviously Kudou wanted him to go out to the hallway as well (why was anyone's guess) but frankly, being alone with the detective that knew his identity was the last thing he wanted to do. Who knew what Kudou had planned? What if the detective was going to gloat about his identity being exposed and then blackmail Kaito into doing all sorts of things?

(Kaito knew how ridiculous that sounded — that didn't sound like anything the Kudou he read about in the papers would do.)

But so what if he was being paranoid? He had every right to be. Kudou knew his identity and that was his worst not fish related nightmare come true.

(But, his mind nudged him, Kudou hasn't done anything with the information yet. And he did help Kaito big time and probably saved his life. The dull ache in Kaito's stomach was proof of that.)

Kaito was really not liking his mind right now. And people wondered why he hated logic.

With a silent groan, he whispered a quick excuse to Aoko and exited the room to face the one person who had the most blackmail material on him in forever. (Akako didn't count for various reasons.)

Kudou was waiting for him, not even trying to hide the fact that he was. With that smug look of his, he was leaning against the wall directly opposite of the door with his hands in his pockets — the epitome of nonchalance.

With another head tilt — would it kill the guy to say something instead of making vague gestures? — Kudou indicated for Kaito to follow as he made his way down the hall.

With more than a little reluctance, and Kaito firmly believed he had every right to be reluctant, he followed. The pace they were walking was rather slow, which was good for Kaito's wound, but made him suspicious and Kaito made sure to keep a good distance from the detective at all times. Despite doing his best effort to avoid the police station at all cost, he did know the layout very well (insurance for the worse case scenarios) so he was already planning the best routes to take to get to the nearest exits, when the detective stopped walking.

Blinking in confusion — they were only a little bit away from the room of the KID conference, though this hallway was void of other people — Kaito wondered what the other was up to, when Kudou did the last thing Kaito expected him to do.

"Kudou Shinichi, detective."

Kaito blinked again. An introduction. Kaito already knew the other's name and knew he was a detective, but it was still an introduction. Which obviously meant Kaito should give one in return.

So Kudou wanted a name?

Kaito's first instinct's shouted no, but honestly, what was the harm? Kudou could probably find out his name easily by now. He only really needed to ask Nakamori — passing it off as a simple curiosity would work — and it wasn't like not giving his name would mean Kaito was free from conviction or anything. Again, finding his name would be a simple matter. Kudou really had all the blackmail materials he needed.

So with an inclination of his head, and making sure his voice would be steady and calm like he still had all the cards (the biggest lie of the century but Kaito was good at making lies seem believable), he said simply, "Kuroba Kaito." He didn't add onto his introduction even though normally he would be doing magic tricks and aweing people.

He steeled his nerves and thought he was prepared for whatever Kudou threw at him, but then, Kudou did another unexpected thing. He smiled.

About what, Kaito honestly had no idea. This detective was really confusing him more and more and it was such a change from normal Kaito was feeling lost despite himself. Wasn't he supposed to be the unpredictable one?

"What are you up to?" It took a moment before Kaito realized he was the one who spoke.

It turns out his words were a surprise to Kudou as well (did he get points for that?) because he gave Kaito a strange look before he shrugged.

"Not sure what you mean." He said in a voice way too calm for Kaito's liking. (He found detectives are best when kept unsteady otherwise they were able to think and their thinking usually got in Kaito's way of well, everything.)

Though Kaito wasn't exactly sure what he meant either, but he wanted answers and talking was better than the silence so he asked again, "What are you planning? Why are you doing—" Kaito made vague hand motions, "—this?"

Kudou cocked his head to the side (it somehow reminded Kaito of a curious child though he had no idea why), and shrugged again, "I was just curious. If you would really follow me and what your name was. Couldn't that be reason enough?"

"No."

That made Kudou chuckle, though it turned into a cough (a pretty poor attempt to cover up his amusement in Kaito's opinion).

Kudou cleared his throat before responding, "Well, sorry to disappoint, but I don't know what you were expecting. This isn't some elaborate trap to put you in jail, though, if you were worried."

"As if I would be worried about that." Kaito denied, even if it was spot on. There was no way he would give any more leverage to the detective. "Though I have to wonder, why wouldn't you? You certainty have a lot of evidence against me. I didn't even try to look for old bloodstained bandages before I left," something Kaito regretted two hours after he was safely in his home, "and who knows what other DNA you took while I was asleep." Hair, fingerprints, maybe even both. Anything could spell big trouble for Kaito.

Kudou gave him another weird look, "…You don't sound worried at all. Yeah." He gave a smirk in response to Kaito's frown and kept talking after clearing his throat again, "But you don't have to worry. I took none of those things. Though I guess your bloodstained bandages are still in the trash at my house, I wasn't planning to take them to the police or anything either."

Kaito's disbelief must have shown on his face because the detective continued.

"Don't you think if I wanted you in jail I wouldn't have let you leave in the first place?"

Well yes, that was pretty logical but — "What if you just wanted me to heal first?" Which, now that Kaito actually said it aloud, sounded pretty stupid.

"I could have kept you confined in my house if that was the case." Kaito had a vague feeling that the detective was laughing at him. "Do you really not believe that I won't do anything to compromise your identity?"

The 'yes' slipped out before Kaito could stop it.

Kudou gave another shrug, "Well, by now an—" he cut off with a cough that shook his entire body. Which, was a bit worrying, especially when he didn't seem to be stopping.

"O-oi!" Kaito made a move to reach out, uncaring about the way his stomach protested but froze before he made contact anyways, suddenly unsure of what to do. "A-are you — I mean — what's wrong?" Because it was obvious that the detective was not okay but Kaito couldn't see why.

Kudou waved him off even as he continued his coughing fit, turning a bit away from Kaito and Kaito was left with nothing to do but to debate with himself if he should get someone to help or just continue to stand there unhelpfully like Kudou apparently wanted him to do.

He never got to make a choice because soon the coughing stopped. Kudou slowly took his hand away from his mouth with a resigned air, before he looked at his palm and seemed relieved. It was all strange to Kaito, but he was too busy realizing that now that he was actually looking at Kudou instead of freaking out, there was sweat forming on the detective's forehead and he seemed to be breathing a bit too heavily for normal.

"Ahh, sorry about that." Kudou's voice brought Kaito out from his observations, and Kudou just carried on like nothing happened. "Well, I suppose I can't really give you proof of my intentions, but I really don't plan to turn you in. It was nice meeting you, though."

And with that apparently Kudou was done with the conversation, but Kaito was not.

Before the detective could take more than three steps, Kaito grabbed his arm. "Oi, you can't just walk away like that." Kaito was still completely confused on what the detective was planning, but more importantly, "Those coughs made you sound like you were dying."

Kudou just gave a smile that Kaito suspects was supposed to reassure him, but it wasn't working. "I just have a bit of a cold, is all. I wasn't expecting it to get so bad so quickly, but it isn't anything to worry about. I'll wear a mask next time."

Kaito allowed the incredulous expression to show on his face because really? Did Kudou think Kaito was trying to scold him on not using a face mask? "That's—"

But Kaito stopped talking abruptly as Kudou coughed some more and he could feel how badly the detective's body shook with each cough.

"There is no way you are okay." Kaito decided to state the obvious since it seemed that Kudou wanted to ignore it. "You should head home and rest…"

Kudou managed to control his coughing and pulled away from Kaito's grasp to wave at the air again. "I was going to, don't worry. I'll just—" it was only because Kaito was paying attention that he saw how the detective swayed a bit on his feet, "I'll just be going now."

Making an impulsive decision as he could see the detective's eyes glazing over, Kaito stated, "I'll walk you there."

"…huh?"

"How long do you plan to stalk me?"

Kaito let himself grin widely at that remark, "It's not really stalking if you know that I'm here, and invited me in."

Kudou grumbled, saying something that sounded like 'Like I had a choice, you crazy phantom thief', which only made his grin grow ever wider.

They were in the Kudou manor now, Kaito having following the detective home despite the other's protests.

Truthfully, Kaito was debating if he should leave Kudou to rest in peace, but honestly, Kaito did want answers and he wasn't sure if he would be able to muster enough courage up to search out the detective himself after this.

Though then again, he wasn't very inclined to interrogate a sick person, so there is that.

"Are you going to watch me sleep or something?"

Kaito blinked out of his musing to wonder what the detective was talking about before, oh, they were now in Kudou's bedroom (the same room Kaito remembered being in almost a week ago), and Shinichi was sitting on his bed with a pointed look.

Um.

Before Kaito could do much then stare like an idiot, Kudou sighed and crossed his arms. "So? You have more questions, right? Go ahead."

Kaito wondered how Kudou could have possibly known that before he remembered, right, detective. The way he was breathing was probably some sort of obscure indicator to the other.

Except now Kaito was feeling vaguely lost again because he pretty much asked everything he wanted to of Kudou — pretty much only 'Why am I still jail-free?' — and he hasn't gotten an answer.

Kudou, as if reading this thoughts (Kaito couldn't stand detectives for this reason), sighed again. "It's not that hard to believe, is it?" He raised an eyebrow at Kaito, who had no idea how to answer or what he was even talking about.

"I mean," Kudou continued even without a response, "Even without the debt I owe, I don't have much reason to want to turn Kaitou KID in. He hasn't ever physically harmed anyone, and he would always return his heist targets, so…"

Kaito stared in shock, his mouth hanging open and he didn't even care because — "What…did you say?"

Kudou looked at him in confusion, apparently not understanding how shocking his own words were, "Hmm? Did I misunderstand something?"

And Kaito was wondering if he maybe misheard something, or maybe Kudou was sicker than he thought and was now delirious because —

"KID hasn't returned a jewel in eleven years."

It all started when Kaito was still six. He didn't remember the event, but he's seen plenty of news reports talking about it — it was mentioned every time KID announced a heist, even eleven years later. Everyone knew about the night when KID stopped returning his heist targets.

An elderly, rich man sent a notice out to KID through the newspaper about how he would allow KID to take any jewelry from his possession — as long as it was safely returned. It made the police protest with vengeance and KID fans happy with anticipation every day following the man's proclamation until KID sent a heist note targeting the man's family's heirloom.

It a beautiful necklace with a large gem that would fall just below the wearer's collarbone. And more importantly, a myth about how the owner would be granted one wish during every full moon. It wasn't likely Pandora, but Kaito had found in his father's notes that he just wanted to create a spectacular heist for the man and world to witness.

The man refused to cooperate with the police, much to their frustration, and countless fans surrounded the house and cheered the thief on from way before the start of the heist, until way after it had ended. The heist was a success, spectacular in every sense of the word, and every single one of the people who came out for the night found a rose somewhere among their possessions when they arrived back home, including the police. The owner himself received a thank you note along with a bouquet and a promise to return the gem in the morrow.

The following morning, the gem was still missing.

Days passed and the man had pleaded with KID to return the necklace, made his pleas on both the newspaper and on television, but still there was nothing from KID.

And the man was simply the first of many victims of Kaitou KID, the once beloved thief, whose good deeds in the past were now forgotten with each jewel stolen and never returned..

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