This IS A ONESHOT. It will NOT be continued. This was made in tribute to Hakuba's birthday... because the one I made
for Kaito's didn't come out so well. ~_~

And I'm sorry, I'm not very good at anything that's not serious so this story is... well, serious...
Don't kill me!

Disclaimer: I do not own Magic Kaito. It belongs to Gosho Aoyama, and whoever else owns rights to it!

I ALSO HAVE A LINK ON MY MAIN PAGE FOR A LITTLE PIC I DREW FOR HIS BIRTHDAY!

Shadow, Light, and Streamers

Kuroba stood before him in the guise of his alter ego. Saguru had been chasing him a few blocks now, feeling something different about the way his clothes rubbed against his body. He was wearing an outfit he wasn't familiar with but he hadn't had time to stop and think about it.

Saguru looked back at the Kid fiercely, feeling that something was wrong. The thief looked off tonight. They were in a dark corner of a closed department store and the thief had nowhere to go. No moonlight to bathe him in.

Looking down at himself, Saguru found that he was wearing a dark blue suit with a lighter azure tie. He never wore ties.

As he kept exploring his own being, he found a gun holster on his right side, hanging alien around his waist. Not only was he not old enough to carry a gun, but the very idea of one made him uncomfortable. He was a detective, not a killer.

"Well Tantei-san," Kid spoke to him easily, catching his attention. "Don't feel like shooting me today? I still have the bullet wound from last week." Pulling the white of his suit and his blue undershirt across his neck, tie already loosened to allow this, Kid showed him bandages with fresh blood on them. "Why not try again? I know you're disappointed that you didn't kill me last time. I read the paper."

"What are you talking about?" Saguru put his hands out to the side, making sure that they weren't anywhere near the firearm. "Why would I shoot you?"

The thief dropped his easy manner to tilt his head to the side, confusion written across his features. "You've never missed a chance to in the past." Then the grin was back. "Trying to turn over a new leaf for the press? I heard that the force was behind you for your use of violence, so I don't see why you need to."

"Hakuba-keibu!" Someone came rushing up behind him. Saguru twitched at the name. Who would be addressing him as such?

The officer, drabbed in the classic blue of the police force, widened his eyes when he spotted the Kid, drawing his weapon.

Kid flinched back, stumbling over his own feet like a child to escape the bullets.

It was wrong. No one had ever drawn a weapon on the thief. Nakamori-keibu wouldn't allow it.

There were more officers in the store and Saguru heard the Kid trip, falling onto the floor and looking around desperately. Something was very wrong.

There was no escape for him now. Saguru walked through the crowd of officers that quickly surrounded the thief, giving him no openings to take advantage of. They parted before Saguru, as if afraid to come in contact with him. He shook involuntarily.

Soon he was in front of Kid, the thief panting slightly with a sad smile across his face. Looking down, Saguru could see that the thief's left leg was slowly being stained with blood, though there was no rip in his clothing.

One of the officers stomped on the thief's wound, making Saguru wince as the Kid let out a short scream of pain. Panting more, the Kid looked resigned, as if this were something he expected. What had gone so wrong? Why was this happening?

Knocking off the top hat, Saguru was surprised to see raven hair sticking out, laid down flat except for a few strands that had clung to the hat, sticking up now with perspiration. Saguru let himself relax a little. Kuroba had brown hair after all, not black.

The officer who was currently still stepping on the thief, still hurting him, took him by the hair and held his face up so that he couldn't move.

The blue eyes that looked back at his were Kuroba's. The face was Kuroba's. There was no doubt that this was his classmate in front of him.

The magician closed his eyes after meeting Saguru's, a fragile smile put in place that made him look like he'd given up. But Kuroba – Kid – would never give up, right? Saguru had to be imagining things.

"I see now Tantei-san. You didn't shoot me because you could have your men grab me and take your time. I shouldn't have hoped."

"What are you-?"

"Hakuba-keibu." One of the officers behind him spoke and Saguru dully turned around. The man looked eager. All of them did. It was like they wanted to see the thief suffer.

What could Kuroba have possibly done to deserve this?

The officer handed him his gun. "I want you to get him for me too Inspector."

Saguru frowned. Inspector? "Nakamori-keibu…"

"The man was weak, wasn't he sir? We're glad that you've taken over for him. He should be locked in jail for being so lenient on this criminal. We all know that you're the best one suited for this sir." He was saluted and Saguru could feel himself getting sick.

Saguru's head flashed back to the Kid when he heard the thief yell out in pain again. One of the officers had kicked in across the face, monocle falling to the floor with a clatter that was muffled by the laughter of the officers. The Kid moved to wipe some blood from his lips when another officer kicked in him the side, making the thief cough. Being held up to face Saguru, Kid had no way of protecting himself from the assault.

"Stop it!" Saguru couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't understand why they were following him, but if they were he'd use it to his advantage. The officers around the Kid grinned, the thief still trying to catch his breath. They nodded to him fervently, expecting him to take over for them. The Kid winced back when he was forced to better face him.

Dear gods what had happened?

Kneeling beside the thief, he felt Kid jerk away from him as he wiped away the blood from his face that the thief had been unable to get.

"Kuro- Kid-san, what did you do? Why is everyone acting like this?"

It took a moment for Kid to open his eyes, to acknowledge his question. The delicate smile was back in place. It was not Kid's smile, wasn't even Kuroba's. It was the smile of someone too lost to care anymore. "What do you mean 'what have I done?' I steal things Inspector." He laughed, brokenly. The officer holding his up yanked on his hair, making the thief stopped.

"I know you steal things. I'm asking what you did to deserve this."

The Kid blinked. "I don't understand. I have only stolen things. I guess it wasn't enough for me to give them back afterwards." The thief's smile got to him more than the hiss of pain as the Kid attempted to get his words out. "If you're trying to be nice as some new form of torture, I prefer the bullets."

Saguru swallowed hard. "How many times have I shot you?"

Looking up, the thief seemed to be counting. With each passing second, Saguru's heart grew heavier.

"About twenty-two I think," the Kid said after a few moments. "You can count them after I'm dead. I'm sure you'll want to brag about it later."

Saguru knew how inappropriate it was, but he forced Kid's white coat off of him, cape falling to the floor with it. He took off the tie, tossing it to the floor as it fluttered like a butterfly's wings. Saguru started to unbutton the shirt when he felt one of Kid's hands on his arm.

"Please, at least-"

The sudden movement of the officer holding Kid startled him, making him drop his hands. Kid was slammed into the floor, head first, and the officer yelled at him. "Do not ever touch the Inspector!" A knee was forced into his back, making Kid lose his breath and start coughing again.

"I'm sorry," Kid whispered softly. His head was taken and slammed back into the floor.

"And don't talk unless you're asked a question!"

Saguru stared numbly at this, watching as the Kid simply stopped doing anything that could be taken the wrong way. The officer nodded after a moment, forcing the Kid back up by the hair to face him.

Saguru looked back at the thief, new blood falling between his lips and a large bruise forming on the side of his face, a small trace of blood flowing from a cut on his eyebrow where the floor must have broken the thief's skin open.

"Tell me what you were trying to say before-" Saguru said quietly, not having the words for what had just happened.

Kid didn't say anything right away, looking uncertain if he was able to answer him or not. Tense, as if prepared for more aggression, he spoke steadily, "I wanted some dignity before I died. But I won't ask for anything."

Saguru saw what it looked like now, understood Kid's hesitation. He wasn't trying to undress him.

"I'm going to button it back up afterwards." Saguru was amazed he was even getting his words out at this point. "Don't worry about it."

Kid broke eye contact and looked away, clearly not believing him.

Feeling the cool material of the Kid's shirt, slick and dark in patches where the blood from his shoulder wound had seeped into, Saguru could feel his hands shake as he undid the buttons.

Drawing the shirt back and pulling it lightly over the thief's arms so that it bunched up near his wrists, Saguru saw the thief close his eyes tighter, as if wishing he were not there. Saguru never thought that seeing him in pain would hurt so much.

There were so many bullet wounds on the thief's arms. So many that some even intersected with others. Half of his chest was wrapped up in the bandages but the other half bore marks that were anywhere from two years old to one that couldn't have been more than a month. Kid shivered when his hand traced over the freshest one.

And he had done this?

True to his word, Saguru took the thief's shirt and replaced it, not wanting to look at the ugly scars anymore. There was honest confusion in the thief's eyes when he looked up after he was finished.

"What happened to-" The man holding the Kid placed a hand on his bleeding shoulder, gripping it as tight as he could as he pulled on the thief's hair.

"I told you not to speak unless you were spoken to!"

The Kid screamed again, turning his head to the side which only pulled his hair more, clenching his teeth to try and keep the sound in.

Having gotten his message across for a second time, the officer let go.

The thief panted hard, eyes desolate. For the first time he'd ever seen him, Kid looked on the verge of tears. This was torture.

"You can speak," Saguru choked out, looking out at the officer who nodded back at him. Kid shivered, holding his words in.

"He won't hurt you again," he tried to assure the thief. "I want to know what you were saying."

Kid swallowed, voice coming out hoarse, saturated with pain. "Just kill me already."

"I'm not going to kill you," Saguru told the thief, but his words were taken the wrong way.

"Why not? You like seeing me bleed? I didn't know you were so sadistic." The man yanked on his hair again but Kid had gotten his defiance back, looking like he was speaking his final words. "I can't stand this. If you're playing good cop bad cop with me, fine, but don't act like you don't know what's going on."

"I swear to you that I don't." Saguru looked at the Kid, wishing that he would believe him. The Kid only smiled.

"Please, just kill me. Do it as a favor to an old friend."

There was a man behind him, dressed all in white, and Saguru hadn't heard him approach. From behind, the man ran his fingers down Saguru's arm until his reached his hand, forcing the detective to draw his gun.

"No," Saguru pleaded weakly, before being forced to stand as the other man's arm wrapped around his waist and drew him up with power that couldn't be human.

The man took Saguru's fingers, limp now and not under his control, and shot down at the Kid, piercing him through the leg that wasn't already bleeding. The Kid screamed, face looking content after the bullet. The familiarity. He liked it better then Saguru fighting him. He knew what to expect.

"I don't want to," Saguru said louder. "Stop it!"

"But it's the law," the voice behind him spoke up for the first time. "If you let a criminal escaped on purpose, you are an accomplice. That's why Nakamori-keibu isn't here. You though, you know the law. You've heard it from the bible as well, haven't you? 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.' And he had gone against a commandment as well."

"But he hasn't done anything that bad!" Saguru fought back. "I said stop it!"

His gun when off again, hitting the Kid in the shoulder. Because of the pain, the thief drew up his other arm to stop the blood flow, only to have his hand shot, another bullet going through his arm.

"Don't move," the officer holding the Kid said. When Saguru looked up, his saw his father's face. "You have the right to remain silent."

As if by magic, thick black thread came out of nowhere to sow up the Kid's mouth, making him whimper in pain while it was being done.

"The law is clean cut. Without the law, society would fall. You are white, and he is black. You are in the right and he is in the wrong. Do not be afraid of justice."

The voice behind him spoke again and Saguru knew there were tears on his face. He wanted to look away so badly but something wouldn't let him. The gun in his hand moved to point at the Kid's chest.

"Please, I don't want this," Saguru cried, voice almost lost to the jeers of the other officers.

"Then what do you want?"

He looked closer, swearing that Kid was the one who had spoken. But that was impossible. The thief looked up at him with clear eyes – waiting - whether for an answer to a question that he couldn't have spoken, or for death.

The gun felt cold in his hand and the too white fingers that were wrapped around his own were equally as cold. What did he want?

"Life is not a game you can play without consequences. You've already been playing with it too long," the voice behind him spoke up. "You must choose."

"So what do you want?"

Again, the voice sounded like it came from the Kid. Saguru felt his hand starting to shake, remembering the scars.

"I don't want to catch you if it means killing you," Saguru said desperately, looking around for support. He found none. The other officers were looking at him like he was a traitor.

"Is that what you choose?" asked the man in white.

"I – I don't know…" Saguru was at a loss. It wasn't supposed to work that way. It was supposed to be a good thing if a criminal was caught. Not a bad. It wasn't supposed to kill them.

Kid looked up at him, clear eyes patient, even as he was bleeding all over the place. He didn't look good with black hair. It made the paleness of his skin stand out too much. Kid wasn't supposed to have black hair.

"Can you only make a decision if something is black and white?"

It was the voice behind him again and Saguru desperately wanted to know who it was that was forcing him to make the choice. His finger on the trigger tightened. "You're better than them."

"I'm not," Saguru tried to make the man behind him understand. "I'm human. I can't be forced to make a decision like this."

"But life and death are human choice. Every day they are human choice. I'm not asking any more from you then I would the rest of the world."

"Equally, in a choice between right and wrong, by choosing one I'd be forced to choose the other as well. If he dies, that's wrong, but he's a criminal so it's right. If he lives, that's right, but I'd be letting a criminal go, and that's wrong. There is no right answer to your question!"

"But it's a question you'll have to answer. I never said life was easy or nice."

"Then what's the right choice?" Saguru cried, desperate for an answer.

"I can't tell you that."

Saguru shook viciously, pointing the gun at the floor as it went off. The Kid winced, blinking his eyes slowly open when he noticed Saguru hadn't shot him. The thief smiled. "Are you sure about that Tantei-san?"

"I don't want to see you die." Saguru felt the other hand release him, turning to look over his shoulder.

The man behind him was in his twenties, pale white skin and white clothing that looked as translucent as his body. His whole form was ghostly, shimmering with a hair style that Saguru knew he wore.

He was looking at himself.

"I told you, only you could make the judgment," his ghostly older self told him. He vanished. As Saguru looked around, all the other officer started to disappear as well, until all that was left were him and Kid.

With a sweep of his hand across his mouth, the thief had removed the stitches. Standing up on shaking legs that were still bleeding, he looked almost sad.

"Tantei-san. This might not be the best choice for you. It'll hurt."

"I don't care." And Saguru knew he meant it. "As long as everyone safe, I don't really care. The law isn't my first goal." He smiled. "I think you and I have the same primary objective. Human life."

The Kid grinned at him. "Good to hear you say that Tantei-san, but life isn't as easy to protect as you think. You'll end up losing it if you stand still."

"What do you mean by that?"

Kid tried to walk away from him, but it was impossible. The thief stumbled, falling to his knees and holding up a hand for him to stop when Saguru went to help.

"Tantei-san, do you really want to aid a thief? Think of your reputation."

Saguru stopped, affected by his words. He didn't want to, but he knew he cared too much about what others thought of him. Especially his father. The police. The law, in other words.

"You see now? Just sit back, I'll take care of everything." Kid tried to get up again, faltering but managing to stay on his feet. He took a few steps forward only to start swaying.

"You'll kill yourself," Saguru whispered, hand outstretched but he couldn't find the initiative to move his feet.

"I know that." The thief's eyes were glassy. "I'm prepared for it."

"Don't." Saguru didn't know where it had come from, but he didn't want to see the thief hurt himself anymore. "Stop it."

"I can't Tantei-san. I have a goal and I won't stop until I reach it." Kid turned back to him, blue shirt and pants stained with dark spots of dried blood. His old smile was back, the confidant one that warned Saguru he was in for something unpleasant. "I must be going."

Saguru wanted to follow him so badly that it was physically making him sick that he couldn't. The thief walked off, trembling into the darkness. Saguru wouldn't admit it, but he was afraid to follow. His fear held him back.

And then Kuroba's face was in his, looking down at him with all the brightness of the sun around him.

"Ah," Saguru said, putting his hands up to his eyes.

"About time you woke up. You know you're a pain in the butt to get up. I have an easier time getting Aoko out of bed – and she snores!"

"What are you talking about?" Saguru rubbed his eyes, hearing the dryness of his voice.

"Kaito! I do not snore!"

The voices around him were prominent, but Saguru still felt like he was somewhere else, that this Kuroba was a different person and the one he'd left back in the darkness was the real one.

He was almost disappointed when this one wasn't wearing the blue shirt with the bloodstains, realizing that he must have been dreaming.

"What the matter with you?" Kuroba asked him, wearing a darker sapphire shirt than his dream one, stripped and made of a cotton blend.

Saguru blinked, noticing that he'd been staring at him. Looking around, he started to feel normal, if not like he had just lost something that he wanted to hold onto as it started to slip through his fingers like sand.

"What are you two doing in my room?" He asked, seeing Aoko hiding something behind her back.

"It's your birthday silly! Kaito and I know you haven't been here that long, so we wanted to make sure you celebrated it! It's too bad your birthday's on a Sunday and we can't celebrate it in school."

"My birthday…?" Saguru thought. Yes, he had remembered looking on the calendar and seeing that it was his birthday. He'd expected a phone call from his mother but nothing more than that. Waking up to the two of them, in his bedroom, was new. "Couldn't you wait until later?"

"It is later." Aoko looked at her watch. "It's already eleven-thirty."

Kuroba grinned at him. "The master of time doesn't know what time it is? The world must be ending."

"Shut up Kuroba-kun." Saguru winced, dream still fresh in his thoughts and making him picture Kid on the ground in front of him with his mouth sown shut. "I mean-"

"Hey." Kuroba came closer to him, bending over to stare him in the face. "Are you okay? You look sick."

"I'm fine," he reassured the magician. "Bad dreams, that's all."

"Sorry. I should have woken you." Kuroba shrugged. "You were moving around a little, but nothing more than that. I couldn't tell you were having a nightmare."

"It wasn't really a nightmare. It was – strange." Saguru didn't have words for what it was. Pieces of the dream were already starting to fade away as reality took over.

"Well it's over now." Aoko came up to him and put a metal bracelet around his wrist, the chain thick and made up of links of cold metal. "Happy birthday!"

"Thank you Aoko-kun," he said to her, the chill waking him up more. "Do you mind terribly if I get dressed before anything else?"

"Sure thing!" Aoko moved out of the way so he could get out of bed, reluctantly showing off his pajamas to them. They weren't anything to be embarrassed about, just a large white shirt and plaid grey pants.

Saguru went to his closet to retrieve his clothes, trying not to look at Kuroba. The magician caught on to his behavior and went out of the way to try and get him to catch his eye. Having gotten his clothing, Kuroba gave up with a shrug and sat down on his unmade bed while he went off to the bathroom.

Saguru placed the clothes down on the sink, putting a hand up to his forehead and resting himself against the counter. "What the heck is wrong with me? Why'd I have that stupid dream?"

Closing his eyes, Saguru saw some of the more vivid scenes playing back at him. They hurt, but he felt like he wanted to hold onto them. Saguru believed there was meaning in dreams, even when they didn't make sense.

He got himself dressed, feeling curious about something. Saguru threw the idea away at first, but by the time he got his socks on, it was back.

Opening the door to the two of them, Kuroba sitting on the floor and Aoko being nice enough to make the bed, apparently having had to push the magician off of it to do so, he walked over to where Kuroba was sitting on his carpet.

"Can I ask you for a favor?"

Kuroba looked up at him. "What is it?"

"Can you come with me for a moment? Aoko-kun, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd like to speak with him."

"It's fine with me," Aoko said with no concern. "I wanted to do something in here anyway."

What the girl was going to do to do in his bedroom, Saguru didn't want to know. He shivered, not liking having Kuroba below him, offering a hand up for the magician. "It won't take long then."

Kuroba gave him a, what are you up to? look, but Saguru stared back innocently, authentically curious about something.

"If it weren't your birthday, I would tell you to go by yourself." Kuroba got up on his own, ignoring Saguru's hand. He took it back, hurt but accepting of the magician's actions. Kuroba caught his expression and Saguru tried to smile.

Kuroba sat back down on the floor, putting his hand up. "Fine you stupid detective."

Saguru was so surprised that he didn't accept the magician's hand. Kuroba stared at him with annoyance, simply waiting.

He helped him up, feeling the magician's weight real in his grip. Some part of him since he woke up had been afraid that he wouldn't be real. That he was dead somewhere and that this was the dream. The contact broke that illusion.

"While we're at it, tell me what the hell is wrong with you," Kuroba muttered, following him out of the room.

"I told you it was just a bad dream. I needed to know you were real."

Kuroba looked at him as if he'd just sprouted horns. "Okay… What, you dreamed that I was dead?"

"No." Saguru felt his mood darken, being pulled back into a world that wasn't real.

"Knock it off already." Kuroba slapped him on the back hard enough to hurt. Saguru winced.

"What was that for?"

"For not being happy on your birthday! Lighten up before we get back so that Aoko doesn't get upset."

"So you're making me feel better for her?" Saguru raised an eyebrow.

"That's not what I meant." Kuroba looked away. "I'm sorry that you're not feeling like sunshine and daisies right now. If you want, I could leave with Aoko. Tell her you're not feeling good or something."

It was an honest offer. "No, I just-" He didn't have the words for it. He felt empty. He also felt as if he'd betrayed Kuroba, or the police, or someone. Something felt like betrayal, he just wasn't sure where it was aimed at yet. Maybe he'd betrayed himself.

Once they reached his library, far enough away from his room that Aoko wouldn't hear them, he offered Kuroba a seat.

"So what do you want? I'm not going to call myself Kaitou Kid and turn myself into the police as a birthday present, if that's what you were after."

"Nothing of the sort." Saguru looked at the magician in front of him. "I know this may sound strange, but I want you to sit still for a moment."

"Okay," Kuroba looked at him with slanted eyes. "I'm still. What now?"

"Take off your shirt."

Kuroba's eyes widened, going under his bangs. He half smiled, looking revolted. "You want me to what?"

"Please, if only for my peace of mind."

"What the hell were you dreaming? I am not taking off my shirt!"

A human could slip out of almost every hold on any part of their body if they learned how to do so correctly. Saguru didn't like it, but he knew he had more brute force than Kuroba and grabbed his hair, trying to ignore the sickening feeling in his stomach.

"Then I'll make you."

"Damn it! Let go of me Hakuba-kun!" The magician tried to struggle but it was fruitless unless he injured Saguru to get away. He didn't think he would, but he was ready in case the magician tried to.

After a lot of hair pulling, Kuroba finally gave up.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Alright!" Kuroba was put his hands inside the shirt and took it off so that it was hanging around his neck, waiting for him to let go so that the magician could finish removing it. With a sigh Kuroba threw his shirt down next to him.

"Happy? Ask me to take anything else off and I swear the astronauts won't even be able to find you!"

"Now don't move." Saguru sat down next to Kuroba, looking him over. He let himself relax when the magician didn't bear any similar marks to the one in his dreams. Something though, did catch his attention.

"What's this?" There was a dull white line across his upper arm that was half an inch in diameter and nearly two inches in length.

"Nothing." Kuroba pulled his arm away from him. "I hurt myself a while ago. Stupid thing won't go away."

"Kuroba-kun, this is a bullet wound."

The magician got as far away from him as he could. "Says you. I got it… I got it playing some sport or another."

"You did not." Saguru stood up, trying to grab Kuroba's wrist but the magician kept himself away, backing up into his wall. Saguru knew that he could vanish at any point and hated it when he had to take hold of him by the hair again.

"Ouch! What the heck is your problem today? Let go of me!"

The magician held firmly onto Saguru's arm, trying to hurt him enough to let go. Saguru had a good hold though, and wouldn't be letting up until he had some answers. As Kuroba fought futilely against him, he continued to look the magician over.

Saguru found an almost identical scar to the first one on his other arm, if not a bit lower and thicker, made from a heavier round.

"Kuroba-kun, you have two bullet wounds?"

"I said it was nothing." Kuroba continued to struggled, digging his fingers into Saguru's arm. It hurt, the magician was stronger than he looked, but Saguru wasn't going to let go.

"Where did you get these? Have you been shot anywhere else?"

"I told you they aren't bullet wounds!"

"Kuroba-kun tell me the truth!"

"I can't!"

Saguru felt the magician's hands slacken, blood swelling up where Kuroba had broken his skin.

"Let go."

The tones were dead, as if coming for a machine.

"I'm not doing this to be mean. I'm not trying to prove you're the Kid either. I just want to know."

"What would you do with the information if I told you?"

Saguru hadn't noticed it, but by grabbing his hair, he'd forced Kuroba lower than him. The magician looked up at him with the same clear eyes he had in his dream, a touch of anger in the real thief's eyes. He waited for an answer.

Fear be damned, Saguru was no coward. "I would keep the information to myself. At least that way I'll know that I'm doing the right thing. Kuroba-kun, if I had to choose between your life and capturing Kid, there would be no contest."

That painful smiled was back. The Kuroba in real life looking too much like his dream version. The brittleness of it was clear. "Yeah I know. You're all about catching the Kid. What's that have to do with me?"

"Do you honestly think that little of me?" Saguru finally noticed what it was in that smile that bothered him so much. It was the lack of faith. Kuroba, who always acted so confidently, was scared. "I would choose your life every time. Over and over if you asked me, I'd never change my answer. I need to know that you'll be alive if I capture the Kid. If not, I'll give up."

"What are you talking about?"

"Kuroba-kun, will you die if I catch you?"

They remained in silence for a time, each trying to gage the other one and coming up empty. Saguru could see by the look in the thief's eyes that this wasn't easy for him.

"I don't know."

It was a simple answer and one that made Saguru finally decide to let him go. Kuroba didn't straighten himself out, he only stared at Saguru, afraid of the words he'd just spoken.

"And the bullet wounds. They're from someone else, not the police, right?"

Kuroba nodded.

"Then I've got some work ahead of me. Try not to schedule a heist when we have test. I do like to study. I'll find a way to stop them hurting you."

"What are you talking about? Aren't you after the Kid?"

"I'm after a criminal. Right now Kid is purely a victim, if not a victim that likes to take things into their own hands. I wouldn't be after someone I'm trying to protect. Until I find a way to stop you from getting hurt, I won't be after the Kid."

"Don't do that Hakuba-kun." The mechanical tones were back. "You'll get killed."

"Then help me." This time Saguru didn't follow his dream. He already knew what his choices were going to be from here on out. Saguru was the one who walked away, seeing if Kuroba would follow.

He was almost back to his bedroom before the magician's voice startled him. Saguru had fully expected Kuroba to act the way his unconscious self had, and not to have been able to follow.

With his hands in his pockets and shirt back on, slouched over slightly and looking up with eyes like a puppy, Kuroba spoke. "Do you really want a thief's help?"

"Who better to catch a criminal then the world's most renowned fugitive? I could think of no one better. The question is, will a thief help a detective?"

"It's not like I haven't done similar in the past."

"'I'? Are we talking about you or the thief?" Saguru smiled, feeling the rest of his tension drain away.

"Both, since I am the thief." Kuroba grinned, dropping in a heartbeat to emphasize the seriousness of his next words. "Don't get yourself killed."

"Don't get yourself killed either."

Kuroba smiled, "No need to worry there."

"All the more need to worry."

They both laughed, feeling awkward and uncomfortably in their new partnership. It was soothing to his nerves though. Saguru had always felt he was missing something when it came to the Kid. That something had been the gravity of what he was truly up against. He had the wrong target from the beginning.

Kuroba started to laugh harder. "You know what I just realized? You went from detective to outlaw on your birthday!"

"This isn't an old western, and I'm not a bad guy." Saguru crossed his arms. "By definition, you aren't the one who's in the wrong here."

"I'm pretty sure I am." Kuroba looked up, thinking about it. "Yep, someone who steals something that doesn't belong to them is, by definition, a felon."

"Not if it's done with good intent."

Kuroba's eyes overshadowed with something akin to recognition. "I don't think so either."

Saguru pushed open his door, finding his room to have been decorated with balloons and streamers tapped to his ceiling. Aoko had moved in some chairs and a small table he'd had in the main room. On the tables were snacks and two more wrapped presents.

Saguru looked at them, stunned at how much she'd pulled off in so short a time.

Aoko caught him glancing at the presents. "One's from my dad and one's from Kaito."

Saguru looked back at him and the magician shrugged. "She made me."

He sat down, Kuroba coming to sit next to him and snatching some of the chips. The two of them were Saguru's only friends since he had come to Japan, and, while he missed the many he had in England, he like the intimacy of the close group better.

"Thank you Aoko-kun."

"It's no problem Hakuba-kun. We just wanted you to have some fun! You're always so serious."

"Yeah, you stick in the mud."

Saguru shook his head, the pangs of missing his family almost non-existent at that moment. Opening the presents, Saguru found that Nakamori had given him a new police notebook, his own simply being an imitation, and a pair of handcuffs from Kuroba.

Saguru held them up with raise eyebrows.

"No one can get out of them – except me. I didn't know what else to give you and it was kind of fun working out all the flaws of police handcuffs."

He looked them over, finding a major difference in the joint where it closed shut, and the lock could only be opened with a key that was included with it.

"Thank you."

They had fun together after that. They all ate until they were too full to move, Saguru's housekeeper having prepared a feast for his birthday. At one point, Aoko was playing with the handcuffs and got herself locked to the bathroom door for over an hour before they found the key. Saguru himself had fallen when he was carrying the dishes into the kitchen and gotten gravy all over his clothes.

"Hey look," Kuroba had joked, "he really is a stick in the mud!"

When the day was finally over, Saguru was sore but happy. There wasn't much that could have made it better. None of his parties at home had ever let him feel so relaxed, pressure to act dignified while everyone was watching was overwhelming.

But there was more to think about the next day. Kuroba hadn't brought up anything after their talk, but there were things Saguru needed to get sorted out for himself.

For the time being though - he snuck into the kitchen long after Kuroba and Aoko had left, and after his housekeeper had gone to sleep –

And stolen another piece of cake.