Smoke and Mirrors

*A sudden news announcement came on the big screen in the city square of Tokyo and was also broadcast to most of the TVs in the city.*

“Kaitou Kid Taskforce Leader: Inspector Ginzo Nakamori has been helping Kaitou KID evade arrest, unbeknownst to the rest of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. A replacement has been assigned to the taskforce and a search team has been created to find Inspector Ginzo Nakamori and bring him in for questioning. Please notify the Tokyo Metropolitan Police if you see him.” *The TVs switched back to their original programs after the announcement finished.*

*Ginzo speechlessly starred at the TV screen he’d just seen the announcement play on in a store window. He half expected them to make up a story. Only half, because he wanted to disregard the reality that he was betrayed by those he worked with for 20 years. His shock caused him to be unable to immediately hear the voice that was right next to him trying to get his attention.

#nakamorikeibu #an awkward reunion XD

“Nakamori-san.” Kaito had whispered the Name more than spoken, since it would be rather counterproductive if the person’s name was just announced on TV as a fugitive. “Nakamori-san.” He whispered a little more urgently.

Again, no reaction, so Kaito rolled his eyes and with a firm and slightly louder voice that would hopefully get through, he called: “Keibu!”

That seemed to have done the trick, even if he had to watch out that his voice didn’t slip into a tone he would use when he was dressed in white. The man had no idea after all. So he grinned at him.

“I know we didn’t see each other in almost two years, but due all respect, I think you should get moving. Standing right next to a TV that showed your face as a suspect is a bad idea. Unless you want to get caught. Come.“ And with that Kaito simply turned and walked off, leading them both a street down and finally into a smaller alley, where he fumbled out a key and lead the inspector into a small entrance to a building, up three flights of stairs and finally into a single-room study.

The young man simply kicked off his shoes and walked into the ‘apartment’ in his socks. Yet at the door stood a pair of slippers that would be free to take for the inspector. The little plastic bag Kaito had been carrying was emptied on the kitchen counter, vegetables stuffed away in the fridge.

“I obviously didn’t believe a word that was said on TV and judging by your reaction this was the first time you’ve seen that announcement.” Kaito turned around closing the fridge and leaned against the counter.

“How about you just come in and take a seat, take a minute to wrap your head around the accusations and then decide what you want to do?” The sofa was in plain sight so he didn’t need to lead him anywhere further. Since it was a small single-room-study there was only two doors, too. One that led in and out and another one that led to the bathroom.

furiandarkling-deactivated20130

Reblog if you've ever ruined your sleep schedule just to talk to someone

#oh so many times...#ooc

talktoten-a-deactivated20240813

Which Hogwarts house would you put the mun in?

unbrokenambition-deactivated201

Or, if you want, you can tell me which you’d think the muse would be in.

#fun things

daughterofthesleuth-deactivated

After the Storm

daughterofthesleuth-deactivated

The sadness that she’d felt upon seeing the other was starting to dissipate as she began to come to terms the despite the fact that he looked like the one she’d lost, he was his own person and worth getting to know for his kindness alone. Still, a soft sigh left her lips and she wiped one last tear away.

Holding the rose and walking alongside him, Ran engaged the conversation. “I’m on break right now. I’ll be attending university in the fall.” That’s right, she’d signed up for courses. It was as though the memory was just coming back to her. She’d lost so much track of time. “How about you?”

#daughterofthesleuth #after the storm

Giving her time, Kaito just leisurely walked besides her, sliding his hands into the pockets of his trousers. She still reminded him a little of Aoko, but that was a thought he did not want to dwell on. Her behaviour wasn’t quite the same and looking properly, she also had a few physical differences.

“Same for me actually. I recently received my letter of acceptance. And I’m kind of trying to get a set up for my student life. Wondering if I can move any closer... I currently live not that close to campus. But Tokyo isn’t exactly cheap...” A small sigh for wordly problems. If KID would keep his loot he could buy a penthouse or something. But even if he would have to count his yens in the future that would never be worth actual theft.

*He pushed the button away.* “I don’t need it. I never take anything for pain. I don’t need advice from a thief.”

“I’m not showing my concern. I have no concern for a criminal. I’ve heard of possible corruption in the police, but organized crime…, that’s ridiculous.”

Kaito just smirked at the action of accepting the button.

The other topic he took a little more serious. Smiling more innocently, making it look a lot more dangerous. “Is it now? Snake isn’t the only one, you were lucky he was alone. Usually he has some back-up. Sometimes snipers. Now, how many simple robbers do you know that hire snipers? Anyways, I’ve also met one of his bosses and overheard a conversation that made it obvious to me that other guy was only part of the game as well. In fact they did try to hire me to steal for them. But I don’t do that. You remember the empty mansion during blue birthday? That was one of their hide outs.”

*He saw the disguised thief push a button towards him and frowned.* “I don’t need that. I can deal with this pain.”

“All my men think you’re a murderer now. It doesn’t matter what your fans think.” *Ginzo looked at him with a questionable look.* “Who was that guy who shot me? I first thought he was your assistant.”

“Pain in small doses is a good thing, keibu, it reminds you of not aggravating an injury. But now that you know and have been treated it is no shame using this stuff for a little while. In fact it may speed up your healing. You’re not out in the wild where the body needs to lie completely still to heal back together since a surgeon has stiched you back up. So if you make use of it, it allows you to relax and sleep, a habit that is vital for getting better also, you’ll be able to give physical therapy more room to play with, which in return also helps your healing process and minimalize complications. Oh, and it may have psychological impact. Pain has a way of sneaking into memory after a while and since it is nowhere near comfortable to feal, you start associating movements with the pain and unconsciously adapt your behaviour and well, it takes a lot longer to get rid of a bad habit than to take a little bit of that stuff for about two days.” He flashed another smirk.

“The other topic, whatsoever. I’m surprised you’re so upset about what people think of me.” Giving the inspector a rather estranged look the thief went on: “But the guy you’ve met goes by the alias of Snake, I have also gathered another alias: Jackal and I personally theorize this is what he used to be called prior to his involvement with the group he is in now. And this is what it is mainly about. Organised crime.”

Flipping the coin into the air once, KID caught it with his other hand and let it vanish. “To say it a little more crudely, because it somehow seems appropriate here: Shit is running deep. I have to believe that the organisation we are talking about runs deep. Major buisnesses, financial ties and the reason why I’ve wanted you to lie about the shooter: I assume political figures and law enforcement have been infiltrated as well.“

*Ginzo saw the nurse come in and was surprised to see KID’s voice when the nurse sat down in front of him. He tried sitting up more. It was extremely painful but at least he wasn’t in as much pain as before.* “Why would you care if I died? Your no-kill policy is moot now that everyone thinks you tried to kill me.” *Shouting would only harm the inspector; he wasn’t well enough for that yet.*

Almost instant pouting. Didn’t the man know better than that?

“No one knows I’m here, so they can keep thinking that, even if it is a little dent in my reputation. Though... I’ve picked up that a lot of my fans don’t believe in it and the cospiracy theories are very... awkward to very accurate.” He sighed. “I hope no one with a gun takes the stuff too seriously...”

Then he sat up a little and shoved the morphine button the inspector had more into the man’s view that thing was there to relieve pain after all and so he could dose himself a little if it hurt too much.

“Also, just because everyone thinks something, doesn’t mean it has to be true. I can still stick to my rules.” With a little flourish the nurse produced a coin and let it flip over his fingers, back and forth mindlessly. It was clearly simple occupation.

“The reason I’m here now, is to answer questions, your questions and yours only for now. I try to give you what I can and I hope you’re not too offended if it goes past my level of confidence. I want you aware of the less fortunate things that are happening around me, so this”, he nodded around the room “is not going to be a repeat. I’d rather not have any of the men shot up. Bullets hurt like hell and you know, it’s not no-kill, I prefer no-hurt.”

mysterygeekshinichi-deactivated

#picture #look at that face #one of the most wanted criminals in Japan indeed

fragmentarybluechild

kuroba-k said: “Someday we’ll look back on this and laugh.”

For a heartbeat her hand itches to grab for something to throw at him–are the words meant as comfort? Or is he mocking her? She doesn’t quite dare, there’s too much glass in the near vicinity and she doesn’t want to screw up worse than she already has, “Shut up.” The two words are more dejected than irritated, breathed out with a sigh of defeat. Miserably she added, “Aoko doesn’t think this is funny. Neither should you.”

She knows she’s being childish, but the vase looked expensive and Aoko liked to think she had a better handle on her mop than this. She hadn’t meant to knock it over, and even if it had been Kaito she’d been chasing it was ultimately her fault. “I’m going to have to let them know I did it so I can pay them back. Stupid Aoko, chasing you around in a public place like this, I only hope it wasn’t some ancient heirloom or priceless antique.”

She feels sick at the thought, can you go to jail for knocking something like that over? She’s not cut out for prison life!

Daring to get near her again, Kaito almost popped up at her side and slid his arm across her shoulders. “Don’t worry too much, Aoko. This is public and not a museum, so if that vase was ancient or any other kind of very precious, it’s kinda their fault for putting it out here without anything around it. It’s probably just some decoration. Anyone could have accidentally knocked it over. Turning with a bag, stumbling or any of that.” He shrugged, which she probably felt more than saw as his arm was still hanging over her shoulder and just like that, he was stearing her towards the reception area of the building.

“I’m comming with you to tell them and we split up if this is going to cost anything. Though, maybe we should neglect to mention your mop up front... let them discover that after it’s dealt with, if they even bother to watch the security tape.” An amused grin spread across his face and he slid his arm off her again, before people would start staring for its awkwardness and possibly even get some wrong ideas. To that he almost blushed, almost.

#fragmentarybluechild

*Ginzo had followed KID to the rooftop. When he’d arrived there, he’d seen another guy talking to KID. He ran over and had started to ask about KID’s assistant when he felt something go through him. He felt a sharp pain, collapsed backwards, and had hit his head a little. He was having trouble breathing and his chest was rising and falling rapidly as his body tried to obtain more oxygen. He tried breathing through his nose as KID’d told him to and coughed as he exhaled. He felt the thief put something on the wound in his back, hissed at the pain he felt on both sides, and coughed again.*

<“I’m sorry you had to find out this way…”>

*He’d heard a tone of guilt in the other’s voice and Ginzo started thinking about what the thief meant. /Why would a thief feel guilty about this?/ *He heard the thief’s request.* /Why would a thief care if I die?/ *Ginzo saw the thief sprint away as he heard the rooftop door slam open.*

*Several of the men ran over to Ginzo, upon seeing him laying on the ground. The rest ran to catch KID thinking he’d shot the inspector, but he flew away before they could catch him. One of the officers near Ginzo put pressure on the wound to try to stop the bleeding while the other called an ambulance. Ginzo had lost a lot of blood but it had slowed some by the time the paramedics came. After bringing him carefully downstairs and into the EMT van, they put a breathing mask on Ginzo, wrapped up the wound, put pressure on it, connected him to several monitors, and drove away to the hospital to save him.*

Two days later the door of the inspectors hospital room opened and a nurse entered, a man in his late twenties, pudgy and on the taller side, but nothing that would stick out too much, black hair long enough to be tied back into a ponytail paired with dark, almost black eyes that slanted enough to look like he was very Japanese. He looked a little bored or at least not exited, because a daily routine just wasn’t that exciting after a few years.

Checking the IV bags first, he suddenly pulled the chair up to the side of the bed and sat down.

The pudgy man then held a finger to his lips, before he spoke with a voice the inspector knew well: “I’m afraid we can’t talk too loudly, keibu. Your guard is still in front of the door and I’d rather keep it that way. But I’m glad seeing you alive.” Now the man’s demeanor changed and he leaned back, with a lot more grace and the typical nonchalance of KID’s usual behaviour.

“I believe you’d like to ask me a few things.” A crooked smirk snuck on the man’s face.

oldmxn-blog

“I’m not that old?” Oh come on, Kaito. There’s no need to remind this old man of how old he actually is. Just– Just let him be okay. He still looks quite young for his age? Just let this old man lift you up, Kaito. The adult sighed before glancing away from his son– uncertain of what to say in response.

It was not as if he was trying to do that. He honestly just wanted to check if he was still capable of it. "No, why would I want that? I really just want to check if I’m still capable of lifting you up– That’s all.“ Silly old man.