Kaito yawned and rubbed at his eyes, fighting to stay awake, waiting on the stairs. His parents were still gone, and they should have been back hours ago. His eyes kept drifting shut, but he was too worried to let himself sleep. Something felt wrong, like something bad was going to happen.

He rubbed at his eyes again.

The front door opened. Kaito woke with a start, standing unsteadily. His father was in a strange white suit with a red stain on the chest. He was also wearing a tall hat and a monocle. Kaito shivered and glanced to either side of his father to the people holding him up. One of them was Jii, his father's assistant, but the other was…

He couldn't tell. The mask they were wearing covered their whole face and looked like bandages, as if the person were a mummy. Kaito darted forward to his father. He had to know for sure if the stain really was…

"Jii, what's wrong with Dad?" he asked, glancing anxiously between the two, wringing his hands. There was a soft gasp from his left, from the person he couldn't recognize.

"Oh, Kaito, you should be in bed," his mother's voice said from behind the strange mask. The woman pulled off the bandages hastily with the hand not supporting his father. "You should have been in bed," she murmured, touching his head.

"Mom, what happened? Why were you wearing that mask?" Kaito asked, taking a step away from them all. His eyes felt hot. His dad was hurt, and he and his mom were both dressed weirdly, and they weren't explaining anything…

"I need to take care of Dad right now, Kaito, but after that, I promise I'll tell you everything, okay?" his mom sounded desperate. Kaito thought for a moment that she might be crying, too. "Why don't you lie down in our bed, so you'll know the minute we're done, hm?"

Kaito nodded, clinging to her free hand and following the three adults up the stairs. He tucked himself into their bed between their pillows, listening to them speaking quietly in the bathroom.

"Chikage," his dad slurred, "I thought I heard Kaito. Is he alright?"

"Kaito's fine, dear. You, on the other hand, have seen better days." His mother sighed heavily. "He saw my mask. What do we tell him?"

"The truth." His father sounded clearer, more aware than before.

"Toichi, he's only a child."

"Then we'll keep it simple, but he deserves to know." Toichi sighed. "After this, I'll have to lay low for a while. Definitely no heists for the time being… I'll stick to my magic and stay home with Kaito. You'll have to work with Jii until I'm healed, I'm afraid."

"I'll do whatever I can to assist you, ma'am." Jii sounded strained, though, like he was focusing on something very difficult. Kaito only ever focused that hard on his reading for school. The kanji was so difficult, and they wanted him to remember too many, always adding new ones to the list…

Kaito yawned.

When he woke up, Kaito was surprised to still be in his parents' bed, his parents asleep on either side of him. He stretched, still feeling a little drowsy, but also pretty sure he was supposed to get up for school…

He shook his mom's shoulder.

"Mom," he muttered. "Mom, I have school. It's Thursday."

"How about we all stay home today, huh?" his mom asked him, smiling through her exhaustion. "We all had a late night, and Dad and I have some explaining to do."

"I get to stay home?" he asked, beaming.

"Mm-hmm," his mom yawned. "Dad and I will explain everything after breakfast. But for now, how about we go back to sleep, Kaito."

Kaito nodded, and tucked himself a little closer to her, falling back asleep easily.

When he woke up again, his parents were both gone. Kaito was anxious for a moment before he smelled breakfast cooking. Sighing in relief, he got out of bed. His stomach growled as he walked down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Kaito," his mom greeted, waving the spatula at him with a bright smile. His dad was sitting at the table reading a newspaper. He glanced up at Kaito and winked.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but I think we can save them for after breakfast." His dad seemed much better in the light of day. He looked alive in a way he hadn't looked last night. Kaito had avoided the thought, but…

His dad could very well have died last night.

He hurried over to the table, trying not to cry as he wrapped his arms around his dad. Toichi pressed a hand to the back of his head, hushing him.

"I'm okay, Kaito," he reminded him. "We're all okay."

"You were bleeding a lot yesterday."

"I was."

"You almost died."

"I did."

"Toichi!" his mother protested, putting the plates on the table with more force than necessary. The dishes rattled. Kaito flinched, pressing closer to his dad.

"There's no use lying to him, not now." Toichi ruffled Kaito's hair. "He saw enough last night that he wouldn't believe any lie we could come up with. But enough of this for now, yes? Time to eat!"

While they ate, Toichi kept up a running dialogue about his plans for his next magic show. Kaito would normally call it a monologue, but it was hard to consider it one when his dad was using his and his mom's voices to reply to himself. Kaito could hardly focus on his breakfast.

He gazed at his father in undisguised wonder.

"How are you doing that," he asked, star struck.

"It's something I learned to do after a lot of practice," Toichi said. "I could teach you to do it, if you want to learn."

"I do! I want to learn," Kaito exclaimed. His mother sighed and began clearing the plates away.

"Head into the living room, Kaito. We have a lot to talk about," Chikage said, touching his head as she walked past him to the kitchen.

Kaito shot out of his chair and scrambled into the living room, settling onto the couch, legs crossed. He couldn't quite manage to sit still, nervous and excited as he was. He fidgeted, trying not to eavesdrop on his parents, trying to be patient.

He slipped off the couch and moved closer to the kitchen, keeping out of sight. He was sure to keep within what was still technically the living room.

"…with my story, I suppose," his mom was saying.

"Sensible, seeing as you started before I did. We should be sure to discuss them…" his father said, trailing off, probably exchanging a significant look with his mom.

"Do we tell him about…?"

"No, better keep things close to home for now. Maybe when he's older."

Before they could step around the counter and see him, Kaito slipped quickly around the couch and sat back down. When his parents walked sedately into the room, hand in hand, they only smirked at him. He tensed, sure he'd been found out.

"I suppose that sort of thing runs in the family," Toichi chuckled, taking a seat in the arm chair next to the couch. Chikage rolled her eyes.

"Or you're a bad influence."

Chikage took a seat beside Kaito on the couch, smiling at him, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. Kaito glanced between his parents, unsure about whether or not he should start asking questions.

"I wish it hadn't come to this," his mom said, so soft as to be almost inaudible. "I suppose by now you're too curious for us to back out without upsetting you…"

"Dad was hurt," Kaito reminded her firmly. "You could have been hurt, too."

"That's why I didn't want you to know."

"If you'd rather I tell him…" Toichi offered.

Chikage shook her head, "No, he's my son, too. I can do this."

Kaito watched his mom, unsure and a little scared. His mom was usually so strong and steady, seeing her so anxious was… bad. Kaito felt like he had the night before when he was sure something was wrong. He wasn't sure why he felt the way he did, but he couldn't help but feel like everything he knew was about to change.

Kaito felt like he was on a rollercoaster, and he was about to hit the drop.

"My parents… You haven't met them, Kaito, but they were…" Chikage sighed, looking away. "When I was 5, they enrolled me in gymnastics. They were constantly testing my skills at home, trying to see how far I could go. I thought they wanted me to join the Olympics gymnastic team, but they never cared all that much for competitions. They were proud, but that wasn't why they started me in them.

"When I turned 16, my parents told me the truth. They were both thieves."

Kaito gasped, looking between his parents in surprise. His grandparents were?

"They told me that I could learn from them and 'join the family business,' or I could look for something else I wanted to do," Chikage laughed, though it rang false. "When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a police officer."

Toichi laughed, covering his mouth when she frowned at him. Kaito thought it was kind of funny, but he was still reeling. He wasn't sure he remembered how to laugh.

"Anyway, I was worried they'd be disappointed if I didn't choose to join them, so I agreed. And for a while, it was fun. I got to stay out late and get in and out of dangerous situations… My parents were very good at what they did, so we never really ran into any trouble. I loved it."

Chikage looked wistful. Toichi looked fond. Kaito just wanted to know what all this had to do with last night.

"By the time I was 18, I'd branched off. I bought my own apartment and started stealing on my own. Nothing too big, but enough. I started taking jobs for money, despite my parents' warnings not to. I couldn't see the harm in it, so I started hiring myself out." Chikage ran a hand through her hair and slumped forward.

"One man began hiring me almost exclusively. He didn't especially care where I took the things he wanted me to steal, just so long as I took them away. I figured he was… It doesn't really matter what I thought, I guess. Fact of the matter is, he was hiring me to steal things so he could sell fake versions for very high prices on the black market.

"When I found out, I confronted him. I refused to work with someone who would use me like that. After he laughed in my face, I decided to bring him down. I started stealing the forgeries he sold to people. He'd marked them all, you see. When I'd collected them, I sent them to the police, along with the original."

"He was furious, of course," Toichi cut in. Kaito shifted his focus. "During one of her thefts, he caught her in a trap. He was going to kill her for getting in his way."

"What happened?" Kaito asked, finally able to gather his wits somewhat closer together.

"I swooped in to perform a daring rescue. I was about to give my world debut as a magician when I saw your mother entering the building and, quietly, shadowed her. Together, we made a daring escape, and I jumped feet first into the shining night." Toichi grinned widely.

Kaito frowned. His father seemed so happy about presumably becoming a thief like his mom, but his mom had been a thief for a long time and looked sad. Maybe he was missing something.

"Then, last night… The two of you were stealing?" Kaito asked. "And Dad was shot?"

Chikage nodded, sighing, "We ran into a new group, people we've never seen before. They're after a gem they believe to be magic. They thought your father had it and shot him to try and take it. They didn't quite realize that we were after a painting last night, not a gem."

"Your mother and I have decided that we're going to ensure they see justice, Kaito," Toichi said, leaning forward on his chair, focusing all of his attention on Kaito. "It will take some time, but we believe it will be worth it. People are getting hurt because of them."

"Neither of you have… killed anyone, have you?" The look of horror on their faces was deeply reassuring. Kaito sighed, "Thank goodness."

"Oh, Kaito," his mom covered her mouth with one hand before pulling him into her arms. "Kaito, we would never. The one thing that should never be stolen is a life."

Kaito nodded, curling up against her.

"Seeing as I'm going to be staying home for the foreseeable future," Toichi started. Kaito and Chikage both looked up at him. "How about I start teaching you to mimic voices, along with some bigger magic tricks?"

"Really?" Kaito sat up further, beaming. His mother sighed.

"Nothing dangerous, dear, and try to take it slow, won't you?" she asked, sounding both tired and resigned.

"Could I start gymnastics like you did, Mom?" Kaito asked.

"What?" she asked, looking disarmed, eyes wide. "If you want to, I suppose we can sign you up. Are you sure?"

"Very sure. I want to help catch bad guys when I grow up," Kaito declared.

His father clapped with a broad grin, but his mother looked uneasy.

"We'll see, Kaito. I want you to be safe."

"Mom, I'm only 8. I'll be okay."

She hugged him close again, pressing her face to the top of his head.

"I know, baby, I know."