NOTE* I DO NOT OWN DETECTIVE CONAN or MAGICAL KAITO! I really wish I did though ;) Enjoy!

Tales of a Kaitou:

Those Finny Things

By DaLantis

Kaitou Kid was a legend in his own time; A legend that was considered immortal, unbeatable, and nearly untouchable. However, as Kid stared into the dark blue mass of water below him, he felt a chill run up his spine. He hated not the lake itself, but the things hidden within its depths. Those beady little eyes and those slimy, rough bodies that seemed to haunt his every dream. Fish.

The Kaitou Kid's number one enemy; worse than the detectives who chased him and even worse than those assassins who hunted to take his life. Fish were the ultimate nightmare for the white clad gentlemen thief. Not that he would ever admit to such a thing.

Of course, it was to his horror that it just so happened a bullet came out of nowhere and when he went to dodge the elusive attack on his person by none other than Snake himself, it hit the pocket of his suit in just the right way, allowing the jewel he had stolen to fall into the depths below, vanishing out of sight.

Now Kaito knew this particular lake wasn't all that deep. According to the research he had done before he went on this heist at a distant mansion in the far reaches of Japan, this lake only went about ten feet in depth at the center and the rest of the surrounding area ran about eight feet if not shallower than that. But the idea of those…those finny things waiting for him beneath the waves caused him to pale as he tucked his glider and came to a stop near the edge of the lake.

Not too far a distance, Hakuba who had watched the thief take off from the balcony frowned when he noticed the thief come to a stop near the lake. Curious as to what occurred, he started to head downstairs only to find the chibi detective Conan Edogawa standing there, watching him.

"What is it Edogawa-kun?" he asked kindly.

"I heard a shot fired", Conan answered, "from that direction Hakuba-Nii!" he said pointing in the direction that Snake had been. Hakuba looked in that direction and narrowed his eyes.

"Stay here, I am going to go check it out."

Conan watched Hakuba head out the downstairs patio door towards where the shot was fired as police swarmed the area searching high and low and checking everyone for a possibly masked Kid. Conan however turned his eyes towards the lake. Like Hakuba, he had also seen the thief's unusual landing and he was curious as to what had gone wrong. Had the thief been shot?

The thought made Conan's eyes widen as he quickly took off down the stairs and out the back door.

Kaito stood by the side of his lake staring wide eyed at the water before him. Frustrated with himself for not having placed the jewel in a better spot on his person, he slowly began stripping himself of his cape, coat, shoes, tie, top hat, and monocle until only his blue dress shirt, white pants, socks, and blonde dyed hair remained. He was very happy with himself that he had least planned ahead of time in case he needed to switch costumes should something else have gone wrong in the heist. Still…he doubted anything could compare to this.

Taking a deep breath, Kaito mentally encouraged himself.

'You can do this Kaito, just ignore the f-f-finny things and dive in. All you need to do is find the jewel…at the bottom of the lake…under eight feet of water…surrounded by your most deadly enemy. Yeah… not hard at all,' he whined to himself worriedly, pacing on the bank.

The sound of the police whistles had him whipping his head up, narrowing his eyes. He knew he was running out of time. He had to find that jewel! There was only one jewel that he would ever not return and that was Pandora. He would not be held accountable for this jewel when it hadn't been the one he was looking for!

Rubbing his hands together, he rolled up his sleeves and peeled off his socks. He was going in. Closing his eyes, he raced to the edge of the lake and jumped in head first. The water was cold, a lot colder than he had been expecting for early august. He kicked with his feet and swam with his arms as he made his way to the place he knew the stone had dropped. 'Hopefully', he thought to himself with a bitterly unamused smile, 'he would live to tell the tale.'

Counting to five and preparing himself to dive, he nearly screamed when something rubbed against his leg. Slamming a hand over his mouth so as not cause attention to his current predicament, he shivered in both fear and the cold as he took a deep breath trying to calm himself. He had to do this, it was now or never.

Conan had just reached the shore line of the lake when he saw Kid dive below the waves into the depths of the manmade oasis. He was still a bit confused as to why Kid had jumped into the lake, but when he happened upon the clothes kicked off at the side of the waterhole, his gaze narrowed when he noticed the rip in the thief's coat pocket and the faint trace of blood. The bullet had obviously nicked the reckless thief, but Conan knew there had to be another reason for him to dive into the lake as he was doing when the police were not too far away.

"Edogawa-kun!" yelled Hakuba as he ran up, slightly panting, "Sniper was gone, but I did find some shell casings that might…"
The blonde English detective quieted when he noticed the clothes thrown around the shore. Kid's outfit; even his hat and monocle. His gaze, like Conan's, narrowed when he noticed the slight trace of blood on the suit. However another thought struck the blonde and his eyes widened as he desperately began searching for sign of the thief to come up from beneath the body of water.

"What is it?" Conan asked, confused by the panicked expression on the blonde's face.

"Edogawa-kun…do you know if this lake has fish in it?" he asked monotone, though oddly desperate for an answer.

Conan frowned, still confused.

"Yeah it does, the owner was talking about it. Why, is there something wrong?" Conan's voice had lost its childish tone and had gone completely serious, but Hakuba didn't spend time answering. He quickly threw off his own jacket, while kicking off his shoes as he raced into the water and began swimming out to where he had last seen the thief while on the surface.

"Hakuba-Nii!" shouted Conan, "What is wrong?!"

"He is afraid of fish!" yelled Saguru back as he took a deep breath and dove down below the dark blue liquid.

Conan's eyes widened when he took in what Saguru had said. Kicking off his own shoes and jacket, he made to dive into the water only to see Hakuba break surface a moment later, a limp Kaitou Kid in his arms.

"Help me get him onto the shore!" he called to Conan who nodded and quickly helped the blonde as he pulled himself and Kaito out of the water.

Laying the thief down, both detectives quickly turned their attention to their disturbingly silent rival. Hakuba lowered his head to the teen's chest, listening for a heartbeat while Shinichi stuck his hand to Kid's throat for a pulse. Conan froze, his own heart racing.

"I don't feel a pulse…and I don't think he is breathing."

"His heart is beating, but barely", Hakuba replied as he quickly began chest compressions. Shinichi watched in stunned silence as the blonde began to frantically attempt to save their annoying, yet oddly likable thief.

"Don't give up now Kai-Kid!" he shouted, "breathe dang you! Come on!"

Hakuba stopped the compressions and quickly took a deep breath of air as he began CPR, attempting to force air back into his friend's lungs.

"Kai, breathe!" Hakuba shouted, tears streaming down his face as the teen below him failed to make a single movement that might indicate he was alive, that he was fighting.

Conan could only watch in growing horror as he too began to realize that the longer the thief went without breathing, the more damage that could be done permanently. Conan was so worried, that he didn't even comment on the name Hakuba had yelled during his attempts to arouse the phantom thief, though he did file it away for future consideration. Kai…was it?

"Come on you idiot!" Hakuba yelled, "P-Please!"

"He's gone… Hakuba-kun", Conan replied, his own voice shaky and disbelieving, "Kaitou Kid is… dead."

Hakuba sat back on his knees staring in distress at the teen before him.

"That…that can't be. He can't be dead. He hasn't…he wouldn't…what about Aoko? What about me? Kaito, you can't do this to us! We need you…come on! Come…come on."

Conan frowned. Kaito was his full name then or was it merely a play on words? Kai a nickname? And who was Aoko? Letting the thoughts go for now, he slowly reached out and placed his small hand on the teen's forehead, closing his eyes in respect of a former ally and rival, lost at too young an age.

The thought that this was caused by an assassin against the harmless thief had Conan and Hakuba's blood boiling with rage, but the sadness they felt suppressed it for the time being.

"I guess…we should go get the police", Conan whispered, a single tear dripping onto the ground as he stood up, but then he paused when he noticed the clenched fist of the thief.

Hakuba however didn't move. He couldn't…he wouldn't let Kaito's name be ruined because of this.

"I am going to change him", Hakuba stated looking around as though searching for a change of clothes that might magically pop up for him.

Conan frowned, stopping in his movements to look closer at what the thief had clutched in his hand.

"Why?"

"Because… he was my friend."

Conan was silent for a moment before sighing and deciding his curiosity could wait. For now, he knew they should let the inspector know about the thief's unfortunate demise.

Hakuba closed his eyes and also began to rise when a small gagging sound caught their attention. Both detectives turned with wide eyes as they stared at Kaitou Kid who began flinching, gaging on the water that had filled his lungs.

"Kaito!" Hakuba yelled quickly running to the thief.

"Turn him on his back so he can expel the water!" yelled Conan as he also ran over, falling back onto his knees as the blonde held his friend to his chest as the thief coughed, his head leaning against the dirt as mouthfuls of water was thrown up onto the shore.

"Easy Kaito, take it easy. It's okay."

Kaito whimpered as he struggled to get his eyes open, his body tense and jerky in its movements against Hakuba's gentle hold.

The complete horror in those indigo eyes had both Conan and Hakuba pausing as they noticed how pale and clammy the thief was and how it was only getting worse as he stared at them, struggling to move. He was going into shock.

"Kaito, there are no fish here! You're not drowning, it okay!"

The boy continued to struggle, still being silent to Hakuba's surprise. Normally when Kaito was faced with his arch nemesis the fish, he was screaming his bloody head off.

"F-F-F-F-F-Fish!" Kaito finally screamed still struggling.

Conan had seen enough. He stepped towards the teen and slapped him across the cheek. Hakuba stared at the boy in surprise while Kaito's hand reached up, touching his cheek tenderly as he blinked, his eyes focusing in on those around him.

"Tantei-kun?" he whispered weakly.

Conan sighed in relief. He hadn't been sure that would work, but he was glad to see it had.

"Yeah Kid", he replied, "Your alive and out of the water. It's okay."

Kaito turned his attention to Hakuba and sighed in relief as his head collapsed back against the blonde's shoulder.

"I-I am never… going swimming…in a lake…ever…again", he got out, his voice shaking despite his obvious return to reality, "Stupid f-f-f-f-finny things kept coming out of nowhere."

Hakuba and Conan shared a quick smile, amusement evident in their faces though Kaito ignored it. For him, fish were a very frightening thing.

"For once, I am not even going to argue with you and from now on", Hakuba stated with a sigh, clutching the teen subconsciously closer to him, "I will never laugh at your phobia of fish again. This…it had been close Kaito. Too close."

Kaito laughed nervously in agreement, but froze when he noticed the name Hakuba called him. He turned wide eyes towards Conan which caused Hakuba to freeze as well. Only one word resonated through both teens. Crap!

Conan however just sighed, shaking his head.

"I want to catch you Kid, but not like this. Knowing who you are is no big deal as it still does not give me evidence against you. Consider this my welcome back gift. I will catch you on my own terms."

With those words, the chibi detective stood and walked away, acting like nothing had even happened.

The two teens watched him go before glancing at each other. Laughing nervously, Hakuba helped Kaito stand. The teen swayed for a moment before nodding it was alright to release him, though the blonde stayed close by just in case.

"Come on, we should get back to Aoko before she worries. No doubt she will be searching all over the mansion for us."

"No doubt", Kaito stated with a small smile as he thought of his friend walking the halls with her mop. The thought made him shiver. Hakuba smiled, knowing exactly what the thief was thinking about. His smile faded though when he realized she would be mad at him too for up and vanishing.

"Oh hey", Kaito stated opening his hand as he stared at it with a proud smile. Hakuba blinked when he took in the jewel wrapped tightly and protectively in the thief's palm, "I found it."

Hakuba smiled, oddly finding himself feeling proud of his friend for facing his fear successfully, though a bit recklessly in his opinion.

"Come on, we should hurry", Hakuba encouraged as both teens quickly grabbed their clothes and started towards the mansion.

"Shouldn't you change?" Hakuba asked, eyeing Kid's clothes.

Kaito glanced down and grinned.

"And ruin the chance to tell Aoko I attempted to act like Kid, only to crash into the river and nearly kill myself in the process? I don't think so."

Hakuba just rolled his eyes and smirked.

"It's your funeral."

Kaito laughed bitterly before it faded out, turning back to look at the lake that had nearly claimed his life.

"Not this time", he whispered and then narrowed his eyes, "Not this time."

AUTHORS NOTE*

Let me know what you thought about it! I may do more one shots coming up!