Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: a post "Raven Chaser" story. Because "The Raven Chaser" opened many doors…and Kaito worries. Animeverse/Movieverse.
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"As always, it's been a pleasure Nakamori-keibu." Kid smirked from atop a display case at the muffled curses from the bottom of a failed dog-pile. The Suzuki family's Yellow Star Diamond …or Princess Emerald? He was really starting to lose track of how many jewels the hopelessly rich family actually had; at this point it was just a chance to play with his favorite miniature detective, was now safely tucked in his inner pocket and speaking of his favorite chibi… He smiled at the overly obvious shadowy niche between artfully displayed potted trees, "Forgive me Hakuba," he reached behind his current perch where he'd been noticing tiny scurried movements during most of the heist, "but I'll be borrowing this." He lifted and dangled the now wide-eyed bespectacled mouse for the hiding blonde to see before disappearing in a cloud of pink.
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"Fallout: Repercussions"
by: The Silversage
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"What the hell is that idiot doing now?!" Nakamori fumed, freshly extracted from being pinned. Several newly bruised officers delicately moved out of their irate chief's pacing path… and his fists. "The shiny rocks I understand but now the deviant's stealing kids?!"
"Wasn't that the boy who works for that Sleeping Kogoro?" Officer Sensui whispered to his fellow victims of Nakamori's temper. "How did he get in here?!"
"More importantly, which one of us has to tell Mouri-san his assistant was kidnapped by Kid?" Officer Kowata whispered back.
Hakuba wisely gave Nakamori and the strike-force a wide berth and circled the display pedestal the thief had disappeared from. Looking directly up gave him an open view five floors up to the ceiling skylights, very closed skylights at that, in the circular atrium with curved winding stairs encircling the open space up to the top floor. But the third floor landing was almost directly over the display case. Hakuba grinned, "I've got you now, thief!"
"Let me go! What kind of joke are you trying to pull! It's not funny!" Conan struggled from his position tucked under the arm of the white clad thief around his waist, arms and legs flailing uselessly. He slightly considered biting Kaitou Kid's side.
"No, it's not," answered a tight monotone.
The absolute coldness of the usually mirthful Kid stopped Conan cold in his struggles and he finally took a good look at his kidnapper's face such as he could see it. Kaitou Kid was in full poker-face mode from what he could tell with the obscuring shadows of the hallway lit only by red emergency lights, if anything the phantom thief seemed… angry. Angry? At him? He'd seen Kid's face peeved and perhaps a pout or two when he'd fouled up the thief's heists but the thief had never been all that angry at him over it, and this heist was currently working in the thief's favor so that couldn't be it. "Where are we going?" Conan finally ventured, hanging limply. The thief spared him a quick glance but didn't answer finally turning a corner in the museum's maze of corridors entering a dead end hallway with a single door at the end clearly labeled Museum Director. Conan sighed and settled into the jolting up and down of the phantom thief's ambling pace. He wasn't the least bit surprised that the director's door had apparently been left unlocked. The thief paused inside the office to close and lock the door before walking to the desk and setting him standing on the desk top with surprising gentleness for his earlier severe expression. He turned Conan around to face him, before pulling the small boy into a tight hug.
'Wait, …what?!' Conan froze in the thief's arms currently pressed against layers of white silk that smelled slightly of the pink smoke the thief was so fond of. 'Cotton candy, I never noticed until now. Only he would flavor scent his smoke bombs.' Conan mentally slapped himself before attempting to look up from where his head was tucked under Kid's chin. "What the hell are you doing?" Conan praised himself for managing to keep any surprise or shock out of his voice and actually sounding as terse and cross as he meant his voice to sound.
Kid finally let go enough to move his grip to Conan's shoulders. "No, the question is what the hell did you think you were doing Kudo?!"
Conan stiffened at the use of his real name. "What are you talking abou-"
"Are you trying to get your self killed?!" Kid hissed through a voice that was desperately trying not to be all-out shouting punctuating every few words with hard shakes. "And how about Ran-san? Are you trying to get her killed too Kudo?"
"I really don't know what you're talking about and I'd thank you to stop using that name OUT LOUD!" Conan shouted.
"Oh, really! You don't know what I'm talking about!" Kaito let go one of Conan's shoulders long enough to pull his card gun and point it straight out to his side letting two cards fly blind at the office window. Conan watched the window blinds fall to the ground leaving Touto Tower perfectly framed in the narrow glass.
Touto Tower still closed and under construction from the recent helicopter attack on its observation deck. Conan caught his breath at the terror that was barely a week past. He had avoided looking at the tower all week and now he couldn't seem to look away. Panic was crawling up his throat and he was sure as soon as it reached his mouth he'd start screaming and he wouldn't be able to stop. At the time, he'd done everything he could to get Ran and himself out alive through Irish's attack and the later helicopter attack. Now that he had time to think, the idea that Gin or anyone else in the helicopter might have gotten enough of a glimpse to identify him was haunting every nightmare he had at night and every daydream during the day.
"..o…-udo…Kudo…KUDO!"
Conan gasped and opened his eyes to realize Kid had been shaking him and all out screaming at him for a while. He focused on Kaito's panicked blue eyes, for once, clear of any convenient shadows and only a few inches from his own.
"Breathe Kudo," Kid commanded quietly.
Conan took a deep breath and noticed for the first time that he had Kid's two wrists at his shoulders in a tight death grip, his nails digging into flesh deeply. It took more than a few tries to get his fingers to obey the command to disengage. "…I'm sorry," Conan finally managed weakly, still staring at the half-moon indents slowly collecting blood on pale skin.
"What happened to you, Kudo?" Kid asked quietly, "What happened on that tower?" He tried desperately to catch the boy's eyes but Conan seemed too fascinated with Kid's bleeding wrists to notice. There was something about the boy's stillness that scared him. He decided he much preferred the chibi detective when he was trying to take his head off with power-kicked soccer balls to this deathly still, quiet version in front of him. "I was here, casing the place when it happened," he wasn't sure why he kept talking except for the hope that it might get Kudo to stop staring at his blood; it was more than a little creepy. "I watched it on the director's tv. When I realized you must be there, I tried to get there as soon as I could. I didn't have my hang glider or I would have been there in time to help." He finally gripped Conan's chin and forced him to look back at him. "I'm sorry too, Kudo. I really would have tried to help you and Ran-san if I could have."
"You would have gotten killed," Conan whispered. "If you get involved with this… if they think you're helping me, they'll kill you." Conan shoved Kid's grip off him completely and stepped back on the desk, which wasn't far unless he wanted to climb over the museum director's ledgers sprawled over the desk top.
"Who's 'They'? What did you get into Kudo? Who the hell did you piss off that managed to get a hold of a military combat helicopter in the middle of Japan?!" Kid demanded leaning over the desk. Kudo was trying to distance himself and shut him out… well, the thief was definitely having none of that. He grabbed a fistful of blue blazer and pulled Conan back to him. "Talk or I'll make you talk."
Hakuba crouched at the office door with his pistol drawn. He usually didn't carry it to Kid heists but the new element of snipers that had been showing up lately had him bringing it out of its usual lock box in his closet. He never thought he'd be using it against Kid for something as unreal as kidnapping Mouri Kogoro's young ward.
A quick check had confirmed that the phantom thief had locked the office door behind him. "Always knew there was something wrong with Kuroba…" he muttered, opening the barrel and checking how many shots he had loaded, "…all along."
Hakuba was quite proud of himself for having caught up with the thief so quickly. It didn't hurt that the thief had been walking casually along like he was strolling through a park. He was slightly worried that little Conan wasn't fighting tooth and claw to get free. Everything he had observed at the sunset mansion case had led him to believe the boy was more tenacious than to allow himself to be taken so easily, especially by the phantom thief, their annoyance of a quarry. He was quite sure the boy was unconscious until Conan had asked the thief where they were going. He was shocked to think the boy was allowing himself to be taken by the thief. Maybe that had been why he hadn't immediately kicked the door in to save Mouri's ward and was instead listening with his ear to the door. He had been even more shocked to hear the thief using the name Kudo repeatedly, yet the only voice that ever answered had been Conan's.
"Those two in there have quite a few questions to answer," Hakuba decided with finality and pointed the Smith & Wesson at the door lock.
"It's none of your business what I'm 'into' and what do you mean you'll make me," Conan challenged.
Kid grinned his familiar manic grin for the first time since being alone with Kudo. So good to have his usual testy tantei-kun back. He pulled a small thin tube from his breast pocket that almost looked like a small thin pen but a quick twist had a shiny, angry looking needle peeking from where the ballpoint tip would have.
"Um… what is that?" Conan asked in a small voice, round eyes fixated on the needle, hands frozen on Kid's hold on his blazer.
Kid laughed, "Ever heard of sodium pentathol Kudo? Of course, knowing you, you've probably used it on someone before."
"You carry truth serum around in your pockets?" Conan shrunk back as much as he could in Kid's grip.
"Well, Kudo, I had every intention of finding out what kind of trouble you've gotten yourself into tonight so I came prepared. You have a very bad habit of being unreasonably stubborn and unfortunately for you, I'm notoriously impatient. But as of tonight you can officially consider this me dealing myself in to your problem. So are we gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?" Kaito swore to himself that he was not enjoying how wide the boy's eyes were getting watching the clear droplet of liquid collecting at the tip of the needle he held… well, maybe a little. 'This is what you get for scaring the crap out of me Kudo.'
Conan gulped hard before turning his angry gaze back to the thief. "You're the one who's gonna get yourself killed if you get involved with this! It's got nothing to do with you anyway!" he hissed.
Kaito grinned, "So it's the hard way, huh."
Hakuba had heard enough when it became clear that the thief was now threatening the boy for some kind of information. Frankly, both of them had said more than a few confusing things and he was very annoyed to be out of whatever odd loop the phantom thief and Mouri-san's assistant had apparently found themselves in. He wasn't altogether sure which one of them he was going to point his gun at first but the first thing to do was get himself into the office and sort things out later. A single shot and firm kick had the door open and… Hakuba stopped right there. And wondered if it was possible to close the broken door again.
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"What do you think you're doing you damn pervert!" Conan screamed from where he was dangling upside down bent over Kid's arm while the thief pressed a VERY SHARP needle against his hind end.
"Now, now tantei-kun, naughty children who won't cooperate with the good doctor get their shots here," Kid grinned merrily back at him. Truth be told, Kaito was having a very difficult time keeping himself from laughing. If he did, he'd surely drop Kudo on his head. "So stop being stubborn or I'll pull every secret you're hiding from you including ones about Ran-san."
"Damn it, would you fucking stop," he squirmed around to glare at Kid. "This isn't some big old joke or Nakamori's men chasing you around with police batons. The Black Org. guys will kill you, you idiot! And everyone who knows you!" Conan stopped wide-eyed and even comically covered his mouth with both hands.
If Kaito had been thinking clearly, he certainly would have made a point to make fun of the boy. But the world had gone very cold. He never noticed his hand drop away as the needle fell to the floor. His eyes locked on Conan's still upside down face. "Do these guys have a habit of always wearing the same color, like… say, black and have horribly cliché aliases?" His gaze narrowed on Conan searching for any tell the boy might give.
He really needn't have bothered. Conan's wide eyes and pale face told him all he needed to know. "Tantei-kun," he started carefully, "It seems you and I need to have a long talk. Are they what that business at Touto Tower was about?"
Conan didn't bother to deny it this time and slowly nodded. "How do you know them?" he asked quietly but Kid didn't miss the shadow of suspicious accusation in the boy's eyes. Without a word, Kaito solemnly pulled his glass cutter from his belt and slashed a sharp cut through his left sleeve a few inches below the shoulder. With two fingers, he spread the hole open exposing his arm for Conan's inspection. Conan stared at the long white scar understanding full well what had left such a thing.
"Don't worry, tantei-kun, 'They' are no friends of mine," Kid smiled grimly at him. "And before you try making excuses again, there's no danger associating with you can bring me that I haven't already brought on myself," he whispered to his captured audience still slung over his left forearm.
"Unfortunately, we'll have to pick up this conversation later tantei-kun seeing as we're no longer alone," He twisted enough for Conan to finally see the shell-shocked Hakuba in the doorway staring at them gun limply pointing at the floor. "It's awfully rude to stare, tantei-san, and even more rude to spy. Didn't your parents teach you better manners," he teased. Hakuba could only gape at the two of them and Kaito refused to finish the metaphor in his mind.
"How long has he been there?" Conan asked crossly, fighting a blush as he remembered what position the thief was currently holding him in.
"Who knows," the thief sung merrily, "why don't you ask him. Hakuba! Catch!" Hakuba barely had time to let go of his gun before finding his arms full of flying child.
"You ass! A little warning next time!" Conan's muffled voice yelled at the thief from somewhere in Hakuba's chest.
"It's time for me to take my leave, gentlemen," the phantom thief smiled tipping his hat to them, obscuring his face in its shadow. "Don't think you're off the hook, tantei-kun. I'll be back to finish our discussion later. Hakuba, always a pleasure." A flash grenade later and the two detectives were left in an empty room. A white hang glider flew through the sky outside the blindless closed window.
"I really hate flash grenades," Hakuba muttered setting Conan back on the ground with one hand while scrubbing at his eyes with the other.
"Hakuba-niichan, it looks like he left a note," Conan pointed to a small card stuck in the window frame above him with all the wide-eyed innocence he could muster hoping against hope that Hakuba hadn't heard too much of his conversation with the phantom thief. By the odd look the taller boy was giving him, it seemed he was out of luck.
Hakuba reached over Conan's head to pluck the card from the window. "It says 'check your pocket, tantei-kun'," he managed after a few hard blinks.
Conan patted himself down before feeling something new. He slowly pulled a gaudy bejeweled pendant from his back pocket. "I'm going to kill him," Conan muttered straightening his clothes.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, Conan-kun," Hakuba smirked returning his gun to his shoulder holster. "You're a pretty decent detective and it would be a shame for me to send you to jail… even if the feeling is mutual." He dropped down to receive the necklace from the small boy. "I don't suppose you're going to explain what you two were talking about earlier?" he asked giving Conan a sharp searching look. "I'd hate to think a smart child like you would be involved in that thief's business."
Conan held Hakuba's piercing gaze before looking away back towards the window. He dropped any pretense at childish cuteness with a tired sigh. "More like he's butting in on mine," he answered.
Hakuba watched the boy a bit longer taking in the weariness that hung over him making him look far older than any seven-year-old had a right to. "We should take this necklace back to Nakamori-keibu." He walked out the door too unnerved to watch the boy anymore.
"Right," Conan agreed turning away from the window meaning to follow Hakuba out the door when his gaze fell on something shiny in the thick carpet. A quick search found him the trick pen/ hypodermic needle that nearly wound up in a very tender place. He unscrewed the plastic casing and pulled out the syringe encased inside. He pressed the stopper down enough to release a single droplet onto his finger and gave it an experimental lick. His eyes widened in surprise before darkening in fury. "That bastard! This is water!"
~fin~
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