Not only has it been like, 3 years (11/16) since I last updated… but I made a Kingdom Hearts 3 reference last chapter, and now in good 'ole 2019 I have already finished my playthrough of the game. In fact, I'd been fighting with myself over updating this fic finally or writing a post-KH3 story.

This one won out moreso due to guilt and a general feeling of letting you all down, since while there's been some life events in the meantime, I had no true excuse about how long this took.

Finally, I keep forgetting what I wrote, so again, I had to re-read because I would have absolutely messed this up otherwise. Sorry if the writing seems off because of the time-between.

Please R&R!

Kaito was tired.

A new and old kind of tired, but tired and at a loss all the same. He sighed and stretched before staring at Ran's cellphone number he'd gleaned off of Shinichi-Conan's phone (the fact he carried 2 of the same design for his different identities tossed him), and hit the call button.

One.

Two.

"Hello?"

Kaito's stomach sank as he sat up straighter, "Ran?"

A pause, a breath, "Shinichi?"

Shit. He needed to not be familiar with his houseguest's girlfriend. He coughed, "Uh… no, I'm sorry. I know we sound exactly alike, I apologize for being familiar when you don't exactly know me."

He could almost hear the confusion in the momentary pause.

"Are you the one Conan-kun is staying with?"

He breathed out, everything is fine, "Yes. I'm Kuroba Kaito, Nakamori-keibu's neighbor. It seems Kudo's mother trained under my father for a time, and it was decided I might be of help to him with his stress." Hah. Worked like a charm.

A broken one, anyway.

"Is there a reason you're calling me, Kuroba-kun?"

Kaito wiped his strangely sweating palm on his pant leg, "Yes. It seems this is a little… deeper than either of us had hoped for, and while I'm aware that you've said you don't Need to Know, I think you do so I'm going to have you come here to Talk."

"Did… did Conan-kun agree to this?"

"Not willingly, but what good is a magician without the ability to perform a little bit of magic?"

A pause, a snicker, "Magic?"

"Yes. Now I'll be there in an hour, so I hope you don't mind riding motorcycles 'cause it's the only option available at the moment." Unless you like riding in police vehicles, of which I do not, thank you.

"Ah… alright. I'll be waiting then… though while I know you're name, I don't exactly know what you look like Kuroba-kun."

"I look just like Kudo, just… lazier."

A pause became a moment. "I'll see you in an hour then, drive safe." And the line disconnected.

Kaito might have been a magician and loved his magic, but this took a whole new turn with surrealism he had no need to partake of.

He grabbed his keys and locked the doors while his guest slept.

He needed a walk.

It had been an hour, on the dot when a black motorcycle pulled up in front of the Mouri Detective Agency. Ran had made her father breakfast, explained that she had plans crop up of the day, and became an absolute pile of nerves at the bottom of the stairs.

She felt like she was having a fleeting moment of deja vu in understanding the present situation.

Though perhaps, it was moreso on just who Kuroba Kaito actually was.

She was doing best to not think about it, but during the past few minutes of waiting, it was the only thing on her mind.

Who was crazy enough to hop on a motorcycle with a complete stranger?

Her apparently.

The motorcyclist pulled up and idled, putting the kickstand down and hopping off. He then pulled his helmet off and tucked it under his arm looking at her with a similarly lost expression, "It's nice to meet you." His hand extended, and a rose popped out with a wink. "I'm Kuroba Kaito."

She stared at the rose, stared at him, and laughed, taking it from him. It felt as if all the nerves had fallen out of her, and was nearly winded by the drop of the weight of it. "Mouri Ran, it's a pleasure."

Kuroba Kaito really, truly did look like a lazier Shinichi, and suddenly she understood.

She knew this person and he knew her, but they had not yet truly met.

They were mere phantoms that passed eachother in moonlight.

"At this point, I don't know if I should be surprised by the connections Shinichi's mother has or not."

Kaito rubbed the back of his head, feeling entirely sure of himself, yet utterly lost at the entire situation, "I tell myself that all the time with my own connections and still get surprised, so I can't really say." He turned to his bike and pulled out his spare helmet before handing it to her, "I hope you don't mind having to ride with me."

She took the offered helmet and put it on, "It'll be fine. I've trusted you before."

Kaito stared at her shocked, knowing they were both dancing around his white painted elephant in the room and smirked in a way that was so Shinichi Ran's heart felt like it would burst before slapping his own helmet back on and securing it, "Right. You're guard dog awaits."

Ran whapped him as Kaito twitched with a yelp, "Conan-kun is not a guard dog."

When they stopped in front of a grocery store, she was initially confused before Kaito looked at her sheepishly, "I uh, I rarely cook since I'm usually in the house by myself and I've heard stories about how amazing your food is."

Ran gave him an odd look, "Then what do you do otherwise?"

"Eat at the Nakamori's."

She stared at him blankly. She.. she was talking to the Kaito KID, right? She hadn't guessed wrong about this and now he's telling her he has meals at the Inspector's house who's in charge of his capture?!

As if reading her mind, Kaito laughed, "My best friend since childhood is Nakamori-keibu's daughter, Aoko. She looks a lot like you, but her cooking is kind of lacking sometimes." Especially when she decides on fish for revenge.

Ran frowned at him, "That seems rather mean, Kuroba-kun."

He sighed, walking into the grocery store towards what he was hoping to eat for a much deserved breakfast, "Have you ever consistently made hamburgers turn into dust?"

Ran stopped following him, almost as if waiting for a punchline before he paused and turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"You… oh… that's unfortunate."

He shrugged, "I don't dislike her cooking, but I've observed you all enough and experienced a little of your cooking to know I'm missing out on a good thing. And don't think I haven't said anything to Aoko, 'cause I am just as obnoxious as any teenager can be and she has had revenge on me for my big mouth."

Ran smiled, watching as he grabbed items for when she guessed might be a few meals. "Any girl would be upset if anyone, let alone a boy their age complained about their cooking. Especially if they're too lazy to make their own food."

He grinned devilishly, "Then maybe I'll just have to let you teach me something."

She slapped his hand away from the flour he was about to grab and took a different brand, "Of course."

Kaito knew, knew he was being to familiar with her, too open, too… not him. Yet, he found that it was as if some faucet on his mouth and a dam in his brain had run and cracked and he couldn't shut up.

After they had finally gotten to his house he'd immediately noticed her return to a pile of nerves and he was half afraid if he made the wrong move she'd kick him and he was not, by any means, a fighter. He'd go down instantly if she abruptly decided he was a threat.

So he did the only things he could do. He pointed to the house on their left and explained that it was the Nakamori household, and if she wanted he could get Aoko so that she wouldn't be alone with a total stranger.

Ran declined the offer.

After carefully dumping groceries in the kitchen he immediately brought her to his room's doorway and let her see Conan resting on his bed. He nodded and walked off, so that she knew he wasn't going to hover or intrude on her (their?) space.

It was about a half an hour of reassuring herself that Shinichi was Alright and just sleeping that she finally joined Kaito in the kitchen.

During that half an hour of time Kaito could only berate himself on his own strange behavior and analyze it, so when Ran had joined him, she somehow immediately knew something was off.

She washed her hands and looked at what he'd set up for their brunch, "Kuroba-kun?"

"Hmm?"

She cocked her head a little as she looked at him, so over familiar with cooking that she got right to work setting up the pan to make pancakes and other such sundries, "You're not yourself."

He glanced at her, "You're not wrong, though it bothers me that you're right."

She hmm'd, "You… you are Kaito KID, right?"

He rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, "Yes. A secret only my accomplice knows, yet two people in the span of 12 hours have just called me out on it."

She frowned, mulling his words over, "Is it because the situation between Shinichi and I is similar to your own, or something else?"

Kaito felt a chill rush through him as he flushed in embarrassment, "Wh-what?!"

Ran blinked as she cocked her head in confusion, "Was I wrong in thinking you like Aoko-chan?"

He wanted to die. Right now. Here. Please, someone just bury him, "I- no it's-" he lost all pretense and blushed, "It's not that you're wrong, but that's not the problem!"

She felt embarrassment rush through her, "O-oh, I'm sorry, I totally assumed and-"

Kaito raised a hand to stop her, "I'm mad at myself because I let myself get too close to your group, and now I feel too naturally a part of it when I'm a complete stranger, that's all."

Ran stared at him, knowing exactly when he meant, but being surprised by it all the same, "-Do you not have any friends other than Aoko-chan?"

He felt his shoulders tense up as he started busying himself with setting the table, "It's not-" he paused only to slump in a strange sense of defeat, "I'm really only close to Aoko. It's not that I dislike my classmates, or they dislike me. I just… I focused so thoroughly on learning everything I could to be the best magician, to…" he paused, swallowed, and then rubbed his head, " I just didn't get close to anyone else, and I was fine with that."

Ran frowned, opened her mouth to say something before closing it and shaking her head. "You're so much like Shinichi it hurts, yet, I can't really say anything. It's not exactly my place. I'm sorry, Kuroba-kun."

He shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I just didn't realize it was so easy to act close to you and your friends, when really, it was actually how I felt." He was a failure, a sentiment he never allowed himself to slump to.

Ran turned to him, "Well then. We've made our acquaintances. Would you mind being my friend and allowing me to call you Kaito?"

He blinked, looking at her now offered hand. After a moment he looked her in the eyes and smiled, "Sure, only if you're alright with me calling you Ran."

She smiled, the atmosphere in the room lifting a little, "Of course."

A tiny yawn from the hall distracted them, "Ran?"

She turned towards the stairway Conan-Shinichi came from and smiled, "Good morning."

He stared at her with an abrupt calamity of emotion before blinking, a small smile on his face as he allowed his small form to relax, "Good morning."

The emotional whirlwind they all found themselves in would finally settle.