[fic] DC: Exit Wounds
May. 22nd, 2006 06:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ickaimpSo, on Friday, I was told by my supervisor that this was a Conservative Business Atmosphere and while they had no problems with the work I was doing, I was not to balance stuff on my head or stick post-it notes to myself. Normal people didn't do that sort of thing.
-no, seriously. That's what I was told. I'm also not to eat lunch on the couch in the office that he had commented would be the perfect place to eat lunch when we moved it in there.
... I don't think I'll be looking to stay on with this group once my contract is up in a couple of weeks. They're too -mundane-.
And on Saterday,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wootduosmaster tried to light my sketchbook on fire during the feast. Since the choice was between accidently setting my hair on fire or accidently setting my sketchbook on fire, I applaud him.
... but still. Sketchbook on Fire. Bad. Fortunately none of the pages were seriously burnt although one has wax and scorch marks. We're still teasing him tho. ^__________^
So, that's the interesting things in my life. *snerks*
*head desk* *head desk*
And now for something completely different, anti-ShinRan.
Warnings for Character Death, Kid/Heiji and Heiji/Kudo pairing.
++++
Exit Wounds
By Icka! M. Chif
"Aw, shit." Heiji ducked behind the wall bullets flew past him, as a few striking the wall itself, sending shards into the air. "WHO THE HELL IS FIRIN'?!" He roared, rising to peek around the corner, only to see a few shadowy figures slink away. A few dark ones in the alley to his right and a pale blur slinking away in the alley across from him.
He made a split second decision, following after the dark ones instead of the pale one that was their objective for the night. Lethal force had not been authorised for tonight's mission, therefore anybody attempting to steal someone's life instead of their shiny baubles were probably the people who they were ultimately trying to catch.
"Dammit!" he yelped, diving behind some metal waste containers as another bullet hit the wall above his head. Oh, yeah. Definitely the bad guys here.
Unfortunately, that was the last trace of them he saw, the shouts of the police drawing him away from the alleys and up onto the rooftops.
He found Kudo standing on the roof, watching a white shadow fly away into the night, out of reach of both police and teenage detectives.
"He got away." Kudo said with the intense cold fire of someone who has felt too much and has been left as nothing more than a hollow vessel in its wake.
Heiji flinched, staring sadly at Kudo's back. He'd hoped tonight's escapade might have distracted Kudo from that emptiness. It had, for a while at least. But not for long. Never for long.
"Yeah." He agreed, putting a hand on Kudo's shoulder. The other detective didn't flinch, but neither did he lean into it or acknowledge the contact. Even though Heiji had been expecting the lack of reaction, it still stung a bit. "C'mon. Time to head home."
Not that Kudo at his house would be much better, but it was better than hanging around here. Cause as much as Kudo wanted the guys with the guns, he was just as likely to do something stupid and get killed by them too.
And Heiji had the sneaking suspicion that was exactly what Kudo was looking for.
+++
Kudo wouldn't let Heiji spend the night in his huge house, he wanted to be left alone with his memories and grieve in his own way. So Heiji crashed in the dojo of an old friend of his mother's. The Mine family had given him a key to the front doors and told him where the bathing room and the toilets were. He had a small shelf tucked away in the dojo to keep a sleeping mat and blankets, as well as a few spare clothes just in case.
He was invited to meals as well, but he generally chose to eat out or at Kudo's place instead, to make sure the other guy ate.
But the compound was quiet, and really, that's all Heiji wanted at the moment. The Mine clan left him alone for the most part and he was grateful for it.
So when the dojo doors slid open, a tall, thin figure slipping inside, he was a bit startled.
"Kudo." He blinked in surprise at the other detective, tossing off the duvet and scrambling to his feet. "Everythin' okay? What brings you here?"
Of course Kudo knew where he was; he made damn sure of that, just like he made damn sure that his cellphone had a good battery charge and was left on while he slept, just in case Kudo needed anything. Kudo never did, but he still made sure, just in case.
"Everything's fine." Kudo replied quietly, tilting his head slightly to the side as he stepped inside Heiji's personal space. Confused, Heiji backed up a step. "Why? Aren't you glad to see me?"
No, he had no complaints about seeing Kudo, quite the opposite really. He liked Kudo and Kudo's company, even if Kudo was a sourpuss a great deal of the time. But...
As Kudo leaned closer, his nose brushing Heiji's, it clicked. "You're not Kudo." He grabbed the other person by the upper arms, holding them there.
Violet eyes, not blue, sparkled at him mischievously. "I could be, for tonight."
"No." Not that the offer wasn't tempting, it was flattering in a strange way. But if he ever did sleep with Kudo, he wanted -Kudo-, not just a fantasy in the night.
And there was only one person he knew that could impersonate someone like that. "What are you doin' here, Kid-han?"
"What gave me away?" Kid's voice changed, becoming huskier than Kudo's as the thief twisted in his grip so that they were no longer face to face. The Kid just seemed to -melt- against him, the back of the thief's head resting against one of Heiji's shoulders.
"You don't smell like him." And Kudo wasn't that friendly. To anyone. At least, not any more.
"Hmm..." Kid nodded thoughtfully. "Next time I'll have to steal his deodorant. Possibly his after-shave as well. Do you know what kind he uses?"
"No." Heiji growled. 'Next time'?! "And what are you doin' here? Pretendin' to be Kudo?"
"You saved me earlier." Kid shrugged, apparently perfectly at ease. "So I owe you one."
The Kaitou Kid -had- been in the alley across from him then. But Heiji had gone after the men with guns instead, drawing their fire away from the Kid and ultimately allowing the thief to escape.
"You owe me nothin'." He released the Kid, giving him a slight shove away. Not enough to knock the thief over, but enough to give him some breathing room. Murders took precedence over robberies, that was all. "Or if you wanna repay some sort of debt, help Kudo."
He got a curious look in response to that. "What exactly does Kudo need help with?" Kid asked, his voice deceptively quiet.
Heiji sighed, sitting down on his futon and waving Kid to take a seat as well. "I'll tell ya... but couldja change outta that in the mean time? It's kinda distractin..."
Kid didn't move as far as he could see but a cloud of smoke covered him for a second or two, leaving the thief in his trademark white clothes. Kid sat crosslegged on the floor, waving an elegant white gloved hand in silent entreaty for Heiji to start his story.
"Thanks..." Heiji scratched the back of his neck, trying to find the best place to start. "Um. Dunno how much you know about Kudo... but he grew up with the daughter of a friend of his Mom, named Ran. Mouri Ran. About six months back, Kudo took Ran to a local amusement park, 'Tropical Land' to celebrate her winnin' the City Karate Tournament."
Kid let out a low whistle. "Impressive, for a high schooler."
"Yup." Heiji gave Kid a brief grin. "But long story short... A murder happened on a ride they were on, Kudo solved it, then saw some suspicious lookin' men in black sneakin' off. So he followed them. One of them knocked him silly with a board. He says they tried shovin' some sort of poison down his throat, which is when Ran showed up...."
He trailed off, looking down at the tatami mats. "They didn't bother tryin' to poison her, they just shot her, leavin' her for dead. She landed on top of him, the force of it causin' him to cough up the poison... or so Kudo theorised, he was unconscious by the time she arrived... but she bled to death on top of him."
"And he's been trying to track the men who did it down ever since." Kid filled in.
"Yeah." Heiji swallowed. Ran sounded like Kazuha in a lot of ways. Which is why he didn't bring her along on these trips of his to visit Kudo. "I met him about a month afterwards... I'd been hearin' about 'The Detective of the East' for a while, I'm the 'Detective of the West', and figured it was time to meet the guy. And... I got Kudo."
He'd -hurt- upon meeting Kudo. He couldn't just walk away, couldn't leave the other guy like this. So he'd been making trips to Beika when ever possible, trying to help find the men who had done this, to try to help fix Kudo. Kazuha said he was nuts, that he was going to turn as crazily obsessive as Kudo if he kept this up, and maybe she was right.... but he couldn't -not- help.
"Last week Ran's father, a not-so great private eye, went missin'. We think he may have gotten too close to the guys who killed his daughter. We just got some information that you had some connections to the guys in black, which is why we were chasin' you today." He looked up at the thief, who was watching him with a placid expression. "Which brings ya pretty much up to date."
"Ah." Kid nodded sagely. "Your information is correct... yet not correct."
"Oh?" Heiji raised an eyebrow as the thief pulled a knee up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his bent leg.
"The organisation you seek took someone from me as well." Kid confessed, his voice strangely neutral, as if he were talking about the weather instead of something deeply personal. "They're trying to kill me currently, to prevent me from finding something they seek before they do."
That single sentence revealed more about the thief's motivations than the police knew after almost two decades of chasing the elusive thief. Not that Heiji would be able to -use- that information to the police's advantage.
"I'm sorry." He said instead. A flicker of surprise flashed across the the thief's face before melting into a smile.
"It was a long time ago. And as they say, 'time heals all wounds.' " Kid waved it off. "They just never mention that the scars still twinge occasionally. Then there are the wounds that time can't heal. Those fester and rot instead. In which case, they say 'death is the great equaliser'."
"You're talkin' about Kudo." Heiji said grimly. He'd worked on a lot of cases, some of them involving people he knew. The Kid had a point; Kudo wasn't healing at all from Ran's death, the opposite was happening.
Kudo was rotting inside, slowly dying. With gunshots, entrance wounds were sometimes small, easily overlooked. But the exit wounds were huge.
Kid looked sympathetic. "He's never grieved for her death, has he?"
"I don't think he's -stopped- grievin'." Heiji replied bitterly. It seemed that all Kudo did was grieve, leaving behind the shell of someone whom he'd heard of as vibrant. "But I don't think he's forgiven himself for her death either."
"Hmm." Kid made a thoughtful sound. Heiji watched the thief, whose face had turned into a blank mask as Kid thought. Kid was younger than he expected, looking no older than either Kudo or himself.
Kid probably looked somewhat like Kudo too, to pull off that disguise so well. Heiji hadn't smelled any latex or the artificial scent of cosmetics when the Kid had pressed himself against him. He hadn't smelled like Kudo, but he hadn't smelled unpleasant either. Wasn't that bad looking either...
Heiji shifted slightly, his face heating up. Some detective he was, just -now- realising that he'd been hit on by a internationally wanted jewel thief!
A poke to the forehead startled him out of his thoughts. The Kid was crouched in front of him, one gloved hand hovering in-front of Heiji's face. "Oi." Kid drawled. "If you're tired, go to sleep. We'll talk later."
"Ah! Er..." From this close, no doubt about it, Kid really -did- look familiar to Kudo. Except Kudo never had that amused sparkle in his eye.
"Unless..." Kid leered. "You need some -help- getting to bed..."
"No." Heiji said quickly, back-pedalling. "That's quite all right. I can do it myself."
Kid grinned at him. "If you're sure."
Heiji nodded.
"Then I shall wish you a good night and pleasant dreams, Tantei-han." Kid rose, tipping his hat to Heiji as he stood up and walked towards the dojo's exit.
"Wait." Heiji frowned. Kid did so, his silhouette framed by the doorway, waiting for him. Heiji screwed his face up uncomfortably. "If I had agreed... would ya really have slept with me?"
Kid paused for a moment, neither his posture or his expression giving away any of his thoughts. "You're not bad looking... and you seem to care for Kudo a lot." Kid said quietly. "I thought... for a little while, it might be nice to pretend."
The thief smiled at him, but even without the shadows that masked the top half of Kid's face, Heiji could tell that the smile did not reach his eyes. "I hope you won't think too ill of me. That was the first time I've ever tried something like that."
Heiji wondered what Kid's life was like outside of the heists if he was willing to make that sort of risk.
"I don't think I can think ill of ya." Heiji chuckled to himself, hiding his eyes with a hand. "After all, I'm the same, aren't I?" Chasing after Kudo, without knowing what kind of reception he would get. At least Kid was actively trying, instead of just hovering around the edges and never pressing any questions.
"Not quite." Kid bowed, then with a flicker of his cape, the thief was gone into the night.
Heiji stared at the open door for a little while, trying to get his thoughts together, before getting up to close the door.
+++
"I saw the Kaitou Kid last night." Mine Sayaka commented the next morning over breakfast as she passed Heiji a bowl of rice. He usually didn't eat breakfast with the Mine family, but after last night's visit, he wanted the fortification of a good meal under his belt before dealing with Kudo.
He nodded his thanks as he took the bowl. Mine was nice, in a middle school girl sort of way. He'd say she was a normal girl if it wasn't for the company she kept.
Such as the jungle boy and the extremely large tiger sitting on her other side. And the vulture. And Gerozaemon, the large demon frog sitting at the table across from them. And the crazy old man who insisted that he was Miyamoto Musashi.
Heiji had challenged the old guy to a kendo match once. If the old guy said that he was Miyamoto Musashi, Heiji was not going to argue that point with him. He only made foolish mistakes like that once.
Okita had warned him to be careful of the jungle boy, Yaiba, as well. There were only a handful of people who could claim to have defeated Okita, and Yaiba was one of them.
Sayaka's grandmother laughed loudly. "And what was that old thief doing?"
"He was just flying." Sayaka shrugged innocently. "Guess he was heading home for the night."
"Ah~ Kid-sama~!!" Sayaka, Sakaya's Mother and Grandmother all sighed, dreamy expressions on their faces.
Heiji laughed quietly to himself. "It sounds like he's got fans here."
"The Kaitou Kid attempted to steal a sword from the Mine family a while back." Musashi gloated. "He didn't get it. Ka-ha-ha-ha!"
"We stopped him, Gero!" Gerozaemon agreed happily.
"Oh?" Heiji inquired, looking bored. Sometimes looking unimpressed was the fastest way for people to want to impress you.
The Mine Family fell for it hook, line and sinker. He spent the next hour being entertained by the story of the residents of the Mine Household versus the Kaitou Kid.
-It made for an amusing story to tell Kudo, when he spent the day over at his house.
+++
"Oh!" A voice startled Heiji out of sleep. "Black. I suppose that makes them easier to keep clean while travelling, huh?"
The Kid was kneeling over him, a smug grin on his face. The thief had managed to get the top button of Heiji's jeans undone, Heiji's shirt raised enough to show a stripe of belly. "Kid." Heiji growled, shoving him with one hand.
Kid laughed and rolled off of him. "Oh, good. You're awake."
Heiji sat up, glaring at him. "How long have ya been here?"
"A while." Kid shrugged. "I got bored, so entertained myself."
Heiji pulled his shirt down, patting his stomach. His fault for not getting changed into pyjamas before falling asleep, but Kudo had been in a sulking mood all day. "You do realise that pullin' stuff like that makes me less likely to want to sleep with ya."
"Exactly." The thief grinned happily.
"Then why do it?" One of Heiji's eyebrows rose.
"You're cute." Kid looked unrepentant. "And you're fun to tease."
"Thanks." Heiji said dryly. "Don't ya have anyone closer you can casually molest? I hear Nakamori-keibu's eager to get his hands on you. Or what about that British guy? Hakuba, isn't it?"
Kid's amused attitude slipped away, replaced by a strained uncomfortable silence on the thief's part. He recovered quickly, giving Heiji a smile that seemed wan in comparison. "You ever see Nakamori-keibu? I'm not getting anywhere -near- his underwear."
Interesting.
Heiji sighed, giving up on being irritated. "So what brings ya here tonight, Kid?"
Kid tilted his head slightly. "You going to be here tomorrow?"
"I can be." Heiji said carefully. "Why?"
"I know of a young lady who might be in need of assistance tomorrow night." Kid smiled, a ferocious hunter's expression. This grin did reach the thief's eyes, a look of malicious glee. "Hirota Masami wants to break free from the grasp of a mysterious organisation."
"Mysterious Organisation?" Kid had Heiji's full attention now.
"Tell me." Kid practically purred. "Does one the men you're looking for have long silver hair?"
"Yes." Heiji breathed. "You found them. You -found- them!" He laughed in giddy relief. Now maybe Kudo could move on.
"As the cliché goes, meet me at the docks, just after moon rise." Kid tipped his hat to Heiji. "I'll see you --and your cute black boxers-- there."
The thief disappeared in a small cloud of smoke and confetti.
Heiji laughed himself silly. He had to be the only detective he knew getting sexually harassed by the Kaitou Kid.
But if it got him closer to the people who killed Ran, he could deal with it.
Not that it was much of a hardship, really.
+++
"-Before that, my younger sister! You made a promise! You said you'd let me and my sister out of the organisation when the job was over... If you bring her here, I'll tell you where the money is."
The woman's defiant voice echoed throughout the docks as Heiji and Kudo crept forward. Kudo was tightly strung, his eyes glinting with a strange hunger.
"Heh. That's not possible. She's one of the top brains in our organisation." Kudo flinched at the sound of the gravely voice that overrode the sound of the woman's exclamation. "Unlike you, she's an indispensable member."
"From the beginning, you..."
They peered over the crates, trying to get a good look at the speakers. A tall man man in a black trench coat and fedora was pulling a gun out. "This is your last chance." He growled. "Tell me where the money is."
"Is that him?" Heiji hissed. It looked like there was a second man beside the first one, a short man with a very square jaw.
"You're naive." The woman smirked. "If you kill me, you'll never know."
"You're the naive one. Our guesses are getting close to the mark." The man smirked back.
"That's him." Kudo growled, body coiled and ready to spring. Heiji flipped open his mobile phone and hit a button, signalling the waiting police that they'd found their men.
"I told you once, didn't I?" The silver haired man said. "That was your last chance."
A gunshot rang out.
"NO!" Kudo was up over the crate before Heiji could even throw an arm out to stop him. The men in black heard the shout and startled, turning to run away. Heiji followed Kudo, running towards the woman who was falling to her knees with a stunned expression.
Kudo knelt next to her. "Are you all right?" He demanded, helping her sit up.
The woman was breathing hard, a rattling gasp coming from her lungs. "I'm callin' an ambulance." Heiji announced, pulling out the phone and hitting a few buttons.
"Good." Kudo handed the bleeding woman to Heiji and took off running after the men in black. Heiji stared for a moment, watching him go. He'd forgotten that Kudo had been on the soccer team. Damn that guy could run fast.
"The police should be here momentarily." He assured the woman, shaking off his awe of Kudo. "Hang in there."
"Ha." She smiled at him, wheezing. "So... how was my acting Tantei-han?"
"Ehhh?" He blinked, pausing in his dailing. 'She' winked at him. "Kid?"
"Miyano-san." Kid called, sitting up on his own power and pulling a spent blood pack out of his blouse. "You can come out now."
The mirror image of the same woman he'd just been holding stepped out from behind some other crates. "Hirota Masami, meet Hattori Heiji, Tantei-han." Kid said cheerfully, wiping the fake blood from his mouth. "Hattori-han, meet Hirota Masami, also known as Miyano Akemi. The men in black are holding her sister hostage."
"It is my honour to meet you." She bowed to him.
"Miyano-san." Kid reached a hand out to her, which she took. "If you'd kindly change places with me."
Miyano blushed slightly as the Kid rose and she sat down next to Heiji. Kid decorated her blouse with the remains of the blood pack. Heiji twitched, hearing the sound of police finally moving in in the background.
"I trust my debt to you is paid now?" Kid bowed with a grin and Heiji could just -see- the invisible cape swish.
"Ahou." He glared back. "I told ya, there was no debt."
"Not anymore, at least." Kid agreed cheerfully. "I'll see you around, Tantei-han. Good luck, Miyano-san."
And with that, the Kid was gone.
"He's insisted on trading places after his bullet-proof vest wouldn't fit me" Miyano commented, leaning against Heiji with a shy smile. "He's quite the character, isn't he?"
"That he is." Heiji agreed, putting his arm around her, like he had done for the Kid. The police, lead by Megure-keibu charged into the area. "That he is."
+++
Heiji couldn't sleep. Usually that was a bad thing, too many thoughts stirring around in his head. But tonight, that was a good thing.
They'd caught the bad guys. And Kudo had finally let himself go and grieved. He could see now what Kid meant by if Kudo had really grieved for her death. No doubt about it, Kudo had been in mourning, but he hadn't been able to let her go.
Tonight, it looked like he had. Now maybe he could start to move on with his life. There'd be scars, as Kid had said, that would twinge occasionally and Heiji doubted Kudo would ever be the person he once was, but that was also part of life and growing up.
They all had their own scars.
"So you're sleeping here now, eh?" Kid's voice was startling close and Heiji jumped. The thief was stretched out on the bed next to him and Heiji hadn't even felt the bedsprings move. "No more late nights at the Mine Household?"
"No." He admitted once his heart started beating again normally. "Kudo's lettin' me spend the night." In a spare bedroom, of course, but it was better than not being allowed any where close to Kudo at all.
"Good." Kid looked grinned, his hat tilted over his monocle. "You do realise this makes you the rebound boy and those relationships never last."
"At least it'll be a relationship." Heiji grumbled, laying back down. "Miyano says thank you, by the way. The police have her under Witness Protection, only a few know she's alive because they're worried about spies in their own ranks. Gin and Vodka, those are the names of the guys in black, are dead."
Kid's grin faded. "Dead?"
"Poison capsules in their teeth. They killed themselves on the way to the station." Heiji sighed. He didn't like it when criminals suicided on him without him being able to do anything. It was almost like he'd failed as a detective, on bringing them in. "But if Miyano co-operated with the police any more than she is, she'd be singin' show tunes. Turns out she was one of the masked men in a recent robbery. In exchange for any information on the men in black and the stolen one billion yen, they're dismissin' the charges since she was doin' it under duress."
"I hope they get her sister out." Kid said wistfully.
"We will." Heiji assured him. Now that Kudo was back up and running. "You'll see. And then we'll catch you too."
Kid grinned back. "Ha."
Heiji shoved him. "Eh, go heckle your British detective. Some advice though? Find out what colour his underpants are -after- the first kiss."
"Eh? I'm not... we're not... he's not..." Kid sat up, glaring at him. "You are a cruel cruel man, Hattori Heiji. It's enough to make me think you don't love me any more."
"Ahou. I never loved ya in the first place." Heiji grinned back.
"True." Kid leaned over and kissed his cheek in an affectionate gesture "Such a pity. Well, if things with Kudo fall out, give me a call. See you around, Tantei-han."
The Kid was gone in a cloud of smoke and sparkles which littered the bed. Heiji chuckled to himself, laying back down. He'd find some way of explaining the sparkles later.
"Good luck to you too."
-fin-
*head desk*
The original plunnie was for the Harlequinn challenge on MC1T, a sorta love triangle, Shin'ichi chasing Kid, Heiji as Shin'ichi's best friend who has a crush on Shin'ichi, and Kid chasing after Heiji. Classic romance triangle, yaoi style.
... and somehow, really, the only thing that carried through was Kid casually molesting Heiji. *head desk* *head desk* *head desk*
So it really turned into more of an excerise in how Shin'ichi would react to loosing Ran, cause so much of his life is wrapped up in her. So Anti-ShinRan in the extent that, dude, we killed Ran.
Voices like to comment that if we/someone wanted to be -really- cruel to Heiji, have a sequel with Shin'ichi and Akemi being involved. ^^;; *laughs*
-no, seriously. That's what I was told. I'm also not to eat lunch on the couch in the office that he had commented would be the perfect place to eat lunch when we moved it in there.
... I don't think I'll be looking to stay on with this group once my contract is up in a couple of weeks. They're too -mundane-.
And on Saterday,
wootduosmaster tried to light my sketchbook on fire during the feast. Since the choice was between accidently setting my hair on fire or accidently setting my sketchbook on fire, I applaud him. ... but still. Sketchbook on Fire. Bad. Fortunately none of the pages were seriously burnt although one has wax and scorch marks. We're still teasing him tho. ^__________^
So, that's the interesting things in my life. *snerks*
*head desk* *head desk*
And now for something completely different, anti-ShinRan.
Warnings for Character Death, Kid/Heiji and Heiji/Kudo pairing.
++++
Exit Wounds
By Icka! M. Chif
"Aw, shit." Heiji ducked behind the wall bullets flew past him, as a few striking the wall itself, sending shards into the air. "WHO THE HELL IS FIRIN'?!" He roared, rising to peek around the corner, only to see a few shadowy figures slink away. A few dark ones in the alley to his right and a pale blur slinking away in the alley across from him.
He made a split second decision, following after the dark ones instead of the pale one that was their objective for the night. Lethal force had not been authorised for tonight's mission, therefore anybody attempting to steal someone's life instead of their shiny baubles were probably the people who they were ultimately trying to catch.
"Dammit!" he yelped, diving behind some metal waste containers as another bullet hit the wall above his head. Oh, yeah. Definitely the bad guys here.
Unfortunately, that was the last trace of them he saw, the shouts of the police drawing him away from the alleys and up onto the rooftops.
He found Kudo standing on the roof, watching a white shadow fly away into the night, out of reach of both police and teenage detectives.
"He got away." Kudo said with the intense cold fire of someone who has felt too much and has been left as nothing more than a hollow vessel in its wake.
Heiji flinched, staring sadly at Kudo's back. He'd hoped tonight's escapade might have distracted Kudo from that emptiness. It had, for a while at least. But not for long. Never for long.
"Yeah." He agreed, putting a hand on Kudo's shoulder. The other detective didn't flinch, but neither did he lean into it or acknowledge the contact. Even though Heiji had been expecting the lack of reaction, it still stung a bit. "C'mon. Time to head home."
Not that Kudo at his house would be much better, but it was better than hanging around here. Cause as much as Kudo wanted the guys with the guns, he was just as likely to do something stupid and get killed by them too.
And Heiji had the sneaking suspicion that was exactly what Kudo was looking for.
+++
Kudo wouldn't let Heiji spend the night in his huge house, he wanted to be left alone with his memories and grieve in his own way. So Heiji crashed in the dojo of an old friend of his mother's. The Mine family had given him a key to the front doors and told him where the bathing room and the toilets were. He had a small shelf tucked away in the dojo to keep a sleeping mat and blankets, as well as a few spare clothes just in case.
He was invited to meals as well, but he generally chose to eat out or at Kudo's place instead, to make sure the other guy ate.
But the compound was quiet, and really, that's all Heiji wanted at the moment. The Mine clan left him alone for the most part and he was grateful for it.
So when the dojo doors slid open, a tall, thin figure slipping inside, he was a bit startled.
"Kudo." He blinked in surprise at the other detective, tossing off the duvet and scrambling to his feet. "Everythin' okay? What brings you here?"
Of course Kudo knew where he was; he made damn sure of that, just like he made damn sure that his cellphone had a good battery charge and was left on while he slept, just in case Kudo needed anything. Kudo never did, but he still made sure, just in case.
"Everything's fine." Kudo replied quietly, tilting his head slightly to the side as he stepped inside Heiji's personal space. Confused, Heiji backed up a step. "Why? Aren't you glad to see me?"
No, he had no complaints about seeing Kudo, quite the opposite really. He liked Kudo and Kudo's company, even if Kudo was a sourpuss a great deal of the time. But...
As Kudo leaned closer, his nose brushing Heiji's, it clicked. "You're not Kudo." He grabbed the other person by the upper arms, holding them there.
Violet eyes, not blue, sparkled at him mischievously. "I could be, for tonight."
"No." Not that the offer wasn't tempting, it was flattering in a strange way. But if he ever did sleep with Kudo, he wanted -Kudo-, not just a fantasy in the night.
And there was only one person he knew that could impersonate someone like that. "What are you doin' here, Kid-han?"
"What gave me away?" Kid's voice changed, becoming huskier than Kudo's as the thief twisted in his grip so that they were no longer face to face. The Kid just seemed to -melt- against him, the back of the thief's head resting against one of Heiji's shoulders.
"You don't smell like him." And Kudo wasn't that friendly. To anyone. At least, not any more.
"Hmm..." Kid nodded thoughtfully. "Next time I'll have to steal his deodorant. Possibly his after-shave as well. Do you know what kind he uses?"
"No." Heiji growled. 'Next time'?! "And what are you doin' here? Pretendin' to be Kudo?"
"You saved me earlier." Kid shrugged, apparently perfectly at ease. "So I owe you one."
The Kaitou Kid -had- been in the alley across from him then. But Heiji had gone after the men with guns instead, drawing their fire away from the Kid and ultimately allowing the thief to escape.
"You owe me nothin'." He released the Kid, giving him a slight shove away. Not enough to knock the thief over, but enough to give him some breathing room. Murders took precedence over robberies, that was all. "Or if you wanna repay some sort of debt, help Kudo."
He got a curious look in response to that. "What exactly does Kudo need help with?" Kid asked, his voice deceptively quiet.
Heiji sighed, sitting down on his futon and waving Kid to take a seat as well. "I'll tell ya... but couldja change outta that in the mean time? It's kinda distractin..."
Kid didn't move as far as he could see but a cloud of smoke covered him for a second or two, leaving the thief in his trademark white clothes. Kid sat crosslegged on the floor, waving an elegant white gloved hand in silent entreaty for Heiji to start his story.
"Thanks..." Heiji scratched the back of his neck, trying to find the best place to start. "Um. Dunno how much you know about Kudo... but he grew up with the daughter of a friend of his Mom, named Ran. Mouri Ran. About six months back, Kudo took Ran to a local amusement park, 'Tropical Land' to celebrate her winnin' the City Karate Tournament."
Kid let out a low whistle. "Impressive, for a high schooler."
"Yup." Heiji gave Kid a brief grin. "But long story short... A murder happened on a ride they were on, Kudo solved it, then saw some suspicious lookin' men in black sneakin' off. So he followed them. One of them knocked him silly with a board. He says they tried shovin' some sort of poison down his throat, which is when Ran showed up...."
He trailed off, looking down at the tatami mats. "They didn't bother tryin' to poison her, they just shot her, leavin' her for dead. She landed on top of him, the force of it causin' him to cough up the poison... or so Kudo theorised, he was unconscious by the time she arrived... but she bled to death on top of him."
"And he's been trying to track the men who did it down ever since." Kid filled in.
"Yeah." Heiji swallowed. Ran sounded like Kazuha in a lot of ways. Which is why he didn't bring her along on these trips of his to visit Kudo. "I met him about a month afterwards... I'd been hearin' about 'The Detective of the East' for a while, I'm the 'Detective of the West', and figured it was time to meet the guy. And... I got Kudo."
He'd -hurt- upon meeting Kudo. He couldn't just walk away, couldn't leave the other guy like this. So he'd been making trips to Beika when ever possible, trying to help find the men who had done this, to try to help fix Kudo. Kazuha said he was nuts, that he was going to turn as crazily obsessive as Kudo if he kept this up, and maybe she was right.... but he couldn't -not- help.
"Last week Ran's father, a not-so great private eye, went missin'. We think he may have gotten too close to the guys who killed his daughter. We just got some information that you had some connections to the guys in black, which is why we were chasin' you today." He looked up at the thief, who was watching him with a placid expression. "Which brings ya pretty much up to date."
"Ah." Kid nodded sagely. "Your information is correct... yet not correct."
"Oh?" Heiji raised an eyebrow as the thief pulled a knee up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his bent leg.
"The organisation you seek took someone from me as well." Kid confessed, his voice strangely neutral, as if he were talking about the weather instead of something deeply personal. "They're trying to kill me currently, to prevent me from finding something they seek before they do."
That single sentence revealed more about the thief's motivations than the police knew after almost two decades of chasing the elusive thief. Not that Heiji would be able to -use- that information to the police's advantage.
"I'm sorry." He said instead. A flicker of surprise flashed across the the thief's face before melting into a smile.
"It was a long time ago. And as they say, 'time heals all wounds.' " Kid waved it off. "They just never mention that the scars still twinge occasionally. Then there are the wounds that time can't heal. Those fester and rot instead. In which case, they say 'death is the great equaliser'."
"You're talkin' about Kudo." Heiji said grimly. He'd worked on a lot of cases, some of them involving people he knew. The Kid had a point; Kudo wasn't healing at all from Ran's death, the opposite was happening.
Kudo was rotting inside, slowly dying. With gunshots, entrance wounds were sometimes small, easily overlooked. But the exit wounds were huge.
Kid looked sympathetic. "He's never grieved for her death, has he?"
"I don't think he's -stopped- grievin'." Heiji replied bitterly. It seemed that all Kudo did was grieve, leaving behind the shell of someone whom he'd heard of as vibrant. "But I don't think he's forgiven himself for her death either."
"Hmm." Kid made a thoughtful sound. Heiji watched the thief, whose face had turned into a blank mask as Kid thought. Kid was younger than he expected, looking no older than either Kudo or himself.
Kid probably looked somewhat like Kudo too, to pull off that disguise so well. Heiji hadn't smelled any latex or the artificial scent of cosmetics when the Kid had pressed himself against him. He hadn't smelled like Kudo, but he hadn't smelled unpleasant either. Wasn't that bad looking either...
Heiji shifted slightly, his face heating up. Some detective he was, just -now- realising that he'd been hit on by a internationally wanted jewel thief!
A poke to the forehead startled him out of his thoughts. The Kid was crouched in front of him, one gloved hand hovering in-front of Heiji's face. "Oi." Kid drawled. "If you're tired, go to sleep. We'll talk later."
"Ah! Er..." From this close, no doubt about it, Kid really -did- look familiar to Kudo. Except Kudo never had that amused sparkle in his eye.
"Unless..." Kid leered. "You need some -help- getting to bed..."
"No." Heiji said quickly, back-pedalling. "That's quite all right. I can do it myself."
Kid grinned at him. "If you're sure."
Heiji nodded.
"Then I shall wish you a good night and pleasant dreams, Tantei-han." Kid rose, tipping his hat to Heiji as he stood up and walked towards the dojo's exit.
"Wait." Heiji frowned. Kid did so, his silhouette framed by the doorway, waiting for him. Heiji screwed his face up uncomfortably. "If I had agreed... would ya really have slept with me?"
Kid paused for a moment, neither his posture or his expression giving away any of his thoughts. "You're not bad looking... and you seem to care for Kudo a lot." Kid said quietly. "I thought... for a little while, it might be nice to pretend."
The thief smiled at him, but even without the shadows that masked the top half of Kid's face, Heiji could tell that the smile did not reach his eyes. "I hope you won't think too ill of me. That was the first time I've ever tried something like that."
Heiji wondered what Kid's life was like outside of the heists if he was willing to make that sort of risk.
"I don't think I can think ill of ya." Heiji chuckled to himself, hiding his eyes with a hand. "After all, I'm the same, aren't I?" Chasing after Kudo, without knowing what kind of reception he would get. At least Kid was actively trying, instead of just hovering around the edges and never pressing any questions.
"Not quite." Kid bowed, then with a flicker of his cape, the thief was gone into the night.
Heiji stared at the open door for a little while, trying to get his thoughts together, before getting up to close the door.
+++
"I saw the Kaitou Kid last night." Mine Sayaka commented the next morning over breakfast as she passed Heiji a bowl of rice. He usually didn't eat breakfast with the Mine family, but after last night's visit, he wanted the fortification of a good meal under his belt before dealing with Kudo.
He nodded his thanks as he took the bowl. Mine was nice, in a middle school girl sort of way. He'd say she was a normal girl if it wasn't for the company she kept.
Such as the jungle boy and the extremely large tiger sitting on her other side. And the vulture. And Gerozaemon, the large demon frog sitting at the table across from them. And the crazy old man who insisted that he was Miyamoto Musashi.
Heiji had challenged the old guy to a kendo match once. If the old guy said that he was Miyamoto Musashi, Heiji was not going to argue that point with him. He only made foolish mistakes like that once.
Okita had warned him to be careful of the jungle boy, Yaiba, as well. There were only a handful of people who could claim to have defeated Okita, and Yaiba was one of them.
Sayaka's grandmother laughed loudly. "And what was that old thief doing?"
"He was just flying." Sayaka shrugged innocently. "Guess he was heading home for the night."
"Ah~ Kid-sama~!!" Sayaka, Sakaya's Mother and Grandmother all sighed, dreamy expressions on their faces.
Heiji laughed quietly to himself. "It sounds like he's got fans here."
"The Kaitou Kid attempted to steal a sword from the Mine family a while back." Musashi gloated. "He didn't get it. Ka-ha-ha-ha!"
"We stopped him, Gero!" Gerozaemon agreed happily.
"Oh?" Heiji inquired, looking bored. Sometimes looking unimpressed was the fastest way for people to want to impress you.
The Mine Family fell for it hook, line and sinker. He spent the next hour being entertained by the story of the residents of the Mine Household versus the Kaitou Kid.
-It made for an amusing story to tell Kudo, when he spent the day over at his house.
+++
"Oh!" A voice startled Heiji out of sleep. "Black. I suppose that makes them easier to keep clean while travelling, huh?"
The Kid was kneeling over him, a smug grin on his face. The thief had managed to get the top button of Heiji's jeans undone, Heiji's shirt raised enough to show a stripe of belly. "Kid." Heiji growled, shoving him with one hand.
Kid laughed and rolled off of him. "Oh, good. You're awake."
Heiji sat up, glaring at him. "How long have ya been here?"
"A while." Kid shrugged. "I got bored, so entertained myself."
Heiji pulled his shirt down, patting his stomach. His fault for not getting changed into pyjamas before falling asleep, but Kudo had been in a sulking mood all day. "You do realise that pullin' stuff like that makes me less likely to want to sleep with ya."
"Exactly." The thief grinned happily.
"Then why do it?" One of Heiji's eyebrows rose.
"You're cute." Kid looked unrepentant. "And you're fun to tease."
"Thanks." Heiji said dryly. "Don't ya have anyone closer you can casually molest? I hear Nakamori-keibu's eager to get his hands on you. Or what about that British guy? Hakuba, isn't it?"
Kid's amused attitude slipped away, replaced by a strained uncomfortable silence on the thief's part. He recovered quickly, giving Heiji a smile that seemed wan in comparison. "You ever see Nakamori-keibu? I'm not getting anywhere -near- his underwear."
Interesting.
Heiji sighed, giving up on being irritated. "So what brings ya here tonight, Kid?"
Kid tilted his head slightly. "You going to be here tomorrow?"
"I can be." Heiji said carefully. "Why?"
"I know of a young lady who might be in need of assistance tomorrow night." Kid smiled, a ferocious hunter's expression. This grin did reach the thief's eyes, a look of malicious glee. "Hirota Masami wants to break free from the grasp of a mysterious organisation."
"Mysterious Organisation?" Kid had Heiji's full attention now.
"Tell me." Kid practically purred. "Does one the men you're looking for have long silver hair?"
"Yes." Heiji breathed. "You found them. You -found- them!" He laughed in giddy relief. Now maybe Kudo could move on.
"As the cliché goes, meet me at the docks, just after moon rise." Kid tipped his hat to Heiji. "I'll see you --and your cute black boxers-- there."
The thief disappeared in a small cloud of smoke and confetti.
Heiji laughed himself silly. He had to be the only detective he knew getting sexually harassed by the Kaitou Kid.
But if it got him closer to the people who killed Ran, he could deal with it.
Not that it was much of a hardship, really.
+++
"-Before that, my younger sister! You made a promise! You said you'd let me and my sister out of the organisation when the job was over... If you bring her here, I'll tell you where the money is."
The woman's defiant voice echoed throughout the docks as Heiji and Kudo crept forward. Kudo was tightly strung, his eyes glinting with a strange hunger.
"Heh. That's not possible. She's one of the top brains in our organisation." Kudo flinched at the sound of the gravely voice that overrode the sound of the woman's exclamation. "Unlike you, she's an indispensable member."
"From the beginning, you..."
They peered over the crates, trying to get a good look at the speakers. A tall man man in a black trench coat and fedora was pulling a gun out. "This is your last chance." He growled. "Tell me where the money is."
"Is that him?" Heiji hissed. It looked like there was a second man beside the first one, a short man with a very square jaw.
"You're naive." The woman smirked. "If you kill me, you'll never know."
"You're the naive one. Our guesses are getting close to the mark." The man smirked back.
"That's him." Kudo growled, body coiled and ready to spring. Heiji flipped open his mobile phone and hit a button, signalling the waiting police that they'd found their men.
"I told you once, didn't I?" The silver haired man said. "That was your last chance."
A gunshot rang out.
"NO!" Kudo was up over the crate before Heiji could even throw an arm out to stop him. The men in black heard the shout and startled, turning to run away. Heiji followed Kudo, running towards the woman who was falling to her knees with a stunned expression.
Kudo knelt next to her. "Are you all right?" He demanded, helping her sit up.
The woman was breathing hard, a rattling gasp coming from her lungs. "I'm callin' an ambulance." Heiji announced, pulling out the phone and hitting a few buttons.
"Good." Kudo handed the bleeding woman to Heiji and took off running after the men in black. Heiji stared for a moment, watching him go. He'd forgotten that Kudo had been on the soccer team. Damn that guy could run fast.
"The police should be here momentarily." He assured the woman, shaking off his awe of Kudo. "Hang in there."
"Ha." She smiled at him, wheezing. "So... how was my acting Tantei-han?"
"Ehhh?" He blinked, pausing in his dailing. 'She' winked at him. "Kid?"
"Miyano-san." Kid called, sitting up on his own power and pulling a spent blood pack out of his blouse. "You can come out now."
The mirror image of the same woman he'd just been holding stepped out from behind some other crates. "Hirota Masami, meet Hattori Heiji, Tantei-han." Kid said cheerfully, wiping the fake blood from his mouth. "Hattori-han, meet Hirota Masami, also known as Miyano Akemi. The men in black are holding her sister hostage."
"It is my honour to meet you." She bowed to him.
"Miyano-san." Kid reached a hand out to her, which she took. "If you'd kindly change places with me."
Miyano blushed slightly as the Kid rose and she sat down next to Heiji. Kid decorated her blouse with the remains of the blood pack. Heiji twitched, hearing the sound of police finally moving in in the background.
"I trust my debt to you is paid now?" Kid bowed with a grin and Heiji could just -see- the invisible cape swish.
"Ahou." He glared back. "I told ya, there was no debt."
"Not anymore, at least." Kid agreed cheerfully. "I'll see you around, Tantei-han. Good luck, Miyano-san."
And with that, the Kid was gone.
"He's insisted on trading places after his bullet-proof vest wouldn't fit me" Miyano commented, leaning against Heiji with a shy smile. "He's quite the character, isn't he?"
"That he is." Heiji agreed, putting his arm around her, like he had done for the Kid. The police, lead by Megure-keibu charged into the area. "That he is."
+++
Heiji couldn't sleep. Usually that was a bad thing, too many thoughts stirring around in his head. But tonight, that was a good thing.
They'd caught the bad guys. And Kudo had finally let himself go and grieved. He could see now what Kid meant by if Kudo had really grieved for her death. No doubt about it, Kudo had been in mourning, but he hadn't been able to let her go.
Tonight, it looked like he had. Now maybe he could start to move on with his life. There'd be scars, as Kid had said, that would twinge occasionally and Heiji doubted Kudo would ever be the person he once was, but that was also part of life and growing up.
They all had their own scars.
"So you're sleeping here now, eh?" Kid's voice was startling close and Heiji jumped. The thief was stretched out on the bed next to him and Heiji hadn't even felt the bedsprings move. "No more late nights at the Mine Household?"
"No." He admitted once his heart started beating again normally. "Kudo's lettin' me spend the night." In a spare bedroom, of course, but it was better than not being allowed any where close to Kudo at all.
"Good." Kid looked grinned, his hat tilted over his monocle. "You do realise this makes you the rebound boy and those relationships never last."
"At least it'll be a relationship." Heiji grumbled, laying back down. "Miyano says thank you, by the way. The police have her under Witness Protection, only a few know she's alive because they're worried about spies in their own ranks. Gin and Vodka, those are the names of the guys in black, are dead."
Kid's grin faded. "Dead?"
"Poison capsules in their teeth. They killed themselves on the way to the station." Heiji sighed. He didn't like it when criminals suicided on him without him being able to do anything. It was almost like he'd failed as a detective, on bringing them in. "But if Miyano co-operated with the police any more than she is, she'd be singin' show tunes. Turns out she was one of the masked men in a recent robbery. In exchange for any information on the men in black and the stolen one billion yen, they're dismissin' the charges since she was doin' it under duress."
"I hope they get her sister out." Kid said wistfully.
"We will." Heiji assured him. Now that Kudo was back up and running. "You'll see. And then we'll catch you too."
Kid grinned back. "Ha."
Heiji shoved him. "Eh, go heckle your British detective. Some advice though? Find out what colour his underpants are -after- the first kiss."
"Eh? I'm not... we're not... he's not..." Kid sat up, glaring at him. "You are a cruel cruel man, Hattori Heiji. It's enough to make me think you don't love me any more."
"Ahou. I never loved ya in the first place." Heiji grinned back.
"True." Kid leaned over and kissed his cheek in an affectionate gesture "Such a pity. Well, if things with Kudo fall out, give me a call. See you around, Tantei-han."
The Kid was gone in a cloud of smoke and sparkles which littered the bed. Heiji chuckled to himself, laying back down. He'd find some way of explaining the sparkles later.
"Good luck to you too."
-fin-
*head desk*
The original plunnie was for the Harlequinn challenge on MC1T, a sorta love triangle, Shin'ichi chasing Kid, Heiji as Shin'ichi's best friend who has a crush on Shin'ichi, and Kid chasing after Heiji. Classic romance triangle, yaoi style.
... and somehow, really, the only thing that carried through was Kid casually molesting Heiji. *head desk* *head desk* *head desk*
So it really turned into more of an excerise in how Shin'ichi would react to loosing Ran, cause so much of his life is wrapped up in her. So Anti-ShinRan in the extent that, dude, we killed Ran.
Voices like to comment that if we/someone wanted to be -really- cruel to Heiji, have a sequel with Shin'ichi and Akemi being involved. ^^;; *laughs*
