A/N:I'm just randomly updating this again, so it might have nothing to do with what was happening in the plot, again it's been a year and I apologize. My DC muses died for a while, but I hope they're sticking around this time. I plan on continuing this stuff.

That nasty carpal tunnel is still here, though to a lesser extent. It's just chronic pain and now my left thumb is sore. I can still type, though I don't do long-ass chapters anymore unless I can handle it. Anyhow, it's late here, so I'm gonna give you just a short chapter for now, for being so patient and waiting for so long. I swear I'm continuing this fic as much as I can. It's just hard when your arms are aching a lot.

Also Improbable Truth and the DC/CG fic'll be updated soon and the Black Org Shin fic at some point in time.

Chapter Seven Childhood Promises

"Hey, Kaito...we'll always be friends, won't we?" A little Shinichi asked, looking at his cousin, who was playing with his magic tricks like usual. His cousin was so cool when he played with magic, he always wanted to do it, but somehow he just wasn't good enough at it.

"Hm? Of course we'll always be friends, we're cousins, baka Shin!" He teased, playing with the other's hair and putting away his magic cards. He knew his cousin was sometimes jealous of his natural talent with magic, but he was envious of his cousin's logic at mystery novels. The kid could potentially become a detective someday.

"Oh, I just thought...that maybe you might find me boring someday if I decide to become a detective. You don't like detectives, right?" He said, looking at him with a dopey expression on his face.

"Of course I don't, but if it's you, that's different. You're my cousin, I'd never stop liking you." He teased.

"And I'd never stop going to your magic shows!" He exclaimed, and the two shared a laugh.

Later on, Kaito discovered his cousin was now a detective (much like he'd predicted he would be) and sighed over the irony. They were fated to be rivals, after all...

"What're ya looking at, Shin-chan?" Kaito chirped, suddenly appearing out of nowhere behind Shinichi.

"Kaitou Kid's latest riddle, I still can't figure it out, it makes no sense!" He complained, "How does this guy come up with all of this?"

Ignoring the jab at his alter ego, Kaito continued. "Maybe it doesn't make any sense. Maybe it's just meant to throw people off of him."

"You talk about the guy like you know him, Kaito." Shinichi mumbled, gazing from the riddle to Kaito in slight suspicion. "Your names are even similar."

Oh shit, Kaito. Change the subject. Change the subject. Otherwise, you're gonna be toast, you're gonna be history.

"Of course we're not the same person. I just so happen to read a lot on him, that's all!" He chirped, causing his cousin to let out a loud sigh of relief.

"Oh, that's good, I was fearing I'd have to put my own cousin behind bars, but I guess since you're not KID, we're on good terms again." He smirked, causing Kaito to shudder.

'He suspects...he does suspect me! How do I throw him off?'

Fortunately, Shinichi's concentration was thrown off thanks to the arrival of a certain brunette girl and her friend, Sonoko Suzuki.

"Shinichi, good morning! Good morning, Kaito-kun!" She said, flushing a little.

Sonoko said nothing but continued staring at him. "He looks like Kaitou KID." She said matter-of-factly.

Kaito said nothing, continuing to smile.

What was it with people today? Nuts.

Perhaps he'd better disguise himself better.

"Kaito-kun being KID is hilariously dumb. He'd know better than to be a thief, especially since his cousin is a detective." Ran said, laughing at the very idea, which amused Kaito.

"Yeah, exactly! I keep trying to tell people that, but they just don't listen! Sometimes, people have doppelgangers who just so happen to look like them, but it means nothing!" He pressed.

"If you say so." Sonoko muttered sadly. "I guess I'll never get to know what KID looks like under the mask."

"He's probably some older guy." Ran said.

Kaito winced at that implication. He was still young, dammit!

"I doubt that. He's probably fairly young." Shinichi's voice caught his attention yet again. He was in that odd, dreamy state of his when he was thinking about some case. It was very hard to snap him out of this state when he got into it, he thought in exasperation.

"Why do you say that, Shinichi?" Ran asked, now looking at him in interest.

"Because he sounds young. If he were old, he'd sound old and he doesn't. He's probably, at my best estimate...probably in his 20s or even younger. Maybe even our age, though that's unlikely." Shinichi deduced.

Sweat was dripping down Kaito's back. That was really, really close to the truth, and he didn't like where this conversation was going.

"So, cousin, how's it going on that murder case you're working on?" He said, changing the subject.

"No leads yet, though there are people of interest." Shinichi said, sighing. "This killer's really good. But I swear I'll catch him."

"I'm sure you will." Kaito said, and he meant every word of it. Serial killers pissed Kaito off. He was a thief, not someone who took lives and seeing someone like that man taking lives while he was in this city ticked him off. He'd be sure to target this guy, too, to take him on and maybe expose him to the police, too. No one hurt innocents while he was in town.

At any rate, he was glad that the subject had changed from KID's possible identity, though he noticed how Shinichi kept throwing him odd, curious glances over the course of the next couple hours in class, when he wasn't taking notes or nearly falling asleep. His cousin still had that same habit of sleeping, he thought in amusement, before folding up the last line, and then throwing a paper airplane at his cousin, which hit him on the head, waking him up.

"What hit me?" He muttered.

"Kuroba-san, what have I told you about goofing off in class?" The teacher said, radiating a look of utter fury, though she was smiling. It was a terrifying sight and he was reminded distinctly of Koizumi.

"Not to do it..." He said, "But Sensei, he was the perfect target."

The teacher did not share the sentiment, and after school, Kaito was stuck cleaning up the classroom as a punishment, while his cousin watched, smirking.

"You could help me." He whined, "Weren't you punished, too?"

"Oh yeah, I'll help." He said, "It's just rude to have a paper airplane thrown at my head, that's all."

"Fine, I'm sorry." He said petulantly. "I just wanted you to be awake in my presence. It's rude of an audience to fall asleep while the magician is performing."

"It's not a performance, though, it's a class." Shinichi said, being too logical like usual.

"I don't mean that, I mean that I can't help but be awed by you, Shinichi." He said.

"You're being creepy, baarou." He complained.

"Am I?" Kaito said.

"I could always ask Okaasan if she visits to bring some fish with her." Shinichi muttered, grinning wickedly.

"You're cruel, truly evil Shinichi." He whined, shaking.

"Was Sonoko's punishment not enough?" Shinichi said, smirking.

"Stop grinning at me like that." Kaito whined.

"I will if you stop being afraid of fish." He said.

"Hey, they're terrifying! Their slimy skin, their terrifying, lifeless eyes...those creepy, open mouths..." Kaito shuddered.

"They taste delicious, though." Shinichi deadpanned, finishing up the cleaning on his side of the room.

Kaito sighed before finishing and helping his cousin put away the cleaning supplies before they would go report to the teacher about their progress, "Not breaking the rules is boring, how do you do it, Shinichi?"

"Oh, I did use one of your tricks before to have a chemical cover a whole classroom in smoke so I could go investigate a case once when I was in junior high." He said, putting his arms behind his head as usual and yawning.

"Really~, do tell, is little Shin-chan becoming a magician like me?" Kaito said, shooting confetti at him.

"No, it was just that one time. It's not like I like magic or anything."

But Shinichi was a bad liar.

If he didn't like magic, why was he interested in going to the heist?

It was then that Kaito realized why he wanted to: because he wanted to be the one to put KID behind bars. To Shinichi, KID was nothing more than a public nuisance, the same as the criminals he saw arrested every single day. What would happen when he did find out who he was? Would he never share a laugh with him again? Would he never talk to him or look at him again?

Shinichi could be very black and white in his thinking, after all...and if he knew, he could be broken by that knowledge.

"Kaito? Hey, Kaito, you've been spacing out! What's going on?" Shinichi asked, as they were walking home.

"Oh...nothing much." Kaito said, "Just thinking about a new magic trick."

But he still couldn't stop himself from shivering at the idea of his cousin sternly sentencing him to jail time.

'That won't happen...he'd never see me that way.'

Nevertheless, the worries persisted to trouble him most of the day.

Undoubtedly his cousin had noticed, as he'd kept asking him repeatedly if he was okay.

Kaito kept brushing him off. He had to maintain his poker face, after all...but he did feel guilty about lying to the one person he felt closer to than anyone else.

"It's all right...he won't find out who he is. I won't give away any more hints about KID." He mumbled.

"It's just too weird." He muttered to himself.

It was just too weird. KID shows up at the same time as Kaito randomly returned to town to visit him for the first time in seven years, Kaito acted all enthusiastic about KID, their names were too similar, and even their interest in magic was the same.

Shinichi sighed. "I'm giving this way too much thought. I don't think he could be KID."

'But, if he was...' His brain began, 'Would you arrest him?'

Shinichi shook his head. 'No. I would never do that.'

He resolved to keep Kaito in mind as a potential suspect-he was just acting too jumpy and paranoid for it to be normal.

Besides, KID was as theatrical as Kaito was, if reports of what he'd heard were correct, but he just didn't want to believe his cousin could be a law-breaking criminal.

He turned away from the window and turned back to the riddle he'd thrown aside. "Won't you tell me your secrets, thief-san?" He asked.

Of course, the paper didn't answer him.

But that did not ease his troubled mind, rather it permeated his dreams, even. He dreamed of hunting KID down and unmasking him, only to show a mirror looking back at him, someone identical to him, smiling widely.

"Didn't you want to see who I was? Now you know, Shinichi." It taunted, wearing Kaito's face. But it wasn't him, it couldn't be.

"You're not Kaito. You can't be." Shinichi replied.

"Disguises are meant to stay on, detective. You have a few skeletons in your closet, right? Maybe keep that in mind before unmasking KID." The thief laughed before exploding into a pack of cards.

Shinichi picked up a card and stared at it, it was the Ace of Spades. His card.

"What does this mean?" He asked. But then the card fell out of his hand and he woke up.

"That was strange." He muttered, "Card dreams? Kaito really is influencing me too much. I miss my Sherlock Holmes dreams."