Disclaimer: Don't own Magic Kaitou of Detective Conan...I want Kai and Conan though...

It was late, far past the time for all decent working people to be in bed and resting for the looming day ahead. It was somewhere between dusk and dawn, far enough from each time so that the sky was a deep and utter black, unstained by the color of twilight. Even the moon shined sleepily, the soft gentle moonbeams falling like tears from the sky. They fell unimpeded for the longest time, until they were swallowed by the intensity of police floodlights, the whirr of helicopter blades, and the sirens and shouts of the Tokyo police force.

It might as well have been daylight around the museum, for Kaitou Kid did not sleep.

There he stood, tall and regal on the top of the building, the eyes of all the police force were trained on him, the magician of the moon. He held a glittering gem up to the moonlight, to all below it seemed as if he were mocking the police by showing off his prize, rubbing it in their faces that everything they tried to stop him with failed. He stood, basking in the attention, with the helicopter's searchlights trained on him he felt as if he were performing on stage. In a way he was. The heist was his performance. The police were his audience.

There was only one thing missing.

He was standing there, the copter's blades whipping around his cloak, the strength of the wind threatening to dislodge his hat and send it flying into the air… He was waiting for something. Waiting for the roof doors behind him to burst open. Waiting for a short figure to emerge from the darkened gloom, sweating and out of breath, but still wearing that triumphant smirk that told Kid that he had figured it all out.

He was waiting for that too-mature, for a child's voice, to call him out. Waiting to turn around and see the predator lurking behind those blue eyes, shining with adrenalin, hidden vainly behind large glasses. He was waiting to answer to the unparalleled determination and intelligence with his own smirk and say; "Well met, Tantei-kun.", the words that would start the duel between the thief who acted like a kid, and the detective who masqueraded as a kid.

The door slammed open, but he didn't bother turning around. The footsteps that thundered up the stairs were of too many and too heavy to be the person he was waiting for. Kid gave a heartfelt sigh, listening with half an ear as Nakamori barked the orders to have him surrounded on all sides.

It looked like the guest of honor would be absent. Again.

The middle aged inspector had apparently grown a few brain cells since the last heist. He had signaled the helicopters to hover as close to the side of the building as possible, probably in an attempt to dissuade the thief from using his hang-glider. With the preparations completed, Nakamori had squared himself to start the customary cop versus criminal banter before he ordered his men to capture the white-clad jewel thief.

"The game ends here, Kid! The only way you'll be leaving this roof is in cuffs!"

Kaitou Kid threw a slightly bored glance over his shoulder, sizing up the concentration of navy and white clad officers and gauging his methods of escape. He didn't really feel like playing with them today. After months of nothing but police incompetence he was getting quite bored of it. He craved a challenge; he craved something to spice back up the routine of Nakamori's defenses. Kid would have even been happy to have Hakuba back on his case, if only for the extra challenge the British detective posed.

Unfortunately, Britain was rather far to go looking for a rival, and there was one located closer to home. The problem with that choice was that he hadn't seen the chibi-tantei in roughly half a year now. Despite the fact that he'd seen the boy's guardian—the supposed 'meitantei' Mouri Kogorou—around at least four out of 5 heists, he hadn't seen chibi-tantei on any of them. He'd even gone so far as to specifically target the Suzuki's large—and now dwindling—collection of jewelry because he knew the daughter would push the detective's daughter—funny, he hadn't seen the chibi-tantei's girlfriend around, either—into enlisting her father's aid.

It hadn't worked obviously, or else Kid would not be standing on the edge of the building, surrounded by police officers, pondering this problem and planning out the fastest escape route. He would have much rather been leading Tantei-kun along a merry chase that would test the ingenuity and resourcefulness of both of them, instead of bothering with the small-fry like the police.

Oh look, Nakamori was getting impatient with his continued silence. He figured he should humor the poor man before he had an aneurism. "There's only one game I would like to play, Inspector, and you lot don't look like qualified players." He smiled apologetically, taking a slightly guilty pleasure in watching a vibrant red bleed into every part of Inspector Nakamori's face. That phenomenon could never get old. "I suppose I shall have to bid you good gentlemen a good night."

With a casual motion he placed the stolen jewel in the pocket of his suit before taking a careless step backwards. Kid plummeted from the rooftop, leaving behind shouts and chaos as the police surged forward to lean over the edge and observe the white-clad criminal's apparent suicide plunge. The thief took it all in stride—metaphorically, of course—and lazily reached into his jacket, pulling out a device that was modeled after his card gun. The only difference was that this one shot a grappling hook. Once he had fallen for the correct length of time, Kid spotted what he was looking for. A smile spread across his face as he mentally praised his ability to predict the police force's reactions. The window he'd left open was still open. Apparently, the police had been too busy scrambling to try and catch him. They hadn't even noticed.

The kaitou shot the grappling hook and the three pronged end caught on one of the many ledges that littered the side of the museum. He really had to thank the architect; the man had apparently been fond of them. In less than a second the hook had caught, and the line drew taught, jerking his body slightly and causing a sharp pain to flow through his arm.

The sudden momentum caused the jewel to bounce out of his pocket and continue falling, but he didn't really care, it wasn't the one he was looking for. All Kid needed to do now was swing his body toward the side of the building, disengage the line, and dive through the open window.

The landing, which didn't go quite as well as he'd planned, resulted in an undignified heap of thief and white cloth. He was just glad that the majority of his audience was still on the upper levels, so there had not been anyone to see his less than satisfactory landing. He didn't know if his performer's pride would have survived if he'd been seen.

Kid shook off the thought; he wasn't quite out of the woods yet. The thief rifled through his bag of tricks before pulling out the police radio he'd purloined from a guard upon his entering the building. He switched it into receive only mode.

Immediately, Nakamori's voice poured through, "He's in the building somewhere! It looks like he made it inside around the third floor. All officers are to immediately comb the building, do not let him escape!" Nakamori's voice had risen to a dangerous volume at the final words, forcing Kid to hold the radio at arms length to save his eardrums. "Maa…" He sighed, "That's about the only endearing thing they have about them—they never give up."

Kaitou Kid decided he'd better finish up this heist, using the art of quick change to appear as nothing more than a junior officer on patrol. He cleared his throat once, before changing the radio mode to broadcasting, "Inspector!" The voice that came from his mouth was several pitches lower than his own and of a completely different timbre, "This is Officer Takanori, I've found the window and the remains of the hook that Kid used." He leaned out the window to look up at the dangling wire, just in case someone was looking down from above, "But there's no sign of the thief."

He pulled back inside as a sting of invectives came over the frequency, by Nakamori, of course. Now, all he had to do was wait until he was ordered to search the exits, and then he'd be home free.

"Takanori, get down to the ground floor and seal off the exits! Everyone else, search those last few floors!"

Kid gave a confirmation of the order and switched off the radio, smiling faintly to himself. "Thank you, Nakamori. You've just made my job easier."

He really did wonder when the Inspector would learn, but he wasn't going to question his luck. This way he could get home in time to catch a few hours of sleep before school in the morning. He'd think about what he was going to do with a certain missing detective tomorrow.

-

Ayumi craned her neck, looking up at the large building they were passing. It towered over the streets, casting a shadow that fell over her youthful face and stretched almost to the other side of the road.

It was the first time she'd been through this part of town in the morning. Normally she walked to school with the Shounen-Tantei, a small group of friends that were just as big mystery nuts as she was, but her mother had some errands to run, one of which required the eight year olds presence. She was glad for it—she got to sleep in!—but she felt a little guilty about leaving her friends, although that was just until sometime after lunch, when her mom would drop her off at school.

Her mother was heading straight toward the museum, pulling out a notebook as she neared the crowd of people on the steps. Ayumi gave a resigned nod as her mother told her not to wander off, stay nearby, and that she wouldn't take long. The girl shrugged and skipped off toward the side of the building as her mother joined the crowd of reporters. Apparently something had happened here. Normally she would have at least some idea as to what had happened. She had gotten into watching the news pretty regularly. She was aware that not many kids her age bothered, but she'd noticed Conan always solving these cases and then blaming it on the news or some kind of TV program. She had been searching in vain for that channel he spoke of, but so far there'd been no luck.

Ayumi hadn't caught any of the evening news yesterday because of a special broadcast of Kamen Yaiba. Good for the budding detective or not, she was never going to miss Kamen Yaiba, if she could help it. Learning how to fight bad guys was just as vital, right?

She nodded her head, agreeing silently with her thoughts, and started to plan out a game in her mind. Her mother would be busy for at least another ten minutes so she had plenty of time to waste. She was going to play detective! A look of determination settled across her face, she'd solve the mystery of what had happened on her own, then she'd show the rest of the Shounen-Tantei that she was just as capable of deduction as Conan and Ai-chan.

Stay focused and calm, Conan's words echoed through her head as Ayumi recalled one of the few times they'd managed to weasel some words of wisdom from the detective genius of their group. Don't overlook anything, even the smallest detail could be a clue.

Let's see, she narrowed her eyes and surveyed the area. The grassy area directly between the walls and the sidewalk had been taped off with police tape, meaning—to her overactive imagination—that a crime had actually been committed and it wasn't just some publicity event.

She crept closer, quickly checking for any officers that might try to impede her investigation. Luckily they were all too busy trying to keep order in the crowd of reporters to care about a curious girl. She crouched down at the edge of the grass, taking in the trampled appearance. There'd been a lot of people standing around recently—police officers?—she'd been to the museum before and she knew that the curator got really angry if anyone stood on the grass. After a moment's thought, Ayumi giggled quietly, she remembered Genta being chastised for walking on the grass when the class came to this building on a school trip. Even sensei had been scolded by the security guard when she went to retrieve the errant boy.

Work one question at a time, try and connect the answer to another. Her Inner Conan spoke up again, nudging her thoughts into a single direction. So, there'd been a lot of police officers around, but why? Inner Conan nodded his approval and she preened a little before returning her attention to the building. She craned her neck up, looking along the wall, quickly taking notice of the open window on the third floor. There was an officer working at it, it looked like he was examining the frame. The wheels in her mind turned, something had happened last night, at this museum. It looked like a simple robbery, but no simple break-in would garner this much press attention. Maybe someone was killed?

Don't jump to conclusions! Wait until you have all the facts before pulling them all together. Ayumi shook her head, taking one last look around the wall. She frowned when she saw a strange lump half hidden in the still standing grass against the museum wall; she knew there weren't supposed to be any rocks here.

After a quick look to make sure the guards were still ignoring her, she snuck passed the police tape, treading carefully across the trampled grass and toward the lump, pulling out a small tissue she could use to pick it up with along the way. She remembered Conan's words about fingerprints, so she'd taken to carrying around a couple tissues with her; the fact that she needed them now gave her a faint feeling of pride for her foresight. The object was small enough to fit in her hand, and dark colored, she could feel the edges through the tissue, but the surface seemed smooth for the most part. Maybe something from the souvenir shop inside? She wrapped the tissue around it and stuffed it in her pocket, before deciding to continue in her investigation.

The small black-haired girl ducked back under the caution tape, letting out a faint sigh of relief that she hadn't been caught. She wasn't like Conan. He had a reputation with the police and they gave him a chance to explain himself before taking him home to his guardian and giving him a lecture. If she had been caught…

It didn't matter now. She'd gotten away with it!

With a faint giggle to herself at her sneakiness, Ayumi decided to move closer to the diminishing gaggle of press around the building's entrance, she wanted to see if she recognized the officers giving the press conference.

"Ayumi-chan!" A hand closed around her shoulder as she got close and she turned around to see her mother's face. "I told you not to wander off. We have to get going if you're going to make your appointment." Ayumi let her mother drag her away, out from under the shadow of the museum and the mystery she hadn't solved.

She did know one thing. It wasn't a murder. The man giving the press conference wasn't Inspector Megure, but was someone else, someone she remembered seeing somewhere…

Ayumi bit her lip, trying to remember. She knew she'd seen him before... but where?

A/n: Eh heh…the only kind of bunny I dislike are plot bunnies. You can blame HittocereBattosai for this one. I mentioned the idea off hand and she wanted me to write it, so I worked on it and she beta'd it for me. I have events outlined till near the end of the story, and a rough draft written up until the first major-major event in the story.

Anyways, warnings: This will probably either end up having hints of KaitoxShinichi(Conan) or be the full blown pairing. I'm not sure whether I want to take the story as far as them actually getting together, but the premise will be there.