The last chapter was just obsenely long.

That's it.

Grawwhh, I'll do thanks next chapter. Sleepy...

Third GAME

.: Meeting :.

Kuroba Kaito was bored.

One arm propping his head up from the desk, his eyes found themselves half-closed from the sheer lack of things to do.

He thought back to the heist he’d had the day before – it was so much fun to watch Inspector Nakamori bustle about merely a week after his last. Everything was as planned, and that time he decided to use one of his older heist techniques; the Hand. Make a hole from underneath stick his hand through to inside the display case and grab the jewel right under their noses.

Truthfully, he almost pitied the guy. Sure: going around, watching how high his blood pressure could get and spending glorious time in the spotlight was great, but Nakamori was usually the one who paid.

And Aoko’s liking of the KID was his price.

Maybe that was the reason Aoko wasn’t at school yet. The entire Kaitou KID Task Force actually seemed really harried and worn the day before. They were slower, their reactions had faded and – amazingly, he had noticed – Nakamori’s voice wasn’t as loud as it usually was, and he seemed too tired to even swear at his appearance.

It was odd.

He attempted to crane his neck to see his watch, which's face had somehow shifted to the side that wasn’t visible from the position he was in.

Damn.

Finally sitting up in his seat and adjusting his watch he noticed it was nearly time for class to start. As if on cue, Hakuba stirred from his sleeping position nearly sprawled on his desk and the door slid open again.

Everyone was already - surprisingly - in the classroom already, and he was taken aback upon seeing Aoko, the very person he had been thinking of just a moment ago enter and peer intently into his face.

"What? Not cheering even though your precious KID got away with whatever he was stealing yesterday?"

"G'way," he muttered under his breath, and discreetly brought his hand up to flip her skirt.

Aoko meeped, hands reaching down and preventing the material floating. Kaito, however, frowned, but was jolted up due to the appearance of the classroom's ever-present mop...into his nose.

"Ooh...she actually got a hit in this time!"

The magician in Kaito grinned, leaping into the air and ignoring the pain, leaving the ordinary Kaito to discuss with himself and his alter-ego about the Nakamori. Ordinary Kaito, though, was admittedly thinking about Aoko's new feigned uncanny precision and force. He knew that to a bystander, the hits looked of the same strength as her usual, but when she did get a hit in it hurt.

KID-Kaito just knew this wasn't her.

And as the teacher started her lesson, oblivious to (or doing her best to ignore) the daily banter between the two classmates, all parts of Kaito had come to the firm conclusion that they needed a talk with the Aoko-imposter before anyone got seriously hurt.

-3-

He took his opportunity as they were switching subjects, dashing out as soon as he could and expecting the faux Aoko to follow.

Of course, 'she' did.

There was this strange location in their school that was relatively hidden to the general audience, in the manner in which none would particularly wish to even walk past the place. Kaito, being the crafty person that he naturally was, had easily discovered it without further trouble, though that was a story in itself.

The reason in which people wouldn't stroll by was clearly due to the shady aura it seemed to emanate...and was further emphasised by an odd rumour that had been flying around their school when he first attended. Obviously, he went and took a look, eventually returning and finding the place rather comfortable. Perhaps it was due to the fact that it was like the natural domain of KID, in which he ruled.

'Aoko' stood passively, but now the upper half of her face seemed to be cast in a permanent, sinister shadow, and the wide smirk confirmed his suspicions. Passively, as in a stance that didn't seem to suggest that they wanted to fight and bring him out, but also different enough that it simply wasn't right.

"We're far enough that nobody will hear and in a location unappealing enough to deter those passing by, I suppose that is why you chose this location?"

Kaito suppressed the urge to shudder, instinctive poker face slipping fast over his features. The voice belonged to Aoko all right, but the tone that she had spoken in, smooth and almost drawling, suggested a professional.

A professional killer.

That, coupled with the fact that they had disguised themselves perfectly, the only reason he was able to tell being of the subtle, purposeful changes in stance, he realized something else.

It was all planned.

"Who are you? Why are you here? And...what have you done with Aoko?"

The smirk widened in the way a predator would smirk at his prey.

"Don't worry about your pretty Nakamori-chan," 'Aoko' advised, quirking her eyebrow and mouth widening enough to show teeth. "She's perfectly safe and away from harm."

The person turned around to leave.

"Oh, to why I'm here, I'm sure you'll find out by the end of tomorrow."

There was a glint in their green eyes (wait, what?), and Kaito thought it was slightly disturbing, seeing that look on Aoko's face.

The next words spoken were slightly mocking.

"Until next time, Kaitou KID."

A piece of paper drifted from their fingers to the floor as the stranger walked away. Kaito stared at it, but as it did not seem too threatening or anything of the sort he picked it up and read the neat, flowing kanji before dashing off to his next class and bearing whatever scolding he was going to get from his teacher.

...

I trust you have picked up this note? Good, so there is some trust in you. Your little Aoko is at a hospital looking over her poor overworked father...whether I interfered or not...do simply say that I decided to leave abruptly after receiving a call about him...Evidence? I have that covered, don’t worry.

We shall meet again.

Sabula

-3-

Aoko arrived at school the next day, slightly flustered. By looking at her, Kaito could tell that this was indeed the real person, and not an imposter. She looked quite stressed and he was kind and content enough to sit there and not disturb her sleep on the table.

Somehow he found himself drifting off into other thoughts, and was disrupted by the teacher’s odd words, different from usual.

“...introduce a transfer student.”

The student stood confidently and had a grin that scarily reminded him of his alter ego. He was obviously foreign, with russet red hair that had large bangs framing his face. His bright emerald eyes were alert and simply saying that they held knowledge of everything that was going on at that very moment was to be an understatement.

Kaito knew – inexplicably – that this was the same person that he had met one day previously.

Some girls sighed, and Kaito’s eye automatically caught on the details most didn’t notice. Smooth, slightly long face, slightly high cheekbones, almond shaped eyes, almost unnaturally soft features. Inwardly, he scoffed at their decision on this disguise, and thought that some of them were just entranced by the way he looked different from the rest of the Japanese population.

“Hi, I’m Kudo Shinichi. It’s great to meet you.”

Kaito glanced at him, and then braced himself for hastily awaiting the next break for the second time in those two days.

-3-

“Where were you yesterday, Aoko?”

It turned out that none of them had enough time for a meeting until lunch came around, but when they did Keiko was quick to ask and quick to the point. Akako – what she was doing there Kaito didn’t know – stood slightly off to the side, watching him.

“My dad was ill – didn’t they tell you? That police officer that phoned me to tell me said he’d contact you.”

So that was the ever-so-clever cover story?

“Ah, Nakamori!” As if on cue, ‘Kudo’ shuffled over to the table they were standing at and smiled. Keiko melted, but Aoko didn’t care. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he leaned closer to her ear and seemed to whisper conspiratually, “How’s your father?”

“You know him?” Kaito asked, one eyebrow arched, noticing out of his peripheral vision that the witch was staring at the ‘transfer student’.

“Um...”

“I was the one that called you.”

Aoko lit up with recognition. “Oh! That’s right. I remember...but didn’t you look a bit different?”

Shaking his head, Kudo explained it off to be the dark changing the tone of his hair different and sheepishly he said he hadn’t actually brushed his hair before being called to the KID heist. Akako still had her eyes fixed on him, as if trying to send a message to Kaito, who gave a small, unoticable nod.

Kudo looked at him, and simply gave an eerily familiar smirk that gave shudders down his spine.

Prepare yourself, phantom thief.

Well, here you go. T'was a pain to write and get out, but here nontheless.

I'm so sleepy now, so please review and bye...

Nikki