[fic] TGZ: Eligible
Jan. 4th, 2006 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ickaimpOkay... skipping a chapter because we the plunnies for it don't wanna play right now.
Will put spoilers for it later, if it needs it, cause that comes into play about the time they head Stateside.
+++
Just when Kaito thought the day couldn't get any weirder, it had.
It had actually started out the night before, when Kaito asked Saguru what his mother did for a living. She was away travelling pretty frequently, always had visitors over, yet never seemed to have to worry about the money or expenses for travel.
So they had decided to tail her. It gave Saguru a chance to practise his skills, it gave Kaito something interesting to do and it gave them both a chance to discover the Women's Knitting and Rifle Auxiliary Club.
Not only could those women shoot like professionals, they knitted a lovely gun cosy while doing it.
And Kaito swore he recognised some of those shrieking laughs from that one shitty day he and Saguru had to streak upstairs during tea.
She also visited the local Butcher, --she got sausages-- the Baker --she picked up some odd looking creme buns-- and the Candlestick maker. She came out of the last shop with some rather... interesting looking candles.
And then she went to the local Adult Shop. The one with a lot of leather and lace in the window. Kaito and Saguru had both looked at each other and decided -not- to go in, both of their faces just a bit pink with embarrassment.
She came out with several bags full, chirping about what a wonderful party this was going to be.
That was the point Saguru deduced that she was most likely preparing for a lady in the Women's Knitting and Rifle Auxiliary Club's Bachelorette Party and therefore was doing nothing today that anything what so ever to do with what ever her occupation was. They called off the tailing and decided to get dinner at their local pub.
Which was where he was now, staring at a boisterous group of men and women, dressed in strange outfits and carrying weapontry. filled with men and women dressed in bits of plate mail, chain mail, ruffles and padded armour, carrying weapontry. And a Viking. At least, Kaito was pretty sure it was a Viking. He had horns on his head, anyway.
Saguru wasn't finding this weird in the least, taking quite a bit of amusement in Kaito's wary looks. Kaito just figured that the blond's brains were fried after all the places they'd been to today. "Relatives of yours?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Ha." Saguru snickered back. "Scadians."
Kaito let the puzzlement show on his face. Some other country he hadn't heard of?
"S.C.A." Saguru grinned. "Society for Creative Anachronism. Historical Re-enactors."
"Like those guys who dress up in samurai armour around some of the castles for the tourists?" He questioned.
"Not quite. The S.C.A. does more than dress up in funny clothing-" Saguru's lips twisted into a brief wiry grin "They also re-create the crafts and clothing of the various historical periods. Calligraphy, artwork, spinning, weaving, tapestry work. And fighting. But they are creating essentially living history."
Kaito grinned, motioning towards the laughing men and women. "Like your funny old-fashion clothing?"
"Turn of the Century isn't old enough." Saguru informed him loftily. "Four hundred years ago, or the sixteen hundreds is the most recent they'll accept. But I know a few of them, finding fabric and patterns isn't always easy."
"Ah." Kaito nodded sagely. He'd have to do some internet searches tonight. "So those knives and everything are real?"
The large Viking, who had been listening in on the conversation with some amusement, laughed. "Those aren't knives!" He boomed. Their table suddenly shook as a sword about as long as Kaito was tall was suddenly placed across the middle of it. "THAT'S a knife!"
Kaito's eye went wide. "Ooooo...." Shiny. He grinned up at the large man. "Do you have throwing ones too?!"
A few of the non-dressed up regulars laughed, knowing his skill at darts. "Thank you." Saguru said dryly, standing up. The blond reached across the table and grabbed Kaito's arm, pulling him out of his chair as well. "Come on. I'll go kick your butt at billiards."
"You just want me away from the neat sharp pointy objects." Kaito accused.
"Yes." Saguru didn't bother to deny it. "And kick your butt at billiards."
Kaito gave him a dirty look. It wasn't his fault he stunk at billiards.
"Perhaps I might offer more of a challenge." An amused voice drawled.
Saguru's face lit up. "Mogi-san!"
"Mogi?" Kaito's eyebrow raised.
"Yo." A tall scruffy looking man waved at them. Kaito recognised him from his stint as Mouri Kogoro at the Twilight Mansion, the guy with a sweet car. And who'd been shot by the Mafia in Chicago, USA before joining them.
Of course, -Kaito- didn't recognise him, the Kid did. But that was okay.
"Mogi-san, I'd like to introduce you to my best friend, Kuroba Kaito." Saguru grinned, motioning Kaito forward. "Kaito, this is Mogi Harufumi, a detective. We met at the Twilight Mansion case."
"Chasing the Kaitou Kid, right?" Kaito grinned, holding out a hand. He could practically feel the Halo floating above his head. -Propped up by the horns, of course. "I hear he got away from you."
"Alas." Mogi groaned in mock-theatrics, shaking Kaito's hand. He had a strong grip, but not over crushing. "He did. Ah, well. Will have to chase him another day."
"You'll have to forgive Kaito-kun." Saguru commented drily. "He's a -fan- of Kid the Phantom Thief."
"The horror." Mogi deadpanned. Kaito grinned. He could like this detective, he had a sense of humour.
"Ha-ha." He waved them off. "You go play with your sticks and your balls. I'm going back and playing with the people with the weird costume fetish."
They laughed, like he'd hoped they would, then dragged him off to at least watch the game, which he hoped they wouldn't.
Kaito sighed and found himself a barstool to watch the game from. Both Saguru and Mogi were good billiard players and it gave Saguru a chance to do some of the fancier shots.
And it gave both detectives a chance to 'network'. Kaito listened in as the detectives talked about their most recent cases and some of the odder cases that detectives in their acquaintance knew.
His mobile phone went off and he gratefully excused himself to answer it, stepping outside to do so despite the cold. The pub owner and most of the patrons frowned on phones being left on while they were drinking.
It was Hirokini. "Hey, Kaito-niichan. Just checking, did Mogi-san say how he found you?"
Kaito had similar thoughts. It was just a little bit too convenient and sudden for his tastes. "Nope. Just that Mum told him where to find us."
"Mum's not home." Hirokini kept track of people's presence in the house, if no one was home, he could blare the speakers for his video games. "He's not on our list of people we've looked into as possible Operatives... should I check him out?"
"I can do that when we get home." Kaito chided gently. "You're not our private web navi, you know." He'd had this fight with the AI before, Hirokini wasn't their personal slave or secretary. He was still just a kid. Who happened to live in a computer.
"I know, I know." Hirokini sighed. "But no one's online... C'mon, it'll gimme something to do."
"If you want to." Kaito agreed reluctantly. "Hold on." He pulled out a small ear bud, slipping the tiny speaker into his ear and threading the cord down his shirt, plugging it into the mobile phone. "Okay. I have you plugged in if you want to make any comments."
Any comments Kaito, or anyone else within the phone's speaker range made Hirokini would be able to hear. The trick was making comments to Hirokini without catching other people's attention.
"Thanks! See you later!" The child's voice faded out, humming slightly to himself as he dove back into the mess that was the world wide web.
Kaito sighed, shaking his head. Now there was a boy who was -born- to surf the web.
He waited a few moments, enjoying the cleaner frozen air outside and keeping a circumspect eye out for anything else that didn't belong. It was quiet and nothing stood out, but the seeds of unease had still been planted.
Mogi and Saguru were just winding up their game, in Saguru's favour. Mogi seemed to be taking his loss with amiable grace. Kaito retook his seat at the barstool, watching Saguru make the last shot with understated flair.
"Well, since you won the game and I've still got to race to the airport, I'll pass on a bit of information you might like." Mogi grinned, reaching under his coat to pull something tucked into his waist band in the back. Kaito tensed for a moment, then relaxed as Mogi pulled out a folded magazine.
"Advanced release." Mogi tossed it towards Saguru. It landed on the game table in front of the blond "If you need a safe place to get away, I'll be in Chicago for the next month or so. Catch you boys later. Thanks for the game."
With that friendly offer, Mogi walked out of the pub, shrugging on his trench coat as he did so. Kaito raised an eyebrow at Saguru. "Chicago, outside of Tokyo, or Chicago, in America?"
"The latter, I presume." Saguru deadpanned, picking up the magazine. "Urgh. One of those penny awful things."
"Penny Awful?" Kaito questioned, attempting to glance around Saguru's shoulder.
"Mum calls them that. Gossip rags." The detective looked thoroughly unimpressed by it. "Lovely. It's the Top Bachelor edition..." His voice trailed off as his eyes widened.
Then Saguru squeaked.
"What?" Kaito demanded. He didn't get a response, the blond's attention firmly on scanning an article. "What?!" Finally he stood on his toes to peer over Saguru's shoulder. Stupid tall blonds.
He had just enough time to see a picture of Saguru in the magazine before Saguru squeaked again, his face turning both pale and red at the same time. "Vis-ca... Uncle Dorian never mentioned anything about this!!!"
"WHAT?!" Fed up, Kaito grabbed the magazine from Saguru's grasp and looked it over. "Grab the coats." He instructed, nudging Saguru.
"Huh?" Saguru looked at him stupidly, still processing the article.
"This isn't the place to discuss this." Kaito nudge him again, drawing Saguru's attention to the attention they were getting. Several of the regulars were watching them, although it was difficult to tell if it was because Saguru was making a spectacle of himself, or because people wanted the billiard table.
"Oh." Saguru nodded, heading off to gather their coats. Kaito quickly set the billiards table back up for the next person. The detective quickly joined him, coats in hand and they hastily made their escape, calling farewells.
"Viscount." Saguru grumbled as he pulled on his coat. "No wonder everyone's been congratulating me lately. Viscount, ha! I'm a Detective, not a Lord."
"Hmm?" Kaito queried. Saguru pointed farther down on the short blurb for him. "It mentions that I'm rumoured to be next in line to become the next Earl of Gloria. Uncle Dorian's never mentioned that at all."
It made sense. Uncle Dorian didn't have any children and if he and Saguru's partnership continued, Eroica would have an heir too. The Earl of Gloria had been sending them out to high society social functions together too, probably to see how well they would do. If that was Uncle Dorian's plan. There was nothing to confirm it yet.
"What concerns me more is this." Kaito pointed up at the picture. It was a decent picture of Saguru, probably taken during the holiday party due to the fancy tux. Kaito was standing behind him, blurry but still recognisable. "How long before this hits Japan?"
"What?" Saguru looked at him with a puzzled expression before he paled, finally catching what Kaito was concerned about. "Dammit. And we were doing such a good job keeping my name out of the papers."
Their being in England worked, so long as it wasn't obvious that he was here. He was out of the way and presumably dead or at the very least not interfering with the mysterious organisation in black. But if it was publicised...
Saguru grabbed the paper back, squinting at it. "You're listed as my unknown Watson-"
Kaito had a few choice words about that. Most of which he'd voice later. "And it lists that I live on the outskirts of London. And my fan club."
"You have a fan club?!" Kaito grabbed the paper back. Yup. Saguru had a fan club. "Bet it's not as big as mine." He muttered softly. Saguru elbowed him and stole the paper.
"But to answer your question, if this magazine has distribution to Hong Kong as a former Colony of the Crown, probably less than a week." Saguru flipped it back to the front cover. "It's a slightly advanced copy, it's not scheduled to come out until tomorrow."
"Wonder what Mogi was doing with it." Kaito mused. From what he had observed of the guy, if he had stumbled upon the information, he would be the type to pass it on. But the question was, was that really Mogi? And what was Mogi doing in England?
"He travels a lot." Saguru waved it off. "Huh. I'm in the bottom quarter. Prince William's up at the top, of course."
"Saguru!" Kaito aimed a kick at his shins which didn't connect. "Stop worrying about that rot. Black Organisation? Knows you're alive? Imminent death? Hello?"
"Right." Saguru folded the magazine up and stuck it in his coat pocket. "Mum's going to love this. I wonder if she knows." He added miserably.
"Erk." That was enough to distract Kaito's train of thought as well. "Okay. Battle plans. First, we survive Mum. Second, we survive the Black Ops."
"Right."
-fin-
The 'Women's Knitting and Rifle Auxiliary Club' is thanks to Ysabet.
Will put spoilers for it later, if it needs it, cause that comes into play about the time they head Stateside.
+++
Just when Kaito thought the day couldn't get any weirder, it had.
It had actually started out the night before, when Kaito asked Saguru what his mother did for a living. She was away travelling pretty frequently, always had visitors over, yet never seemed to have to worry about the money or expenses for travel.
So they had decided to tail her. It gave Saguru a chance to practise his skills, it gave Kaito something interesting to do and it gave them both a chance to discover the Women's Knitting and Rifle Auxiliary Club.
Not only could those women shoot like professionals, they knitted a lovely gun cosy while doing it.
And Kaito swore he recognised some of those shrieking laughs from that one shitty day he and Saguru had to streak upstairs during tea.
She also visited the local Butcher, --she got sausages-- the Baker --she picked up some odd looking creme buns-- and the Candlestick maker. She came out of the last shop with some rather... interesting looking candles.
And then she went to the local Adult Shop. The one with a lot of leather and lace in the window. Kaito and Saguru had both looked at each other and decided -not- to go in, both of their faces just a bit pink with embarrassment.
She came out with several bags full, chirping about what a wonderful party this was going to be.
That was the point Saguru deduced that she was most likely preparing for a lady in the Women's Knitting and Rifle Auxiliary Club's Bachelorette Party and therefore was doing nothing today that anything what so ever to do with what ever her occupation was. They called off the tailing and decided to get dinner at their local pub.
Which was where he was now, staring at a boisterous group of men and women, dressed in strange outfits and carrying weapontry. filled with men and women dressed in bits of plate mail, chain mail, ruffles and padded armour, carrying weapontry. And a Viking. At least, Kaito was pretty sure it was a Viking. He had horns on his head, anyway.
Saguru wasn't finding this weird in the least, taking quite a bit of amusement in Kaito's wary looks. Kaito just figured that the blond's brains were fried after all the places they'd been to today. "Relatives of yours?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Ha." Saguru snickered back. "Scadians."
Kaito let the puzzlement show on his face. Some other country he hadn't heard of?
"S.C.A." Saguru grinned. "Society for Creative Anachronism. Historical Re-enactors."
"Like those guys who dress up in samurai armour around some of the castles for the tourists?" He questioned.
"Not quite. The S.C.A. does more than dress up in funny clothing-" Saguru's lips twisted into a brief wiry grin "They also re-create the crafts and clothing of the various historical periods. Calligraphy, artwork, spinning, weaving, tapestry work. And fighting. But they are creating essentially living history."
Kaito grinned, motioning towards the laughing men and women. "Like your funny old-fashion clothing?"
"Turn of the Century isn't old enough." Saguru informed him loftily. "Four hundred years ago, or the sixteen hundreds is the most recent they'll accept. But I know a few of them, finding fabric and patterns isn't always easy."
"Ah." Kaito nodded sagely. He'd have to do some internet searches tonight. "So those knives and everything are real?"
The large Viking, who had been listening in on the conversation with some amusement, laughed. "Those aren't knives!" He boomed. Their table suddenly shook as a sword about as long as Kaito was tall was suddenly placed across the middle of it. "THAT'S a knife!"
Kaito's eye went wide. "Ooooo...." Shiny. He grinned up at the large man. "Do you have throwing ones too?!"
A few of the non-dressed up regulars laughed, knowing his skill at darts. "Thank you." Saguru said dryly, standing up. The blond reached across the table and grabbed Kaito's arm, pulling him out of his chair as well. "Come on. I'll go kick your butt at billiards."
"You just want me away from the neat sharp pointy objects." Kaito accused.
"Yes." Saguru didn't bother to deny it. "And kick your butt at billiards."
Kaito gave him a dirty look. It wasn't his fault he stunk at billiards.
"Perhaps I might offer more of a challenge." An amused voice drawled.
Saguru's face lit up. "Mogi-san!"
"Mogi?" Kaito's eyebrow raised.
"Yo." A tall scruffy looking man waved at them. Kaito recognised him from his stint as Mouri Kogoro at the Twilight Mansion, the guy with a sweet car. And who'd been shot by the Mafia in Chicago, USA before joining them.
Of course, -Kaito- didn't recognise him, the Kid did. But that was okay.
"Mogi-san, I'd like to introduce you to my best friend, Kuroba Kaito." Saguru grinned, motioning Kaito forward. "Kaito, this is Mogi Harufumi, a detective. We met at the Twilight Mansion case."
"Chasing the Kaitou Kid, right?" Kaito grinned, holding out a hand. He could practically feel the Halo floating above his head. -Propped up by the horns, of course. "I hear he got away from you."
"Alas." Mogi groaned in mock-theatrics, shaking Kaito's hand. He had a strong grip, but not over crushing. "He did. Ah, well. Will have to chase him another day."
"You'll have to forgive Kaito-kun." Saguru commented drily. "He's a -fan- of Kid the Phantom Thief."
"The horror." Mogi deadpanned. Kaito grinned. He could like this detective, he had a sense of humour.
"Ha-ha." He waved them off. "You go play with your sticks and your balls. I'm going back and playing with the people with the weird costume fetish."
They laughed, like he'd hoped they would, then dragged him off to at least watch the game, which he hoped they wouldn't.
Kaito sighed and found himself a barstool to watch the game from. Both Saguru and Mogi were good billiard players and it gave Saguru a chance to do some of the fancier shots.
And it gave both detectives a chance to 'network'. Kaito listened in as the detectives talked about their most recent cases and some of the odder cases that detectives in their acquaintance knew.
His mobile phone went off and he gratefully excused himself to answer it, stepping outside to do so despite the cold. The pub owner and most of the patrons frowned on phones being left on while they were drinking.
It was Hirokini. "Hey, Kaito-niichan. Just checking, did Mogi-san say how he found you?"
Kaito had similar thoughts. It was just a little bit too convenient and sudden for his tastes. "Nope. Just that Mum told him where to find us."
"Mum's not home." Hirokini kept track of people's presence in the house, if no one was home, he could blare the speakers for his video games. "He's not on our list of people we've looked into as possible Operatives... should I check him out?"
"I can do that when we get home." Kaito chided gently. "You're not our private web navi, you know." He'd had this fight with the AI before, Hirokini wasn't their personal slave or secretary. He was still just a kid. Who happened to live in a computer.
"I know, I know." Hirokini sighed. "But no one's online... C'mon, it'll gimme something to do."
"If you want to." Kaito agreed reluctantly. "Hold on." He pulled out a small ear bud, slipping the tiny speaker into his ear and threading the cord down his shirt, plugging it into the mobile phone. "Okay. I have you plugged in if you want to make any comments."
Any comments Kaito, or anyone else within the phone's speaker range made Hirokini would be able to hear. The trick was making comments to Hirokini without catching other people's attention.
"Thanks! See you later!" The child's voice faded out, humming slightly to himself as he dove back into the mess that was the world wide web.
Kaito sighed, shaking his head. Now there was a boy who was -born- to surf the web.
He waited a few moments, enjoying the cleaner frozen air outside and keeping a circumspect eye out for anything else that didn't belong. It was quiet and nothing stood out, but the seeds of unease had still been planted.
Mogi and Saguru were just winding up their game, in Saguru's favour. Mogi seemed to be taking his loss with amiable grace. Kaito retook his seat at the barstool, watching Saguru make the last shot with understated flair.
"Well, since you won the game and I've still got to race to the airport, I'll pass on a bit of information you might like." Mogi grinned, reaching under his coat to pull something tucked into his waist band in the back. Kaito tensed for a moment, then relaxed as Mogi pulled out a folded magazine.
"Advanced release." Mogi tossed it towards Saguru. It landed on the game table in front of the blond "If you need a safe place to get away, I'll be in Chicago for the next month or so. Catch you boys later. Thanks for the game."
With that friendly offer, Mogi walked out of the pub, shrugging on his trench coat as he did so. Kaito raised an eyebrow at Saguru. "Chicago, outside of Tokyo, or Chicago, in America?"
"The latter, I presume." Saguru deadpanned, picking up the magazine. "Urgh. One of those penny awful things."
"Penny Awful?" Kaito questioned, attempting to glance around Saguru's shoulder.
"Mum calls them that. Gossip rags." The detective looked thoroughly unimpressed by it. "Lovely. It's the Top Bachelor edition..." His voice trailed off as his eyes widened.
Then Saguru squeaked.
"What?" Kaito demanded. He didn't get a response, the blond's attention firmly on scanning an article. "What?!" Finally he stood on his toes to peer over Saguru's shoulder. Stupid tall blonds.
He had just enough time to see a picture of Saguru in the magazine before Saguru squeaked again, his face turning both pale and red at the same time. "Vis-ca... Uncle Dorian never mentioned anything about this!!!"
"WHAT?!" Fed up, Kaito grabbed the magazine from Saguru's grasp and looked it over. "Grab the coats." He instructed, nudging Saguru.
"Huh?" Saguru looked at him stupidly, still processing the article.
"This isn't the place to discuss this." Kaito nudge him again, drawing Saguru's attention to the attention they were getting. Several of the regulars were watching them, although it was difficult to tell if it was because Saguru was making a spectacle of himself, or because people wanted the billiard table.
"Oh." Saguru nodded, heading off to gather their coats. Kaito quickly set the billiards table back up for the next person. The detective quickly joined him, coats in hand and they hastily made their escape, calling farewells.
"Viscount." Saguru grumbled as he pulled on his coat. "No wonder everyone's been congratulating me lately. Viscount, ha! I'm a Detective, not a Lord."
"Hmm?" Kaito queried. Saguru pointed farther down on the short blurb for him. "It mentions that I'm rumoured to be next in line to become the next Earl of Gloria. Uncle Dorian's never mentioned that at all."
It made sense. Uncle Dorian didn't have any children and if he and Saguru's partnership continued, Eroica would have an heir too. The Earl of Gloria had been sending them out to high society social functions together too, probably to see how well they would do. If that was Uncle Dorian's plan. There was nothing to confirm it yet.
"What concerns me more is this." Kaito pointed up at the picture. It was a decent picture of Saguru, probably taken during the holiday party due to the fancy tux. Kaito was standing behind him, blurry but still recognisable. "How long before this hits Japan?"
"What?" Saguru looked at him with a puzzled expression before he paled, finally catching what Kaito was concerned about. "Dammit. And we were doing such a good job keeping my name out of the papers."
Their being in England worked, so long as it wasn't obvious that he was here. He was out of the way and presumably dead or at the very least not interfering with the mysterious organisation in black. But if it was publicised...
Saguru grabbed the paper back, squinting at it. "You're listed as my unknown Watson-"
Kaito had a few choice words about that. Most of which he'd voice later. "And it lists that I live on the outskirts of London. And my fan club."
"You have a fan club?!" Kaito grabbed the paper back. Yup. Saguru had a fan club. "Bet it's not as big as mine." He muttered softly. Saguru elbowed him and stole the paper.
"But to answer your question, if this magazine has distribution to Hong Kong as a former Colony of the Crown, probably less than a week." Saguru flipped it back to the front cover. "It's a slightly advanced copy, it's not scheduled to come out until tomorrow."
"Wonder what Mogi was doing with it." Kaito mused. From what he had observed of the guy, if he had stumbled upon the information, he would be the type to pass it on. But the question was, was that really Mogi? And what was Mogi doing in England?
"He travels a lot." Saguru waved it off. "Huh. I'm in the bottom quarter. Prince William's up at the top, of course."
"Saguru!" Kaito aimed a kick at his shins which didn't connect. "Stop worrying about that rot. Black Organisation? Knows you're alive? Imminent death? Hello?"
"Right." Saguru folded the magazine up and stuck it in his coat pocket. "Mum's going to love this. I wonder if she knows." He added miserably.
"Erk." That was enough to distract Kaito's train of thought as well. "Okay. Battle plans. First, we survive Mum. Second, we survive the Black Ops."
"Right."
-fin-
The 'Women's Knitting and Rifle Auxiliary Club' is thanks to Ysabet.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-04 11:16 pm (UTC)Saguru: "Shut up! Run faster!"
Heh heh heh. *cackles manically*
((GLOMPS Jaelle!))
no subject
Date: 2006-02-01 07:34 am (UTC)Oh dear, can see that happening, too. ...And for some reason the voices say Koizumi was responsible.