~*I do not own this anime. If I did my favorite pairings would be cannon.*~
Hakuba was the detective, the critic who sought after criminals and gave chase. Kaito was the thief, the artist who took what he wanted without fear of the one who ran after him. Because of, this Hakuba and Kaito had always been, and would always continue to be, at odds.
Truth be told this feud was nothing personal. It was simply the way the world worked. Neither blamed the other for their role in this life (Save for when Kaito decided it would be hilarious to magically wreck everything Hakuba owned, or when Hakuba decided it would be an excellent idea to harass Kaito when he was at school or right before his heist) and neither really begrudged the other something they may have wanted.
Except, well, Shinichi Kudo.
By now it is difficult to determine exactly when the Detective of the East became so important to the two of them. To one Shinichi had just been a sort of business associate, to the other he was simply a rival. Then he slyly made his way into the heart of the one he chased, as well as the one who he helped do the chasing. Hakuba began to see the detective as a confidant. Kaito began to see him as a friend. Then soon, both detective and thief began to see the Heisei Holmes as a possible love interest. It had been a quick, almost undetectable, and instant realization.
Hakuba had been the first to admit it. It had been an awkward confession, told only to Kaito and Hakuba's father. Police Senator Hakuba had been informed by choice, Kaito by accident (When had anyone really been able to control where Kaito popped up?). Though somewhat dazed, his father had given him his full support and Kaito…well he had not really given his verdict. He had been far too stunned to move at the time.
But that had given Hakuba more than enough encouragement. Soon he began subtly courting his detective counterpart. Letting Shinichi take the lead in cases where Hakuba had shown up first, asking the other for valued advice even though he already knew the answer, and even giving Shinichi more access to classified information on KID heists. All without an ounce of complaints and delivered with perfect English manners and a sweet voice.
And all right in front of KID. Now Kaito would admit, Hakuba had staked his claim first and therefore really should have had first rights to Shinichi. But Kaito had seen him first, the two of them had shared an intense mental bond and respect before the eastern detective even knew Hakuba's name, and even though he had realized his feelings later on, he felt he was the only one who had the right to go for the detective's heart.
The problem was that he had unintentionally given Hakuba a head start. The British detective had already started trying to charm his way into Shinichi's life, and it was working. There was no denying that the Heisei Holmes was enjoying the attention he was receiving from his fellow detective and a fellow Sherlock Holmes lover no less! Shinichi was a showman in his own right, and therefore did so love a good audience. Especially one that was so attentive and loyal, even if it wasn't in a romantic sense. Kaito hated to admit it, but Hakuba had the upper hand.
So he just had to even the score.
It had been at a KID heist. Kaito had planned it all out carefully down to the minutest detail. He had set up very little traps and had made it so that everyone in the taskforce could make it to the roof roughly around the same time. Once all had been present, most importantly Shinichi and Hakuba, KID had announced something that had shocked everybody.
Shinichi Kudo was indeed his favorite detective, and was undoubtedly the onlydetective who he would ever have any respect for. He went on to say that Shinichi, he had even called him by name, was not like the others in his field. He was not a lowly critic who looked down on the artist who created an essence of life. Instead he was somewhat of artist himself who could easily match any creative presence KID had ever seen. Shinichi Kudo, he said respectively, was truly one in a million who deserved nothing but the best for the justice he did the world simply by being alive.
Before he had flown off, Kaito had seen Shinichi go breathless. He had seen that the detective's face had been beautifully flushed while his eyes stared up in awe at the thief smiling down at him.
But Hakuba had shown a very different emotion in his eyes: surprise, disbelief, and a large amount of hurt and betrayal. It had almost been enough to make Kaito feel guilty.
Kaito had tried to reason with himself, and spent the rest of the evening at home trying to convince himself that he had done nothing wrong. He had purposely left the meaning of his words vague. Anyone who heard them could take them or leave them as they saw fit. He hadn't been cruel. He said nothing about Hakuba's unknown feelings, or how KID would be better for Shinichi than Hakuba could ever hope to be. He hadn't really said anything about his own feelings towards the detective either. All he had done was admit that he respected, maybe even admired, the eastern detective.
But who was he kidding. He knew why he had worded things the way he did, he knew why he had done it so publicly, and he knew perfectly well why he had said it all in front of Hakuba. And Hakuba knew it too.
The next few weeks after the heist had been extremely tense between the two of them. A silent war was raging on with no sign of stopping until one of them got what they wanted. During that time Hakuba had started to take things much more seriously. He began making plans with the eastern detectives, accompanying him on murder cases, visiting him at the Kudo manor, doing anything he could to get close to him. And anytime something particularly wonderful happened, he was always sure to let Kaito, as well as the rest of the class, know about it.
Hakuba knew it would irritate Kaito because the brunette did not have the same opportunity. Kaito Kuroba had never met Shinichi Kudo, only KID had ever been introduced to the detective. Saguru Hakuba, on the other hand, had met Shinichi as a civilian, and therefore could spend as much time as he wanted with Shinichi away from heists. And away from KID.
Kaito had been so mad he had followed the British detective home one day, having very intention of ruining his day with every magic trick he could think of. He started by annoying Hakuba all the way to his doorstep, where both were met face to face with a very big surprise. It seemed Shinichi had come to Ekoda to speak with Hakuba about the upcoming KID heist. The visit had been impulsive and Hakuba had been given no warning.
But Kaito had been given a wonderful opportunity. He immediately introduced himself and proceeded to hog all of Shinichi's attention until the detective had been forced to bid both Ekoda High students farewell. Kaito was then kicked out of the Hakuba household with something that might have been a declaration of war.
Kaito had been unconcerned. He now had a whole new window of opportunities to get to his favorite critic, and he had never been one to pass up such blessings. He mimicked his classmate's earlier tricks and started making plans with Shinichi for every possible free moment. It became a battle of time between Hakuba and Kaito that was even more intense than their battles as officer and criminal.
And then the bombs started to fall.
It had started when Kaito and Hakuba had offered, insisted really, to accompany Shinichi to a crime scene in Osaka. There they had had the pleasure of running into Heiji Hattori who had already been on the scene when the three outsiders arrived. The actual murder had been easily solved with the culprit in handcuffs in a matter of thirty minutes. After which the four decided to grab a bite to eat and maybe have a good conversation over an early dinner. The night had been very enjoyable for everybody involved, except for the occasional glaring and arguments that no one but the two arguing could understand, but it was during the walk home that another spark had erupted.
Hattori had smiled wide, patted Kaito right on the back, turned to Shinichi and said,
"I like this guy. He should hang out with us more often!"
There was an undertone in those simple sentences. It was an undertone that Shinichi had surprisingly missed, but held an underline message that both Kaito and Hakuba had noticed instantly. A message that told the two of them which one he wanted to gain Shinichi's love.
And just like that Kaito had unknowingly gained Hattori's support. He had Shinichi's best friend's approval, and boy did that feel good, even more so when he saw the look on Hakuba's face. Hattori had never said anything so nice about Hakuba before. Actually he never spoke kindly about the British detective at all. But he liked Kaito, and the magician knew how much influence Hattori had on Shinichi. The east respected the west, and the west's opinion was valued to the east. And the west seemed to like this little unexpected wind that looked almost identical to his best friend.
Kaito had felt lighter than air, higher than a hot air balloon,
Until he arrived at school the next morning to find that Aoko had decided to do whatever she could to get Shinichi and Hakuba together. Then it was like gravity had sent him crashing to the floor while someone took a needle and popped his balloon. That bastard had gotten Aoko, sweet little Aoko, Kaito's best friend Aoko, to come into this feud as Hakuba's right hand man…or woman if you wanted to get technical about it.
Kaito had been so angry he had gone home early with the excuse of some type of ailment. He did not want have to confess his love to Shinichi just as he was being hauled off to the nearest prison for the murder of Saguru Hakuba.
But when he did return, he made it perfectly clear that. This. Meant. War.
Soon the two started to assemble little support teams, people who would help them in their cause. Hakuba had managed to acquire the beika police force, the entire KID task force, and even Shinichi's own mother as well as Aoko and her friend Keiko. But Kaito had done a bit of recruiting as well. He had the entire Shounen Tantei, Hakase Agasa, Akako Koizumi (He was rather shocked that she had even agreed), and Shincihi's father on his side.
Ai Haibara had refused to be a part of the insanity.
Now it all just came down to one thing. Though it could be said in many different ways, the favorite way to describe the purpose of this fight came from Ai herself.
"So who will win the affection of our Heisei Holmes? Will it be Dr. John Watson, or Arsene Lupin?"
DarkMist: You did not.
MistressOfTime1218: Yup.
StormBlitz: What's the occasion?
MistressOfTime1218:I've been in love with this pairing ever since I got back into Conan. I just never had the guts to write anything for it until now. I even made it the first post on my new livejournal account.
K-Chan:That was pretty risky seeing as there are some really great writers for this fandom. You might seem like such a noob, plus you're inexpiriecned writing for this fandom and-
DarkMist: (Seeing her friend becoming nervous, covers K-Chan's mouth) We get it.
MistressOfTime1218: (Gulps) Well, tell me what you think. If it's good I might continue. So with that said, please R&R.