Different Point of View

chapter 4, 'With Friends Like These...'

Some Background on the Magic Kaito manga series : Akako and Aoko are classmates of Kuroba Kaito(Kaito Kid's real identity), with Aoko behaving like Ran to Shinichi, and Akako is a sorceress that wants to 'capture' the Kaito Kid/Kaito-kun for herself. Kaito's father died in an explosion while he was performing, most likely due to gangsters he angered by stealing a particular gem. Oh, BTW, for some reason, Kaito is afraid of fish... ^_^

As we raced away in Akako's car, which I didn't think I wanted to ask where she had gotten it, I looked at her as she glanced in the rearview mirror. Apparently checking her diversionary handiwork as several more explosions of smoke erupted from the factory, I think, then she gave me a smile that somehow always gave me the chills whenever she looked at me. "So, Kaito-kun, how'd you pick up him?" She indicated the sleeping Osaka detective lying on the back seat that I'd had to knock out when he was about to get a good glimpse of my fellow classmate. All I did was yell that they were using poisoned darts, then stick one I had coated with a sleeping drug into his neck.

I shrugged, not really liking the fact that he had obviously gotten a glimpse of what I actually look like. "He tried to catch me at the museum, but those guys caught both of us." I pulled the last of the make-up off my face and sighed, knowing I would have to square things away with the people around me for disappearing. Mom was okay, for she knew I was assuming my father's 'profession' as the Mysterious Thief Kaito Kid. But then Aoko (who I was to have met up with after the heist last night), and school・Gah, I tried to keep perfect grades as well as I could, even if I do tend to fall asleep in class sometimes(for obvious reasons・ or make fun of Aoko. Well, I figured Mom could always cover for me as she usually has when I'm 'out of town', so to speak.

Aoko's father was another matter, for he was Inspector Nakamori, the same police detective that had made it his life-long goal to finally catch the Kaito Kid, a.k.a. formerly my father, now me. It was easy most of the time deceiving him, like last night. I merely resorted to the smallest trick in the book and called in to say I was going to appear at the Osaka Castle, which was currently displaying a famous international collection of priceless rubies. Hattori had stumbled into me by nothing more then dumb luck, then we both fell prey to our captors, whatever they had been really after, for I could tell it wasn't the amethyst I had my eye on. I had the feeling I was missing something, but couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I turned to Akako, "Well, I do have a question to ask, I know what time it is, but where did they take us?" From past experience, I knew she had found me with her magic, so I didn't have to ask that. "Somewhere between Tokyo and Osaka, in an abandoned factory near Otsuma. I couldn't find you at first, whatever you guys were being held in was shielding you from my sorcery. Once you both got out, I came as fast as I could." Giving me a side-long look, she added, "Aoko-chan was going frantic in class this morning, since you know you had promised to go to a movie together last night・#034; She gave me another smile, and I could do nothing but shake my head. "Shut up, I know already・#034; Akako just giggled and drove towards Osaka as I glared at her.

My thoughts turned to the men who had almost killed Hattori and myself. At first, I had thought that it might have been the gang that had ordered my father's murder, since they had known who he really was. I'd been searching for them ever since they surprised me on one of my heists by calling me my father's name. Once the two men standing over us in that room had mentioned the Dark Organization that the detective Shinichi Kudo had inadvertently encountered, several of my fears had been laid to rest, but more sprang up. I had found out about this Syndicate while on my own search, and none of the info about their activities was any better then the group I myself was chasing(then again, they could have belonged to the same Organization, I had no clue, but they hadn't known who I was obviously). I figured out what had happened to the young detective from Tokyo, when he disappeared, and this young boy kept appearing soon afterward to try to stop me. It didn't take a detective to add two plus two, as Hattori had obviously known about his rival's condition also.

I usually try to keep myself aware of conditions where I planned to steal, but I'd had no clue that I had been followed into the museum, then Hattori had distracted me when he confronted me. Then next thing I knew, a loud noise had jolted me awake to find myself and Hattori tied up and locked in that room. Good thing I had practiced with knots and knew how to get myself out of situations where I had been tied up. It had been somewhat easy to get out of those ropes after our captors left.

We had driven in silence for a while, just outside of Osaka, when Hattori began moaning in the drug-induced sleep I had put him in. I looked over at Akako, both of us sharing confused expressions since because of the effects of the drug, he should be sleeping like a log. At first it was hard to hear him, but as I leaned over, I could hear what he was saying. "No... n-no, don't ... I can't tell... I...won't... NO!" He breathed out sharply, the breath hissing out. A bad feeling occurred to me, and my eyes grew wide as his voice sank down to a low monotone, almost as if he had been compelled. "I... Kudo... Shi-Shinichi is now a young ...boy named... Edogawa... Conan..."

I gripped the seat hard, I knew the blood had drained out of my face, and ignoring the rest of the words he was mumbling, I yanked up the sleeve of his shirt to look at his right arm. There, right near his elbow, was a little spot of dried blood surrounded by a small bruise. "Kuso! They got to him when I was still out!" A quick search of my arm revealed no such wound, for which I was somewhat glad, but still・I hit the side of the car with my fist as I figured out the meaning of the loud noise that woke me up, and continued to swear for a short time before Akako looked over with a look of bewilderment. "What's the big deal? He won't be able to catch you if they're on the run."

I couldn't explain it, I didn't know if I really didn't want anyone hurt(after all, I am just a thief, not a murderer), or that I did admire him and several detectives after me(though certainly not that upstart Hakuba, in my opinion Kudo Shinichi could run circles around him). "I'm just not sure," I said after a while. "But you know I would never like anyone to get hurt." Plus what those men had been saying about 'results' made sense, they must have been trying to verify what Hattori had been coerced to tell them. The only thing that I figured that I had found out what had happened earlier was that some of that drug had been still present and when mixed with my sleeping potion, it had triggered the same reaction he had produced earlier. I now wondered about some of the other things I had overheard there, but there was this matter to take care of first.

Wondering best how to find out how this was going to affect the 'young' detective, I decided on a phone call. "Hello, Professor Agasa? This is Hattori Heiji," I decided to use my unwitting companion's name and voice, since I figured that he would have done the same anyway. "Is Kudo there? I need to talk to him--"

I was interrupted by the old man's excited voice. "Hattori-kun?? Where have you been? Your family has been going crazy trying to find you. Your father even called Mouri-san to Osaka, so Shinichi-kun and Ran-kun went with..."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Get in touch with him, tell him to watch out! They've found out!"

"What??" the professor echoed, obviously figuring out what 'they' had indeed discovered. "Let me try to get him on his phone!" I heard the phone being placed on hold, but it was only a few seconds before he came back on. "I can't get a hold of him, the line is busy..."

"I'll try to find him, but don't tell my family that I got in contact with you, or else the same people will be going after them as well, please? Call me back on this phone, just in case," and gave him the phone number. I knew I could trust him with this, since he seemed to do so well at keeping secrets.

I didn't hear anything from him for a minute, and figured he was mulling it over, which was confirmed as he agreed. "But I will keep trying to contact Shinichi-kun. Let me know how it develops, Hattori-kun." I turned off the phone, and sighed, why must things get so complicated sometimes? All I wanted was to be just a regular magical thief like my father and be able to steal things.

My musing was interrupted by Akako tapping on my shoulder. "We're in Osaka now, Kaito-kun. Where do you want me to drop you off, since I assume that you intend to stay here?" Her eyes briefly betrayed the anxiousness she must be feeling, for as much as I had perceived, she was still endeavoring to capture me, in a strange way she felt she loved me I guess. I shrugged, and told her where my hideout in Osaka was. As she dropped me and the still sleeping Hattori off(who was covered by my jacket), I waved at her, but she showed no sign of replying as she sped off to disappear around the corner.

Once hidden in the secret room, one of many sprinkled around Japan which I had discovered from my father's notes, I quickly changed clothes, though I knew there was nothing I could do about my face. Wanting to get this over with, I walked over to the unconscious detective laid out on the couch and gave him the antidote to the sleeping drug I'd put him under. Then I sat on a chair nearby and waited for a few moments before he showed signs of awakening. His eyes fluttered, then snapped open as he glanced wildly about before latching onto my face. "Ka-Kaito・Kid・#034; He groaned, and put a hand to his head. "Please.. don't tell me that ・we're-"

I shook my head, "No, we're safe, we managed to escape and are back in Osaka, though don't bother to ask how," I said, forestalling his attempt, then plunged directly into the matter at hand so he wouldn't think to ask. "And it seems that we have a bit of a problem on our hands," I took his arm, and even as he tried to pull it out of my grasp, I managed to pull the sleeve down. "I didn't realize it until we were out of there, and obviously you don't know this, but the people who took us prisoner have found out a certain secret, supplied involuntarily by one of the few people who knew it." Hattori stopped struggling as he caught sight of the wound in his arm, and I could easily feel the shudder that coursed though his body.

"The dream...," he managed to breathe out and stared at me. Trying to sit up, he yelled at me, "What are we doing here then? Come on, let's get going, they could already be on their way to Tokyo!" But I stopped him from getting to his feet, not by any movement but with what I next told him. "I called Professor Agasa, and he told me that because you vanished, your family called in that detective Mouri-"

"And Kudo is going to travel here with him, great, just great・#034; Hattori sighed, and looked up at one of the clocks I have sprinkled about the room. "That means that if they grabbed the one-thirty train to here, assuming that Agasa said they had left already." I nodded, and supplied the next bit of reasoning, "Then once he and they step off the train once it arrives about thirty minutes from now, at five 'o'clock, he's going to be targeted as soon as they find out he's here."

"Kaito," Hattori said determinedly, "if what I think will happen, I need access to a phone, fast. Let me try to contact Agasa," he took the offered phone, and dialed the professor's phone number. "Professor? Ah, I ・#034; He shot me a glance, and I knew that he had figured out how he had 'called' before. "Yeah, I'm still all right, but you haven't been able to get in contact with him yet? I see... Is that little girl there, Haibara? I need to figure something out・#034; He waited a minute, then "Ah, Haibara-san, I need to know something. Is there a possibility that Gin-" He stopped, blinking his eyes as he listened for a few minutes. "Ah, good, then we don't have to worry about that faction." He listened a minute more, then nodded. "I got it, I'll call you later."

"Faction?" I asked, when he handed me my phone.

"Yeah, Haibara-san mentioned that there are different parts of the Organization in cities across Japan, and as far as she had heard before she escaped from them was that the one in Osaka had fallen into dishonor in the eyes of their counterparts. Maybe this plot into the museum and now this with Kudo was to get them back in good standing." Hattori thought out loud, then shrugged. "So should we head out?"

I thought for a moment, then nodded, "Of course, let me grab a few things that I have a feeling I'll need, until then・#034; I reached into my pocket, and pulled out a needle. Before he could react, I flicked it into his neck. "Sorry, Hattori-kun," I smiled as his brief angry expression gave way and he began to drift off. "But I do need to keep some of my secrets, you know・#034;

to be continued・#060;br>