#Kaito and Akako are both dark haired confident people

[arl-the-beloved]

I read a fic a few days ago where Akako and Kid flirt (kinda) and then they both just turned to Hakuba and dragged him into the flirting thing and i havent been able to get it out of my head since

[archester-creations]

waiting for you

Alright, lads, once more we’re doing this one a little differently because it got so long. I shall give you the first scene of my @kaishinbigbang fic and link back to my ao3 and my artist in a reblog. Here you go:

Kaito pursed his lips together, moving his head from side to side. With a pleased nod he leaned away from the mirror and recapped the tube of lipgloss before he shoved it into the purse he'd take with him to work. He fussed with his hair and brushed down his dress one last time. Perfect. When he spun from the mirror, the auburn wig fanned out behind him before it resettled against his back and he felt a little spike of serotonin. In this wig, Kaito always thought he looked more like his mom. Just because he could, he spun in place once to see his hair fan out in a circle again and the skirt of the dress twirl. Then he grabbed his purse and hurried downstairs and out the door, shouting a goodbye to Aoko— confident she would hear it through the open window. KID always made a point to be right on time. Early, even. And Kaito wanted to hold that energy for this job. Especially for the first day. A good first impression was important, after all.

A few meters from the door, he paused and took a breath and transformed just a little more into Noire Asei. It wasn't a full transformation. Not like when he disguised as Jirokichi or Nakamori or any of the other people he'd pretended to be to get closer to a gem. But closer to when he was KID. It was a disguise, but it was also him. Just another shade of him. Or, her, now. Another breath and she walked into the Poirot fifteen minutes early, on the dot. (Hakuba would be proud if he was here.)

“Noire-san, you're early!” Azusa said, looking up as she walked in.

“Of course!” She chirped back with a smile. “And I told you, you can call me Asei-chan.” It was the name she had on her nametag, afterall. A little hint for her Tantei-kun. Though she hoped he didn't come in today. She wanted at least a day to get acquainted with everything.

Azusa nodded. “Asei-chan. So, are you ready?”

“And willing!” Asei said.

Azusa gave her an amused smile. “Alright then, I’ll show you your tables.”

The first day was blessedly quiet. Not a single detective in sight. Even Amuro didn't show up, though that one was less luck and more that she'd asked to start on a day she knew Amuro wouldn't be scheduled.

Asei hummed a tune as she wiped down the tables. They'd closed five minutes ago. A little before that, she'd grabbed food– with permission– to take home to share with Aoko and Nakamori, if he was home.

It was incredible how messy some of the tables got. She narrowed her eyes at one spot– was that chocolate or caramel? They both kinda looked the same on these tables. Not that it really mattered, she scrubbed over it with the cloth and it was gone.

“Are you ready to go home?” Azusa asked as she came out of the kitchen area, sans the pink apron she wore. Different only in colour from the dark blue apron that Asei was handed when she came in.

“Yeah,” Asei said with a tired smile. The last table cleaned, she removed her own apron and went to the behind the counter to grab her bag, which she placed her apron in as she hurried back to keep Azusa from waiting long.

“How did you like it?” Azusa locked the café’s door.

“It was fun!” Asei said. “Though a little tiring, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.”

Azusa smiled at her cryptically. Like she knew more than she wanted to say. It reminded her of Akako, worryingly enough. But that was silly. There wasn't anything Kaito could've missed in his research or that Asei had missed while she'd discretely looked around. “I hope so. It'd be nice to have a second person that stayed.”

A second person stay? Suddenly Asei remembered the suspicious string of hires that only stayed for a week or two before moving on. One had even only stayed for two days. (Another had only lasted five hours, but they'd been convicted of poisoning one of the patrons, so that didn't count.) But Kaito had dismissed that. There were no real reasons given for them leaving, and it appeared a few had left because they'd found a better job or one close to home. Plus this was the exact place he wanted to be. The detective agency and residence of that sleepy guy Tantei-kun lived with was over Poirot. Which meant more time to spend with his favourite detective. Something he truly deserved since he’d had to spend every school day in the presence of another detective he'd rather not spend it in during the school year. No matter how much Aoko claimed they were friends. Summer was for Tantei-kun.

“I hope so too,” Asei smiled.

They parted ways with a wave and another kind smile from Azusa.

“I'm home!” Kaito called as he slipped into Aoko’s house through the still open window. There was the sound of something falling before Aoko’s head popped into the doorframe. Her eyebrows were raised in surprise, a knife in her hand. Though her expression quickly morphed to resigned frustration. Ah, one of his favourite expressions on his childhood friend/little sister.

“Bakaito! Use the door!” Aoko complained.

Kaito smirked. “But where's the fun in that?” He held up his bag of leftovers. “Plus I brought food! You should be thanking me.”

“Just get in here. And close the window after you,” Aoko said.

“I'm not the one who left it open, Ahoko,” Kaito said as he swung his other leg into the house. He brushed off the skirt of his dress as if climbing in through the window had somehow made it gather dust, despite it definitely not. She rolled her eyes at him as if him climbing in through the window wasn't a fairly common occurrence and she hadn't purposely left it open because of that. The wig he’d worn was stuffed unceremoniously into his bag. It’d be fine, he would brush it out carefully later.

“So what did you bring?” Aoko took the bag when he handed it to her and started rifling through it.

“Just some sandwiches,” Kaito said. As carefully as he could, he pulled the knife from her fingers. Luckily she didn’t even flinch. “Dad home?”

“He’s feeding your doves since someone didn’t tell Aoko when they were getting home and she doesn’t want their feeding schedule to get wonky,” Aoko said.

“I’ll have to thank him,” Kaito said.

Aoko rolled her eyes. “You know he’ll just wave it off.”

“Still,” Kaito shrugged. “Mom taught me to show people I’m grateful, unlike you.”

“Maybe.” Aoko’s eyebrow twitched. “But she taught Aoko how to weaponize Kaito’s fear.”

“You wouldn’t!” Kaito pointed a finger at her. Except she totally would and has. Plenty of times. Because she was mean like that. “Not to your poor best friend. Your poor, poor childhood best friend. Your poorest, saddest, most innocent niisan.”

“Kaito is only four days older than Aoko!” Aoko complained.

“Which makes me your niisan.” Kaito stuck out his tongue at her. Then swiftly jumped out of the way of her kick. He took a victory bite of his sandwich from his new spot, crouched on the countertop. Aoko rolled her eyes at him.

“You're here, Kaito,” Nakamori returned through the back door not long after.

“Yep! Thank you for feeding my doves,” Kaito said. Behind Nakamori, Aoko made a face at him. Like the mature person he was, he refrained from making one back.

“How was work?” Nakamori asked.

“It was good.” Kaito slipped from the crouched position to a sitting one, letting his feet swing against the cabinets built into the counter.

And the three of them ate sandwiches together– Kaito sitting on the counter, Aoko leaned against it, and Nakamori sitting backwards on a chair from the table to face them– as Kaito told them about the teen who laughed so hard soda came out their nose and Nakamori told them about the recent heist victim calling to ask if they knew how to contact KID for hair advice– apparently he'd liked the light blue hair KID gave him– and Aoko told them about the kid who she saw pull a tomato out of the bottom of the pile at the grocery store, only for the whole pile to roll onto them. It was a nice way to wind down after his first day of work. He really never got this for heists. They usually ended too late. That and the occasional injury or sometimes the guilt of a secret that crawled up his throat a little too much to choke down. A big part of him wished he could share KID and heists and Pandora with Aoko, but he knew he couldn't. Maybe one day, but not yet. Even so he smiled. At least he could still share this right now.

[mintchocolateleaves]

Law Unto Themselves (6/??)

Summary: Kaito receives the information on the disc he’d stolen from Pisco.

A/N: Let’s just pretend it didn’t take me so long to update this fic and just appreciate the fact it’s here, ne?

[Beginning]     [Previous Chapter]

Kaito is in the middle of teaching his students about isotopes when his phone buzzes in his pocket. It’s on silent, and he leaves it – how can he expect his students not to text in class if he’s doing the same? – forcing himself to wait until he’s handed out worksheets.

He can’t help but wonder who it is.

Aoko giving him an update on her work schedule, telling him whether she’ll make it home for dinner tonight? Or something more interesting like Koizumi and Hakuba breaking into the disc he’d killed a man to receive.

…Or something more fun, much more sinister. An order from Kudo perhaps, requesting his help gathering information, or taking out those who’ve gotten too close. Maybe today is finally the day he shoots that grey-haired detective that Kudo always calls Gin…

Or maybe not.

Part of being KID, the disguises element, is knowing how a person thinks. He needs to be able to convincingly become another person, and so… that skill tells him that if anyone’s going to kill Gin, it’ll be Kudo himself.

Oh well, Kaito thinks, I can live with that. There will be other alcohols to set alight.

Still – he is curious. And it’s that curiosity that forces him to start the worksheets a little sooner than he’d originally planned. It’s nothing major, not really, his student’s will just have to do a little extra searching in their workbooks for the answers.

And as soon as they’re working, eyes reading through the questions Kaito has prepared, he sits at his desk, turns on his monitor to check his emails, and pulls his phone from his pocket.

Hakuba.

He is not sure whether to sigh, because he’s got another text message from Hakuba Saguru of all people on his phone now, or whether to be excited. There is a disc filled with information ready for him to pick up, blackmail to be stored in his head.

The text message reads as:

Akako has invited you and Aoko-kun to dinner. Hopefully the two of you will be able to make such an event.

Either there’s something on the disc that Hakuba wants to talk to him about, or there is some need to be discreet with handing the disc over. Either way, Kaito will have to be on his guard.

Another text buzzes on his phone. This time, it’s Aoko. Ordering him not to stay too late at work – hypocrite – because they’ve been invited to dinner. He sends a response feigning curiosity, then another with hesitation, a wish to do anything but have dinner with Hakuba.

Still, he accepts. Sends a message back to Hakuba with ‘Aoko has informed me I must come, no matter my own wishes.’

It sounds the way he wants it to. Something he doesn’t want to take part in, but is being forced to attend by a particularly stubborn fiancé. It’s the perfect cover – a fiancé dragging her unwilling fiancé to dinner with old school friends.

He gets a text message from Kudo nearer the end of the evening, demanding an update on the disc. It’s a short text that goes to his KID phone, a burner that only has one contact in.

“Well, well,” Kaito mutters to himself, reading the words over and over, lips pulling upwards at the impatience from the other man. “Someone seems to be thrown off by this turn of events.”

He can’t fault Kudo for it. Part of being high up in such an empire means that there’s further to fall. And Kaito, stood on the outskirts, just a hire for such an organisation to use, he’s not the one who’ll fall.

“Well,” Kaito says to himself, after he’s parked outside the house he and Aoko share. “It’s nothing worth worrying himself over.”

Whatever may come from this disc, Kaito’s certain Kudo will find a way to deal with it. He sends a text in response, says that he’ll get the disc to him tomorrow.

Kudo might not think it’s good enough, but… oh well. Let the man be anxious, nervous about the lack of information at his fingertips – such a controlled individual needs to feel helpless every once in a while.

He pulls open the door, feels the wind crash against his arms before making his way towards the house. Aoko’s car is parked next to his, having beaten him home for what feels like the first time in forever.

Features softening at the entire idea of Aoko and her presence, Kaito locks the car, making his way towards the entrance to his humble abode.

The door is unlocked, another indicator that Aoko’s home. They’re paranoid enough of people getting inside – or rather, Aoko’s worried KID will steal away into their house one night to teach her a lesson on why she should drop the case – so it’s only ever open when the other is expected home within the following ten minutes.

His fiancé pokes her head into the hallway from the sitting room as Kaito makes his way indoors, bringing essays that require marking in with him. He’ll read over them later, once he’s home from work, marking each one until he’s certain Aoko’s fallen asleep for the night.

Then – he’ll have time to look over the disc Hakuba will give him. Maybe make a copy of his own, if Hakuba hasn’t already done it for him.

“You’re home!” Aoko says, offering him a smile as she offers a wave. Then, “you brought your marking home again…”

Kaito offers his most charming smile. “I would have marked them at work, but somebody needed me home earlier today.”

Aoko scrunches her nose. “Fine, fine. You win. Thanks for getting home to me so early.”

Sometimes, Kaito looks at her and remembers her as she was as a teenager. Speaking in illeisms, constantly in third person to mask her lack of confidence. She’s more confident now… Kaito likes to think it’s because of her presence on the KID task force.

Searching for a known assassin has made her braver. Made her face things she never would have if not for the case.

Kaito’s done that for her – it’s because of him she’s braver now.

“Anything for you,” Kaito says, entering the sitting room where Aoko stands, depositing the paperwork on the table. “Even if that anything does include forcing myself to sit through a meal with Hakuba.”

Aoko lets out a groan. It’s half amused, half irritated that he’s bringing it up again, for what probably seems like the hundredth time this month. She says, “why, I’m so lucky to have such a charming fiancé.”

Kaito offers her a wide smile. He says, “as long as you understand how lucky you are.”

She hits him on the shoulder. A playful tap that warns him to watch his ego. Too late, Kaito thinks, his ego is already out of control, even he knows it. The fun part is trying to convince himself not to let anyone else realise.

“Okay, okay,” he says, lifting both hands up in mock surrender, “I give. I’m the lucky one, don’t arrest me.”

Aoko offers a smile. She says, “alright, just this once I won’t. Maybe if you get ready for this dinner, I’ll let you off next time as well.”

A get out of jail free card? If only it would be easily transferred over to his life as KID. That would be extremely effective, Kaito thinks to himself. Not that he’d ever need it.

“Of course,” Kaito says, pecking a kiss against her cheek, “anything to not be arrested.”

Later, after twenty minutes of small talk, sharing work stories they’ve not had time to share prior, Kaito parks his car in a side street, outside the house Hakuba shares with Koizumi.

It’s a lot smaller than Kaito would have expected from the two, especially after seeing the size of their family homes. Kaito isn’t sure though – either it’s a front that they’ve put on to fool people as to where they really live or owning both a bar and a casino has punched a hole through their pockets that not even their inheritance can afford.

Either way, despite the size, it’s a nice house.

“You ready for dinner?” Aoko asks, in a tone that implies she’s expecting Kaito to remain polite no matter whether he’s actually ready or not.

“Of course, I am,” Kaito responds, plucking up his keys and opening the door. It’s not going to take too much effort to get along with Hakuba, or Koizumi, despite the fact that he doesn’t really want to.

Well… He’ll be fine acting friendly with Koizumi. It’s more Hakuba he’s got his issues with. And yet even now, he knows that he’s going to have to go off with the other to receive the disc.

Tsk.

As much as his curiosity is gnawing at his nervous system, sending chills and bringing speculation to his mind every moment, Kaito really doesn’t want to have such a conversation with Hakuba.

And he’s going to have to trust in the two that they won’t poison both him and Aoko with their food. Not that Akako would ever try to poison Aoko, not with the creepy obsession she seems to have in keeping the girl safe.

“Come on then,” Aoko says, dragging him indoors, as if he’s a dog on a leash. The idea of dogs reminds Kaito of Kudo and his own dog, the Osakan one who always gets on his nerves with every word he barks.

Oh well, Kaito thinks, smoothing his expression over and wishing the irritation away. There are no dogs here, he can remain perfectly calm for now.

“Of course,” Kaito says, a feeling of excitement rolling in his stomach, a dark energy coiling around his spine like a snake, “let’s get dinner started, shall we?”

Akako is the one to open the door.

Her gaze lands on Kaito for a second, before moving straight to Aoko. Like all the other times they’ve visited, Akako has only eyes for Aoko. It’s a weird thing, Kaito thinks, how much the witch seems to favour Aoko over everyone else he’s seen her interact with.

A fond smile pulls the woman’s lips up, as she invites them both in. She says, “Aoko-chan, it’s so nice to see you again.”

Creepy.

Not that Kaito’s going to say anything about it while Aoko’s present. He’ll leave the scathing remarks he wants to speak for when he’s wearing his KID persona, for when they’re alone and he can warn Akako to back off from his fiancé.

“Oh, Kaito-kun, I suppose it’s okay to see you as well.”

Kaito offers his driest smile. He says, “It’s always a please to see that the townspeople haven’t melted you yet, Akako.”

Aoko punches him lightly in the arm. “Don’t be rude.”

“Yes Kuroba, I’d appreciate it if you were polite for the duration of dinner.”

It’s Hakuba. The bastard, and yet, Kaito bites his tongue and keeps himself from any scathing responses. He doesn’t want any passive aggressive responses from Hakuba when there’s information waiting to be transferred over to him.

“Fine,” Kaito tuts, shakes his head. “If she hasn’t melted yet, I suppose she won’t at all.”

“Right,” Hakuba responds, and there’s a gleam in his eye. Amusement, or fondness of his own, the same expression he’d worn years before when he’d gained his proof of Kaito being KID. “Well, let’s head inside. I’ve got a bottle of Bordeaux Aoko-san, it’s something to die for. Come, you’ll have to try it.”

Kaito forces himself through dinner, and later, as Aoko claims responsibility for helping Akako wash the dishes – well, Kaito supposes filling the dishwasher counts for Aoko – he finds himself alone with Hakuba.

Never as situation he enjoys.

“So,” Hakuba says, as he leans back in his chair. “That disc. We managed to unlock it after noon.”

His expression goes dark for a moment, and he lifts his hand into his pocket, pulling out said disc, and handing it towards Kaito.

“What’s that expression for?” Kaito scowls, “don’t start thinking you can keep information away from me, not on this.”

Hakuba shakes his head. “I wouldn’t try to. Keeping information from you when you’ll just as easily gain the information from the disc?”

Kaito glances at it. On the paper are scribbled letters – roman alphabet, not kanji – the password to open the disc. Despite them telling Kaito it’d take time to gain the password, they’ve still unlocked it quicker than expected.

He picks the disc up, gingerly, and puts it into his coat pocket.

From the kitchen, he can hear Aoko’s bright laughter. Kaito imagines it wouldn’t be so bright if she were to realise all her trusted friends are criminals working against the very force in which she resides.

“What’s so bad about this disc then,” Kaito says, “for you to get such an expression on your face?”

Hakuba taps his fingers against the rim of his wine glass, swirls the liquid in the glass and takes a sip. He says, “there’s nothing about you per say, although there’s a profile about KID. Standard information, some minor links questioning if certain murders are you or the organisation.”

“That’s not what you’re worried about.” Kaito says. It’s not like Hakuba to beat around the bush, straying from the information at hand. Yet something has him ruffled – if only a tiny bit.

“They know that there’s someone with ties to the police working for the organisation,” Hakuba says. “The Osakan police commissioner, the dog’s father, keeps changing his attempts to capture Kudo’s men when they’re sending goods up to Osaka. And yet they’re quite ineffective.”

Kaito takes a moment to try the information on his tongue. So, Kudo’s bodyguard will be part of the organisation’s downfall? Filtering information he’s no doubt received from his father, or other Osakan contacts.

“It’s not just him causing the problems,” Hakuba says, “it’s also the way the police protocols are being used against the police themselves. They can’t catch the organisation without using certain laws, and by the time those required laws are gathered, the organisation is long gone. It’s brought them around to thinking that there must be someone with astute knowledge of the law.”

Kaito nods his head. “Someone like a police official.”

“Exactly.”

Which would leave Hakuba feeling worried. Because if people are doing internalised checks of the police, it won’t just lead them to lower end members of the organisation, but rather to Kudo and his dog.

“Well, that’s certainly no good for Kudo and his followers.” Kaito tilts his head. “It makes me glad I just work with him, not as a subordinate.”

Hakuba lets out a scoff. At Kaito’s raised eyebrow, he shakes his head. “I’d just suggest you be on guard, Kudo’s reign may fall one day, and he’s clearly capable of trading your name for a better prison sentence.”

No, Kaito doesn’t imagine Kudo would do something like that. His dog would, maybe, but not Kudo Shinichi.

“I doubt it,” Kaito says. “I’d be more suspicious of you turning me in than him.”

For a second, Hakuba’s expression twists into something even Kaito, with his expertise at reading people, can’t read. Then, it settles on irritation. He says, “Kudo would have a lot of incentive – he’s overseen things, yes, but you’ve actually committed the crimes.”

“Right.”

“And don’t forget,” Hakuba says now, expression darkening, voice bordering on a whisper, “that I didn’t turn you in when you killed your first victim. Turning you in now would mean turning myself in for obstruction of justice.”

“What a situation I’ve put you in Hakuba,” Kaito says. There is no apology there, no sympathy for what he might have stolen from the boy who’d once wished to be a detective.

“Not at all,” a smile, something that would have sent shivers down Kaito’s spine if he hadn’t seen the expression before, “I’m exactly where I want to be, Kaito.”