Xialdon: Important! For those of you who have not yet watched episode 219 of Detective Conan, I suggest you do before reading this otherwise it won't make much sense. For those of you that have, this takes place directly after Kid leaps off of the Clock Tower and glides down using the projector screen. This chapter is on Kid's and Shinichi's thoughts and is AU from the beginning. This is a what if story. As in; what if Shinichi attended more heists as himself before he became Conan?

Chapter One: Aftermath

The sheet writhed and coiled about him as though it had a life of it own, the white expanse of material twisting madly to free itself from hands clad in gloves of the same colour. Reflexes caused him to momentarily tighten his grip on the billowing cloth before common sense kicked in and his hands unclasped, allowing the sheet to become caught by the wind and rear up above him like some kind of phantom.

Phantom. His lips twitched up into an amused grin at the irony of the thought, even as his brain kicked back into gear and reminded him on the need to remove his costume and don a new disguise. It didn't take him long to resemble one of the panicking people around him as they attempted to claw and shove their way out from underneath the screen. He felt mildly guilty about the way people were scrambling about in their panic- knowing that he was the one to cause that panic.

He was, after all, the one that had used the sheet that the image of the clock face was being projected on to make his escape into the watching crowd below. To be fair, there hadn't been much choice. The new arrival in the helicopter had made sure of that, successfully managing to block off all of his other escape routes with seemingly little effort, until his only escape left had been to cling to the underside of the sheet as it swept down towards the shocked crowd, and hope desperately that it would be able to support his weight.

Kid shook his head, dispelling the thoughts from his mind as he did so. That was all in the past. Admittedly in the very, very recent past (roughly about two minutes ago), but in the past nonetheless.

With the rest of the crowd, the elusive phantom thief managed to push his way out from underneath the expanse of cloth and began to make his way stealthily through the gathering of confused people as they all tried to locate him.

Too bad that they were all looking for a gentleman thief clad in a pristine white suit. You would think- what with his reputation of switching disguises and personae in the blink of an eye, that they would be looking with suspicion at anyone who was emerging from underneath the sheet.

But as this wasn't the case, the grinning teen-aged magician slipped his way over to a clump of trees that grew on the edge of the town square. From within the safety of the trees' shadows,he finally allowed himself a moments rest, and for everything to catch up with him.

It was the breathlessness that hit first.

Kid drew in a sharp breath of air and released it just as quickly. He wouldn't say he was panting- phantom thief's (especially him) did not pant! But nonetheless he felt a strong need for air, no doubt caused by the sense of euphoria that was building up in his chest.

That had been his most thrilling heist ever!

Even now he could feel the fire that was adrenaline burning through his body- he wouldn't be surprised if there was more of that adrenaline than there was blood in his veins at the moment. And as though the adrenaline was really real fire, a spark was alight in his eyes that made violet orbs practically luminescent against the night sky.

Whoever was in the helicopter had just provided him with his best challenge yet. Had just laid to waste all of his carefully made plans, and for the firs time in a very long time, had forced him to think of his feet. And even then, whilst he was making up escape plans off the top of his head they had been with him every step of the way.

Hell, he hadn't known he was going to use the ventilation shaft in the bathroom to reach the clock face, until he had seen the bathroom door looming ahead and had formed the plan quickly in his mind. Yet it was as though the person in the helicopter was right there beside him the whole while- even more than that it was like the person in the helicopter was privy to his thoughts. As though he could read deeply and understand even the most inner workings of Kid.

This being said of course, because it was mere minutes later when he had been joined in the ventilation shaft by some of Nakamori-keibu's men. And once more he had been forced to come up with a quick emergency plan.

Whoever was in the helicopter was good. Very good. And Kid was still reeling from their brief encounter on the clock tower. That single moment when he had been hanging from the clock's hands and the detective had been so close in that helicopter. So close and yet so far away.

Kid still had no clue as to the identity of his mysterious new rival. The helicopter may have been close, but it was never close enough to see the detective's face- and as of yet no one had bothered to mention his name during the brief few times Kid had been able to listen in on the police radio frequency.

It was infuriating having such a good new rival and yet having no clue as to what their name was, or even an image to go by so that a quick internet search would sate his curiosity. He supposed it didn't overly matter- the media would no likely have the identity of his mysterious pursuer splashed across every available source tomorrow. Also there would no doubt be a revelation at the end when the helicopter landed and the detective stepped out to act superior in front of the television cameras, still it was the principle of the thing that mattered- he had wanted to find out who it was from his own resources.

A light shined in his eyes. He immediately squinted them against the glare, and raised a hand to act as a barrier over the top of his eyes. Speak of the devil. It was the helicopter that contained his promising new rival, the sleek metal body of the transportation reflecting the light of the full moon into his eyes.

The helicopter seemed to be circling slightly lower- was it going to land now then? He strained his eyes harder, this time on the ground, looking for a spot that might have been cleared for the landing. There wasn't one. And even as he watched, the helicopter circled once more and then pulled back up to a more normal height.

The person inside had made a quick sweep of the area to see if they could try to spot Kid then. He didn't blame them, but he couldn't help but grin at the futile effort.

The helicopter flashed in the moonlight as it made an abrupt U-turn, the metal gleaming and sparkling as the helicopter came to a near stationary hover once more. The searchlight it was equipped with began to erratically swing from side to side, the yellow glow isolating people in the crowd and then moving on just as quickly.

Kid saw it land on a young girl standing not to far from him. It was only briefly on her, already swinging away again by the time he registered who it was. The wild mane of brown hair being the most prominent give away and with a jolt he remembered the real reason he had planned this heist. Now that he had saved the Clock Tower from being demolished, he had to carry out the rest of the operation.

Operation: Cheer Aoko up!

The disguise he had donned became useless now, as did Kid's persona. In a flash both had disappeared. And in the elusive thief's place stood Kaito, teenage magician and prankster extraordinare. No more gentleman like tendencies, now it was just acting like any other magic- loving teenager.

Kaito crossed the distance to Aoko with a bounce in his step and a grin fixed firmly in place. It was with an exasperated look once he reached her that he realised that she was trapped inside her own thoughts. And with a roll of his eyes he settled to waiting for her to return from la-la land.

Becoming slightly impatient, Kaito decides to jump the gun and with a grin on his face, extends his arm until his closed hand is in front of her face. She blinks and turns to look at him in shock as he makes a rose appear in his hand.

"Here. I'm Kuroba Kaito, nice to meet you!"

"K- Kaito!" Aoko shrieks and he winces slightly at the volume, but continued grinning despite it. With a face-splitting grin of her own she carefully takes the rose from his hand and cradles it gently in her own. Staring down at the red petals in wonder before returning her attention to him "You! I thought you weren't coming! Thought you were watching some silly magic show on TV at home!"

"Magic shows aren't silly!" Kaito was quick to jump to the defence of his father's lifetime work, and hopefully his own "And I came because I thought you would want me to! I wouldn't have bothered if I knew you'd start being rude about magic!"

Aoko rolled her eyes at him "Magic shows are silly! But not as silly as that stupid thief!" Her playful tone was lost, giving way to her uncontrollable anger that was directed towards Kid "I thought for sure he was going to be able to take the Clock Tower! If it hadn't been for whoever is in that helicopter-" she motioned with her hand to where the helicopter was still pivoting over their heads "- then he may have gotten away with it."

Kaito would have normally jumped to Kid's defence, battling any of her derogatory comments with ones that exclaimed how brilliant the magician thief was. But his gaze was caught and locked on the helicopter that Aoko had gestured to. Inside sat his greatest rival to date, undoubtedly keen eyes were probably scanning the crowd for any signs of Kid as they spoke, or else were busy scanning over the code he had left behind.

The helicopter gradually grew stationary again. The blades whirring consistently to keep it hovering motionless in the air. Then the metal vehicle spun around to face away from the Clock Tower and put on a burst of speed.

Kaito felt his eyes become wide and his mouth open slightly in surprise, watching as the helicopter quickly gained speed as it travelled towards the horizon.

It was leaving.

It was leaving. Moving away from them, from the Clock Tower, from the media! It was leaving to go back to whatever police station it came from and there had been no revelation. No cocky detective stepping out and proudly boasting about how he had almost caught Kid. There was nothing.

Kaito was shocked at the level of disappointment that hit him. But it was a shock, that the detective who had nearly outwitted him was just leaving. After all of that. After the utter thrill of a challenge that the other had provided him with, and he didn't even get to find out who this other was. After all that and his greatest rival to date was going to remain a mystery.

And maybe he was being over dramatic. He did have enough know how about a computer to access any data banks he wanted and see who the police had recorded to be in that helicopter at the time. And it was pretty much guaranteed that the media would have it all over the news and printed in the newspapers tomorrow. But that was just it. Both those acts would have to happen tomorrow, not right now. And Kaito was by nature, not a patient person.

Disappointment and annoyance waged war inside him as he watched as the helicopter was reduced to little more than a speck on the horizon... and then nothing. The most unsettling thing was he didn't even know if this person was planning on coming back to future Kid heists and after the thrill they had just provided him, after the challenge that had made the heists fun once more, he didn't think he could go back to the boring routine that the Task Force brought him when unaided by any clever detectives.

"-o... Kai-... -i! Kait... BAKAITO!"

He was so engrossed in his thoughts and feelings that it took awhile for Kaito to hear the voice calling him name. But the last scream of Aoko's affectionate nickname for him cut through his contemplations and almost burst his ear drums with how high pitch it was.

With a cry, Kaito clapped his hands over his ears and glared half-heartedly at Aoko. Aoko glared back with a lot more ferociousness.

"What were you doing you baka? You just spaced out! You didn't even defend Kid like you normally do!" Aoko stomped her foot in emphasis of her anger and Kaito flinched back away from her. Despite knowing that she currently had no access to a mop to hit him with, years of mop chases had engrained into him to back away when she got angry.

"I was just thinking Ahoko!" Kaito shot back, removing his hands from his ears and facing her just as stubbornly as she was facing him.

Aoko snorted and rolled her eyes "No wonder you looked so vacant, I forgot how hard a task that was for you."

Kaito stared at her in shock, and got ready to reply with a sarcastic comment of his own, but was stopped by the abrupt arrival of Aoko's dad.

Nakamori was hardly paying attention to where he walking, the man merely glanced up long enough to make sure that he was indeed standing with his daughter and her friend, as opposed to a random stranger, and then went back to staring at the notebook in his hands. Both Aoko and Kaito stopped their mini, half playful spat, to turn confused eyes onto the man.

The Inspector kept his gaze on the notebook, and if he felt their eyes on him he certainly didn't show it. Instead he was muttering to himself and tapping a pencil on the open pages of his notebook, occasionally scribbling something down. Aoko and Kaito shared a confused glance between them, before Aoko skipped forwards and greeted her dad.

"How did the heist go? I saw you looking out of the hatch on the clock face! And I saw Kid shoot at you! He didn't hurt you did he? If he hurt you, I'll kill him!" Aoko burst into her normal Kid rant to her father, who showed no signs of even noticing she was there, let alone speaking to him.

"Dad?" Aoko glowered at her unresponsive father, before starting up a verbal spat against him. One that went unnoticed by the distracted Inspector.

Kaito crept forwards and glanced down at the Inspector's notebook. Simultaneously he was struck by both smugness and guilt. Smugness because that was the code he had left on the clock face, copied down into the Inspector's notebook and slowly driving the man insane as he tried to figure it out. Guilt because that was his code that was also causing the Inspector to ignore his daughter.

Not expecting a response better than the one that Aoko had managed to achieve so far, Kaito attempted to get his questions answered anyway. Because if there was somebody here who would no who was up in that helicopter, it would be Nakamori.

"The detective in the helicopter seemed good enough to corner Kid like they did, how come they haven't stayed behind to help solve the code?" Kaito was unprepared to suddenly have the front of his collar grabbed by the Inspector and furiously shaken.

"How am I supposed to know what goes on in that stupid brat's head? I don't know even now why he was here, let alone why Megure even allowed that punk to come in and take over my operation anyway! Then again, that brat's probably got a swollen head from all of the cases he's solved already- he probably thought he could waltz in, catch Kid and saunter off without much trouble. Kudo Shinichi currently the most famous teenage detective in Japan, well he certainly doesn't do any better than me at catching kid!" Nakamori snarled out, emphasising certain words by shaking Kaito's shirt.

The teenage magician was relieved when he was released and he danced back out of reach of Nakamori in case the man had another fit on anger. He watched as Aoko engaged her father in an argument about him ignoring her, and then turned away out of disinterest.

Kudo Shinichi. That famous teenage detective had been the once to challenge him tonight. Had been the one to nearly catch him tonight. Kaito felt a thrill through his veins, but it was quickly dampened. He had also been the one to leave almost immediately after the heist was done, hadn't even stuck around to solve the code. Did that mean the detective wasn't interested in coming back?

Kaito sighed. Then his eyes lit up in determination, he could only wait to see what would happen. He would hold another heist in a week's time, and if Kudo showed up then he would have another thrilling heist... and if not? Well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it. Kaito smiled in light of his plan.

Aoko stormed over to him "Argh! That man! Why I oughta...-" Kaito flinched as she set a sharp glare at him "And you can wipe that smirk of your face too!"

-The Next Day-

'One coffee, two cokes. One coffee, two cokes.' She placed the two glass cups onto the tray and spun on her heel to collect the rest of the order. Grabbing a china cup, she cradled it in both of her hands and faced the automated coffee machine with trepidation. There were two buttons for the espresso coffee and she had been told that one of them didn't work, but she couldn't remember which one.

The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself by pressing the wrong one. She shifted the cup into one hand, and with the other she timidly reached out and jabbed one of the two buttons. She almost closed her eyes, but instead simply waited with baited breath for something to happen. Her cheeks began to flush red when nothing did happen and then to her relief, the light flashed red. With a gasp of surprise, she barely managed to fumble the cup under the nozzle before a jet of the hot liquid sprayed out.

As shaky hands clutched the cup underneath the nozzle, doe eyes darted back to check no one had seen her mishap. Her co-workers were all too busy with their own orders thankfully, and the customers remained seated at their tables, caught up in conversations which left them all blissfully unaware of her.

All except for the person who had ordered the coffee.

He watched her with penetrating blue eyes, currently alight with humour and encouragement. Both emotions reflected in the smile which also adorned his face.

She hesitantly smiled back, despite her face slowly burning into a deep crimson. The encouraging eyes stayed on her for a second, before they were torn away to look at one of the two girls also at his table, who was making gestures with her hands to emphasise whatever she was saying.

Holding the scalding cup carefully in her hands, she eased it onto the tray with the other two drinks and then hesitantly scooped the tray up into her arms. From there she began the daunting task of crossing to their table whilst balancing the tray of drinks in her arms. For anyone else this task would be considered easy- for her, a natural born accident prone, it was exceedingly difficult.

It was with great relief when she set the tray down on the waiting customers' table and offered them a slightly strained smile. One of the girls, the one with long brown hair and kind blue eyes, smiled back at her in thanks. The other one, with short lighter brown hair, was too busy glaring holes into the head of the only male at the table. The one with the searing blue eyes. He was also looking at her with a smile of thanks, although every now and again he would shoot aggravated looks at the girl who was glaring at him.

"Here are your drinks." She chimed in her best, happy-go-lucky voice. The long brown haired girl's smile widened, obviously having bought her act. But the teenage boy beside merely gave her another amused look.

"Thank you." Shinichi offered the tired and nervous waitress who had just brought over their drinks. His eyes drank in her form, not through any interest in her looks per say, but more interested in her disguise. 'Runaway.' Immediately flashed through his mind, her appearance coupled with her nervous disposition clearly showed that she was someone who was hiding.

"You're welcome." The waitress' smile widened, this one a real one. Shinichi nodded to her and took the cup of coffee off of the tray for her, she clearly wasn't very comfortable handing the hot liquid. She nodded to him in thanks and then placed the girls' cokes on the table in front of them "Please enjoy your drinks, and if there's anything you need just call me over."

"Thanks." Ran said kindly, beaming at the waitress. The waitress hurriedly offered them a slight bow and then turned to walk over to another set of customers to collect their orders.

Shinichi grimaced once she had left. Whilst his detective mind had jumped at the chance to analyse the unusual woman and find out why she was hiding the way she was, he knew that now there were no more interruptions Sonoko had free reign.

"What about his eyes? Oh, I bet they were the colour of jewels-" She suddenly gushed, her eyes lit up and Shinichi could almost see the drool he felt ought to be coming out of her mouth.

"I already told you, I was in a helicopter. I did not get close enough to see what colour eyes Kid had." Shinichi rolled his eyes and turned to look out of the window in boredom.

Really. He should have known something like this would happen and he never should have agreed to go on that Kid heist in the first place. Sonoko had managed to convince Ran, however, using her fan-girlish argument of wanting a semi-competent detective to catch Kid so that she could marry him. She had also convinced her with a more realistic argument; Sonoko's parents owned shares in the Clock Tower and if it had gotten stolen then they would have received a loss.

With this in mind Ran had "convinced" him (read threatened) to go on the heist and stop the Clock Tower from getting stolen.

Now he really wished he hadn't. When he had first woke up this morning to Sonoko banging on his front door and proceeding to drag him out of his house at the earliest opportunity, he had known that today was going to be a bad day. And now he had been proven right. After collecting Ran, Sonoko had dragged him to this new café and began to grill him for information on Kid.

"You're useless!" Sonoko's voice cut through his musings "You were supposed to catch him for me, and you couldn't even do that! And now you don't even have any useful information on him."

"Sonoko." Ran softly chided "I'm sure that Shinichi tried his best. Kid has eluded everyone for years, it's no surprise that he got away from Shinichi as well."

Shinichi pretended that that hadn't hurt, even as Sonoko broke out into snickers and Ran looked on confused. No doubt she had no idea that what she said could be taken as offensive.

Sonoko then turned her attention back to him "Well, what about-"

"I told you, I don't know anything!" Shinichi quickly interrupted, in no mood to be dragged back into the interrogation session that Sonoko was determined to finish.

Sonoko huffed and turned slightly to the side so that she was more facing Ran than facing the both of them. Shinichi rolled his eyes at her childish attempt to seclude him from their little group, but nonetheless he made it appear as though it had worked by falling into contemplative silence.

His mind, now left at peace from the topic of Kid, immediately jumped back to the waitress. She had been in disguise, and there was no maliciousness from her, or the type of tenseness that someone would show when they were a criminal in disguise having accidentally encountered a detective. (And really, in his life it was surprising how often he encountered these types of people).

Saito-san (as her name-tag had read) appeared to have black hair and brown eyes. In reality her hair was blonde in colour, he had seen this because the hair dye she was obviously using hadn't been renewed recently and so the roots had grown out, showing through the blonde. Her eyes, most likely originally blue, were now brown due to contacts. This had been deduced from the slight rings of blue made around the iris that contacts usually left.

On top of this she spoke with a strange accent, mispronouncing some words and also accenting the vowels a little too much. This suggested that she came from an English speaking country, probably America, as the tan she had, she had clearly had for a long time.

There were other small traits that also pointed to her being in hiding. Like the nervous twitches she had, and the way her eyes kept darting back to glance over her shoulder as though she were afraid there was someone behind her. And then there were the bruises...

Shinichi narrowed his eyes. One had been encircling her wrist, probably from a hand gripping it too hard. There was also one around her eye, that had been heavily covered with make up, but was still noticeable to the trained eye.

Everything about that just seemed to scream abuse, and that was probably why she was in hiding. But abuse by whom? She had a professional air about her that suggested that she had had a well to do job before hand, one that required a lot of smarts. Therefore it was unlikely that she was still living with her parents, and therefore even more unlikely that it had been them who was abusing her.

That left the possibility of a partner. And now that he recalled it... yes. There had been a patch of pale skin encircling her fourth finger on her right hand. She had been wearing a wedding rind, or engagement ring often enough for her finger not to be tanned. Therefore it was likely that she had run away from her abusive partner and was worried about him coming after her.

Shinichi scowled to himself. He hated it when relationships which were supposed to be loving and caring, turned out to be abusive and cruel. It wasn't right. Then and there he vowed to himself to keep a careful eye on Saito-san and make sure that she wasn't in any danger from her ex-partner.

"Shinichi!"

He jolted as the loud voice cut through his thoughts and turned to look at Ran who rolled her eyes at him and motioned with her hands to Sonoko, who was staring at him with that creepy fan-girl look in her eyes again.

"What about his figure? Did you think it was attractive?" She seemed almost frothing at the mouth for his answer.

Shinichi, however, was helpless to do anything but gape at her. Had she seriously just asked him if he thought another guy's body was attractive?

Xialdon: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and please let me know if you want more by R&R.