Chapter IV

"Tou-san," Aoko sighed. "You snacked on junk food all night again, didn't you?"

Ginzo blinked groggily from where he'd collapsed on the couch, a blanket thrown haphazardly across his form. "Ah...Aoko-chan, I-uh...had a late night. There was a stake out and, um..."

Aoko sighed, looking far more the disappointed adult than the young teen she truly was. "I'm guessing these didn't drink themselves, either?" She asked with a bit of bite to her tone as her eyes flickered to the empty bottles of alcohol.

Ginzo winced, rubbing at his head.

That would certainly explain why everything seemed a bit too bright and painful this morning.

"What were you doing passing out on the couch like this, anyway? I remember you used to get upset when Kaito stayed too late and we ended up falling asleep watching that old Yaiba cartoon." Aoko asked, trailing off as she began picking up empty bottles of alcohol, bags of chips, and other debris from her father's 'late night.'

"That was...different," Ginzo muttered, not really wanting to explain the fact that, unlike his former wife, he hadn't found it 'cute' when he'd woken up to his nine-year-old daughter cuddling with her male friend in their sleep.

No matter how innocent it was.

"I'm sure," Aoko replied dryly picking up a pillow before frowning at what she'd revealed.

Ginzo followed his daughter's gaze and grimaced, waiting for the explosive temper she'd inherited from him to kick in.

Instead, Aoko silently picked this pile of disks up and put them on the table without comment.

"I'm sorry," Ginzo stated quietly, shamefully.

"I don't care anymore dad," Aoko replied shortly. "If you want to stay up late watching security footage and old news cuts of KID thefts, that's your decision."

"I know you don't like bringing him up, sweetie, but I keep thinking if I can just find that one thing I missed the first time around, that one clue..." Ginzo trailed off, his gaze falling to his hands, which clenched spasmodically, as if trying to grip the immaterial inspiration which kept slipping out of his grasp.

"...then you'll be able to finally track KID down and slap the cuffs on him," Aoko finished with a dull tone. "I know."

Ginzo scowled at the response, his head throbbing in time with his temper. "You sound like your mother."

Aoko stiffened abruptly.

Ginzo never wished he could have taken something back as hard as he did then. "Aoko-"

"I have school," his daughter said, her voice chilly as she looked away from him. "I need to get ready. You should clean this up yourself. Maybe you'll find that clue you're looking for, you evidently need it."

Her father grimaced and turned his gaze away, but kept his mouth closed.

It had already gotten him in enough trouble today.

Aoko dropped the trash into the bin and walked calmly up the stairs, trying with all her might to contain the whirling emotions her father had kicked up with his thoughtless comment. For all that it was thoughtless, though, even the thirteen year old girl could see what he'd said was also correct. Her mother...had not been the most supportive of her father's long hours and even longer obsession with Phantom Thieves.

Was this how it had started for her mother?

Her father...hadn't been the same since KID disappeared. Withdrawn, depressed, lethargic...she almost wished KID would show his stupid white-clad-butt again, if only to distract both her and her father from the growing chasm between them. If KID were here...

...if KID were here, at least she would be able to hate him, and not her father.

She made it to her room, at last, thankful that she was able to shut the door before the tears started.

"Nakamori-keibu?"

"Huh?" Ginzo asked, looking up from his desk towards Wataru Takagi, the younger man standing at his desk holding a manila folder. Merely glancing at the label told Nakamori everything he needed to know. "Joan's first case, huh?"

"Ah, yeah." Takagi smiled with a hint of embarrassment. "I was trying to understand her, but the first case file is a little..."

Nakamori scowled, debating on whether or not to be truthful on the matter, before sighing. It was, after all, something of his fault the kid was here in the first place.

"...no one was exactly ready for Joan," Nakamori admitted slowly. "After Kaitou KID disappeared, we'd had a run of impostors looking to take up where he left off, so it was a mess. We thought we were dealing with an amateur, so we flooded the place with cops. Usually, they chicken out by the time they're supposed to be stealing whatever it is if they see that many uniforms. It takes more guts than common sense to go through with that kind of attempt."

"I see," Takagi nodded slowly, "...but Joan didn't."

"No," Ginzo nearly spat, remembering the event vividly. "She didn't. At the time, I could have sworn we were facing the genuine Kaitou KID rather than some wannabe impostor. The fact that she signed her heist note as Kaitou 1412 should have been our first clue, I suppose..."

"This...was a horrible idea," Aoko muttered to herself, looking down over the collection of flashing red and blue lights.

There had to be at least fifty police officers milling about the museum, her father among them. Granted, the man was more recognizable than either the plainclothes detectives or the uniformed rank and file officers, if only because of his tendency to shout and yell every third step, pointing enthusiastically around the building as a few last-minute preparations were made for the heist.

For her heist.

Hers.

That...would take some getting used to, definitely. Much like the outfit would also take a little getting used to as well. She gulped and looked into the polished chrome of the air conditioning unit she'd chosen to hide behind. It was a new model and inadvertently placed where she could use it as cover.

The person in the makeshift mirror, though...

White suit, cape, domino mask, top hat, and long streaming blonde hair...all of it tangled together around her own identity. Nakamori Aoko, though, still showed through in places, and that couldn't be allowed.

"Kuroba-sensei," Aoko prayed quietly, "I know this isn't what you intended it for, but please let my magic be good enough for at least one night."

Her plea sent heavenward, Aoko took a deep breath, breathing slowly and fully as she focused on the lies she'd been preparing for the night.

Nakamori Ginzo snapped to attention as soon as the figure in dress blues came into view.

"Superintendent Chaki!" Ginzo said as soon as his mind overcame the initial reflex to salute his superior. "Sir, this is a surprise! I-I mean, we hadn't been expecting you!"

"All the better," Chaki Shintaro scowled, looking over the assembled men. "I wanted to inspect the men. Make sure they've been taking these responsibilities seriously. Ever since KID retired, I get the feeling your division's been slacking off."

Ginzo bristled at the accusation, but held his tongue on the acidic rebuttal he longed to give. No, it was a valid enough claim and even 'the volcano' knew it. For a division that mostly dealt with theft, fraud, and similar white-collar crimes, KID had kept his men on their toes...and in trim, fighting shape. He'd complained as much to Aoko for months now.

One more reason to curse the thief's disappearance.

"Wouldn't it be easier to have a practice drill sir?" Ginzo decided to ask instead, already knowing it was a lost cause. "This thief might not even show."

"Oh?" Chaki asked, raising an eyebrow in that dangerous way Ginzo had seen him do in the occasional meeting, though thankfully rarely directed at him. "You still believe they'll be another one of these...what did you call them? Schmucks?"

"It's been the order of the day recently, sir," Ginzo affirmed.

"Then you can consider this your 'drill,'" Chaki glowered, "walk me through your preparation and security, if you don't mind. I want to see every man of yours on task or the next budget meeting will not be pleasant for you, Ginzo."

"Y-yes, sir," Inspector Nakamori managed, saluting again.

"Back during KID's heyday, I would have known better," Ginzo admitted sourly.

"I'm sorry, sir?" Takagi asked, frowning.

"Never, ever, trust someone who just waltzes onto the scene," Ginzo explained with a sigh, then growled. "Especially someone in authority over you." Here, the Inspector glared at the younger man, who stiffened.

"Even me. Especially me," Ginzo ground the words out harshly. "If I'm ever late, if I ever go to the bathroom, if I'm ever out of your sight for more than five seconds! If you lose sight of me, then I might be a Kaitou in disguise!"

"Ah-h," Takagi shifted uneasily under his superior's scowl. "Ye-yes, sir."

"Damn straight," Ginzo nodded to himself, then sighed. "Now, after the superintendent showed up..."

"...you there!" Chaki spat, pointing at a hapless uniformed cop. "Straighten your shirt boy, and learn how to use an iron! If you're disrespecting your uniform, you're disrespecting the entire police force!"

Nakamori almost felt sorry for the poor kid.

Almost. Honestly, though, he would have torn the kid a new one too, if he'd seen him before the superintendent. That kind of sloppiness was just...

The superintendent, though, was in rare form tonight, poking at every flaw and imperfection of the assemblage of policemen.

It was a sad and sorry part of being a part of the force, but a necessary one as well, which was why Ginzo didn't begrudge his superior the vehement dressing-down of several of his officers. Perhaps the rumor mill had the right of it, Ginzo pondered with a frown. Perhaps his division was getting soft without any challenging field work? Or, at least his task force? That was a more sobering thought.

Chaki's sudden grunt stirred him from his musings.

The superintendent frowned at his watch. "Another late night. I'll be needing to get home soon if this phantom thief doesn't show. The wife hates it when I'm out past midnight."

There was silence as Ginzo digested the statement and wondered how, if at all, he was supposed to reaply.

Thankfully, Chaki seemed content to save him from his own conversational awkwardness.

"What about you, Ginzo-kun? I seem to recall you mentioning a daughter?" His superior asked with a bland and disinterested tone.

Looking at the time himself, Ginzo realized this was all probably just an attempt at polite small talk while they waited for the appointed time to come.

...he supposed he would endure it, if only to save a few of his subordinates embarrassment.

"Ah, yes sir. A girl, fourteen," Ginzo nodded. "Aoko's a real sport about the late nights. She knows my job's important to me, that it needs to come first." He thought about adding a qualifier. Ginzo knew he put his job first 'sometimes,' or maybe 'when it was necessary,' but...well, that kind of dedication sounded good when he was talking to his boss.

Unqualified dedication usually meant a possible raise...if said boss remembered, at least. Besides, wasn't Aoko's birthday coming up? If he got that raise, he rationalized, he'd be able to pick her up a much better birthday gift. Besides, it wasn't like she'd ever know

Chaki merely nodded, his silence likely merely a preoccupation with the next set of officers they were about to pass. Ginzo sneaked a peek and, sure enough, Chaki's eyes were tracking the men, who stood at a painfully stiff attention.

Nakamori bit the inside of his cheek as he noticed one of the man's scuffed shoes, praying silently that Chaki wouldn't find something else to ream both his men and himself over.

Happily, for once, Chaki didn't notice the imperfection, instead nodding once towards the lucky officers.

Ginzo allowed himself a small smile.

Maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad after all?

Chaki shook his head, scowling behind her mask as he looked over the assembled officers, all of them standing at stiff attention as they arranged themselves behind the four wire-frame benches, looking inward towards the centerpiece of the rare coins' exhibit: a display case full of gold doubloons salvaged from a Spanish galleon that sank centuries ago.

A fitting target for a Phantom Thief.

Nakamori scowled, doing his best to set a combined face of the police's commanding officers.

"I want you all to understand that, though you may consider this an easy transfer, you are sorely mistaken," Chaki spoke sternly his deep tones as Nakamori took care to walk beside him as they circled behind the group of officers, each standing with his arms folded behind their waist.

"Every responsibility you are given during your tenure as an officer of the law is one to take seriously. Although the odds of this particular thief appearing are, indeed, low, you should not discount someone else taking advantage of this situation." Chaki lectured pointedly.

Nakamori grunted in the affirmative, eyeing his men threateningly if any dared to disagree with the superintendent.

"Additionally, this is an age of camera-phones and technology. If photographs of you or other officers were to be found posted on message boards or the internet in general, it would be very bad for overall morale." Chaki practically growled as they completed their circle of the tense officers.

Finally, the superintendent stopped at one of the open vertices between the ends of the benches. The entire setup was designed to stop too many people from crowding the central exhibit, as well as lessening the chance that people might carelessly run into the podium it was housed on. The distance between the benches, though, allowed for lines of visitors to move by in an orderly fashion.

Nakamori, though, thought it looked more like a pen, so much so that he couldn't help but imagine a certain phantom thief-

An irritating noise forced everyone's attention back to the superintendent, the ringing chime alerting them all that the man's cellphone hadn't been silenced.

"Well," Chaki chuckled, removing the device and clumsily dropping it. Crouching to one knee and picking it up, he laughed a little more. "I suppose it's time them."

"Time, sir?" Nakamori blinked, then his eyes shot wide. "Of course, the alarm was set-"

"-to the time of my heist," Chaki smiled broadly.

"-to the time of your heist," Nakamori nodded, then stopped, furrowing his brows. "Sir, I don't know what-"

"I think it should be obvious," Chaki answered in a voice definitely not his own. The feminine tone was absurdly at odds with his thick frame and jowled face. Placing the phone in his pocket, though, the superintendent made one swift pull, trailing a long piece of white fabric and a cloud of white smoke.

Nakamori froze, barely daring to breathe as he took in the new figure standing where his superior had been. For a moment, he dared to believe it might actually be his long-time foe, actually returned after seven years, and his heart raced in anticipation, but...

...no, it wasn't KID.

This new phantom thief had obvious stolen a page or two from KID's book, though. She wore a white suit, blue button-down shirt, and red tie, though it was all cut to a feminine shade rather than KID's air of masculine mystique. This thief's mode of dress emphasized just a hint of curves, the subtle expression of an adult form cloaked just enough to make it enticingly indistinct. The white cloak and top hat were the same as well, though instead of a monocle, the woman wore a thin black mask that covered just her eyes and some small area around them, void inside the rim of black left dazzling blue eyes apparent, even as shockingly blonde bangs fell over her, only to be delicately swept over one ear by a white-gloved hand. The other hand idly twirled a gentleman's walking stick, as bone white as the rest of her outfit, though with red and blue highlights.

"As it is, indeed, the appointed hour, I believe I'll pirate these pieces of eight, my dear Nakamori-keibu," the thief grinned at him, full red lips parting to display opalescent white teeth.

"Not so fast, you-" Ginzo began, only to fall flat on his face.

The phantom thief tsk'd, loudly, and the task force head began to wonder why it was she hadn't been mobbed by the assembled officers.

"-my name is Kaitou 1412, Inspector," the female phantom thief stated pointedly. "It's name which has been without a proper claimant for far too long." She explained as she swept a hand across the now open-

-when had she?!

-coin case, gold disappearing in one fluid motion, a single card left their place.

"You know," the female thief stated idly, a coin rolling between the fingers of her right hand, "I'm somewhat disappointed with this whole affair. Do take me more seriously when next we me, police boys."

Ginzo worked at his mouth, trying to make sound emerge to be the equivalent to the outrage he was feeling within. It was unbelievable that some new kaitou, on her first public appearance, could completely blindside them like this. Forcing himself up using his hands, the inspector looked down at his ankles to see his pair of handcuffs locked securely about them, and he felt his jaw drop open again.

"Well, then, my lovely little task force," the thief taunted in a teasing tone, "I'll be seeing you again soon."

With a puff of smoke, she was gone.

"It took us another few minutes to figure it out," Nakamori admitted as he took a deep drag from his cigarette. "She'd surreptitiously cuffed each of the officers to the backs of the benches as we'd walked behind them."

Ginzo scowled. "She'd made fools of us even as she lectured real officers of the law on proper police procedure. Given that there wasn't any press and the heist wasn't publicized, the brass swept it under the rug. I'm almost thankful that damn thief had the foresight to cut the security footage! The only reason the real Chiaki didn't take a bite out of my hide for the entire fiasco was because she'd swiped his cellphone to use as a prop! He was almost embarrassed as the rest of us!"

Takagi swallowed nervously, waiting for the Inspector's breathing to even out before he asked his next question.

"...and the name, sir? I can't help but notice she referred to herself as 1412 during the...event. Where exactly did the name 'Joan' come from?" The younger man asked.

Ginzo sighed and lit up a new cigarette. "Some damn fool reporter tried to dig up information on her after the next heist. There was some rubbish about how it confused people who remembered that KID originally referred to himself as 1412. Anyway, turns out there's some French knight or saint or something that was born in the year 1412."

The inspector rolled his eyes. "They probably thought they were being clever, the idiots, but the name stuck. Katiou Joan, a pain in our collective asses. We lost track of her after she disappeared from the gallery room. After someone managed to get themselves free, we went after her, but any dumbass knows that chasing a phantom thief after they've gotten out of sight is a nightmare."

Aoko collapsed behind the air conditioning unit, breathing harshly and watching as her hands shook from nerves and anger.

Still, laughter managed to bubble up from within her, mad laughter that threatened to overwhelm her.

The grin that stretched over her face was so wide, it was almost painful as realization finally set in. She'd done it! She'd actually done it!

"...and it was easy!" Aoko laughed again, her lips pulling back from her teeth to expose the fullness of her mad grin.

Her reflection caught her eye, the polished metal giving her a full view of her crouched and dressed form. Looking out from beneath the brim of her hat, she felt both horrified and elated that she couldn't see even a hint of Nakamori Aoko beneath the mask of the phantom thief.

"Kamen no Kaitou," Aoko snickered again, finding the concept hilarious for some reason as she removed a lonely piece of gold from where she'd secreted the rest of it away her person. "I guess the spirit of the real 1412 was with me tonight after all."

Looking back at her reflection, she gave it another come-and-get-me-grin, flipping the Spanish coin end-over-end as she spoke. "Good, because I'll need all the help I can get. I haven't even gotten started after all! If tou-san wants his job to be more important than me, I'll just have to honor his wish!"

Her reflection returned her promise-filled grin, throwing in a wink for good measure.

Her domino mask caught the tears she pretended she didn't feel fall.

Please Read & Review. Only comments/questions regarding this story, not any other that I may or may not be working on.