Terminal Affirmation

smokebombsandmirrors:

image

He smirked at him and gave a very KID like look. “Well, I made it. I had to do a bit of …. ‘searching’ for the aquamarine but was luck that a shop had some. As for the quicksilver and topaz it came from my home collection and don’t worry about getting me anything I don’t need the material to be happy. Just let me know your doing okay while you’re gone and let me know what you’re up to. I’ve never been outside of Japan so I want to know what ts like.”

His expression shift to something more eager and child like. Rotating in his seat he brought one leg up so he could rest his chin on it while watching Hakuba. 

The antics were cute, even if Kaito had basically just admitted to stealing – yet again. Even so, Hakuba rolled his eyes and took another sip of coffee before letting his hands rest in his lap, smiling back at him with fond annoyance.

“That’s very noble of you,” he said in regards to a return of the gift. “Nevertheless, I’m both English and Japanese, and I’m afraid that the two do not cancel each other out, much as I wish they did. Thus, I will be sending you something via post, so you may look forward to it. There’s clearly no other alternative; it’s the way it has to be." 

Two is Too Much

ft-dc-fan:

image

“I thought about buying a black tie for him. They really suit him.” She kneeled down and looked for a black tie. “Hm.. I don’t see any black tis here. Do you see any, Hakuba-kun?”, she asked the detective behind her.

Hakuba continued to rub the tie between his fingers as he turned his attention back to the racks, working his way through the colors to reach up to a set of black ties higher up. “There are some here,” he said, and read over the labels to find one of higher quality. Once he found one of a suitable thread count and length, he pulled it from the hook and offered it to her. “Here… he may like this if it’s within your price range. The width of it is just right for the windsor knots he usually wears." 

The Neighborhood Watch

haunted-haibara:

image

“I’m pretty sure he comes home, but that’s usually early in the morning. So I’m pretty sure your luck is fine.”  A small shrug. She could feel her vision blurring slightly, ‘I forgot to wear my contacts..’ . Sighing she rubs her eyes and blinks a few times, after assuring her vision is fine she takes another look at the detective. She unknowingly raises an eyebrow seeing as the other looked strangely familiar,she just couldn’t seem to put her finger on it. 

“Anyways, would you like some tea?”

“Mornings?” Hakuba asked, making a mental note, then took out a little black notebook and pen to write it down, just in case. “Early morning. I’ll have to check back, then.” The invitation was not dismissed, though, and he smiled down at the girl with a pleasant nod. “Tea would be wonderful, though, if it’s not too intrusive. Is Agasa-Hakase home, as well? I haven’t spoken to him in quite a while…" 

Bloody Moriarty

thelotusflowerfiles:

Shinichi ignored the impulse to take the others bag and walked normally to the door. He did hold it open for Twig and her owner because she need it not Hakuba. So he told himself. He barely got out of the way from them before he was bear hugged into Jon’s ham like arms and barrel chest. Squirming he used his free arm to push against the other and fussed at him in English.

image

 “Jon! Inappropriate! You have to let go!” He shouted.

“You still are so short, my friend! Like a girl.” The man teased and grunted when Shinichi’s fist plowed into his diaphragm. He staggered back and rubbed the sore spot. “Just as feisty too.”

Shinichi glared at him.

The entire exchange caught the half-brit completely off-guard. Hakuba stumbled back two steps and out of the way, backing into the outer wall of the cafe while Twig tugged at the leash to lead him to a safer spot. The man – John? – intimidated him, he couldn’t deny that at all, but he held back the sudden anxiety with a look of bemused confusion. 

“Ah…” he began in Japanese, speaking to Shinichi once he was free. “Is this your friend, then?” he asked, glancing to the man after with a polite smile. Was he supposed to be addressed in English? Should he offer a handshake?

What if Jon took his arm and yanked him over, crushing his spine and leaving him paralyzed all over again? It seemed a very possible outcome, so he stayed where he was, hoping Shinichi would explain the proper procedure for him.

Twig, for her part, pressed against Hakuba’s leg to keep him where he was, large ears angled at the new human while she sniffed in his direction to determine if he was safe. Boisterous, she thought, but not evil… He might be okay… 

Bloody Moriarty

thelotusflowerfiles:

image

“No need. I’ve already paid for the both of us and the cab has been taken care of as well.” He stated and finished off his water. Collecting his bag and the food he glanced outside and watched the cab pull up.

“Jon’s early.” He murmured and glanced down at his watch. Looking down to Twig then back up the Hakuba he asked them both. “Ready to go?”

By the time the attention had returned to him, Hakuba managed to get himself into some sort of presentable condition. He didn’t want to lean on his cane any more than necessary, even with the tension in his back. Yes, Kudou knew that he’d been injured, and it was obvious to anyone with any sort of basic observational skills, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to go out of his way to appear weak. 

He spared a glance down at Twig, who wagged her tail, looking right back, then gave a nod. “Yes, I believe so.” Despite saying thus, Hakuba reached back into the booth to retrieve his bag, which he shouldered as a sort of counter-balance to the cane, and started toward the door. 

The limp wasn’t so bad, really, now that he’d had a chance to rest, but his gait was stiff, anyway. Still, determined to be as brave as he could muster, he bore that smile again and walked, anyway. “Thank you for the tea, Kudou-san… it was just what I needed." 

A Little Assistance || littledetective

littledetective:

image

   It was far easier to play the adorable, helpful child around those he hadn’t spent a lot of time around, or those that didn’t know his true identity. While Hakuba seemed capable on his own, he hoped that he wouldn’t become another that figured his secret.

   ”What’s the dog’s name, and how’d it get out?” Conan wanted to asked what it was the owner wanted from the canine’s collar, but would wiggle his way into that question later.

“Her name is Mikki, and the current theory is that she somehow got out of my client’s car while it was parked at an office building, just two miles from here…”  Hakuba glanced in the direction of the building – north east – then back down to Conan with a sort of helpless frown.

“They think she just got out through the window, but I wonder if, perhaps, someone broke in to let her out. There were little scratches on the door next to the window, and it’s so terribly easy to break into those older cars. Here, I’ll show you a photo." 

The taller detective pulled out his phone to scroll through the evidence that he’d captured earlier that morning, and held it out to him. Sure enough, the black car had tiny scratches in the paint, indicative of a metal object and several false starts to get between the door and the pane of glass. 

"I have to admit that I’m more than a little upset at my client for leaving their dog in their parked car, but I suppose that can’t be helped now…" 

Terminal Affirmation

smokebombsandmirrors:

Kaito softened while watching him slip the necklace on. “I’m glad you like it.” 

He felt like a stupid giddy schoolgirl. Absolutely pleased with his handy work. It took him only three hour search for the right stone, a simple unannounced heist for the aquamarine disk, and six hours to link the chain together and three more to fit the topaz pieces around the disk.

“I’m only sorry that I don’t really have anything to give you in return,” Hakuba returned with a wince, voicing the thoughts he’d meant to keep to himself. Following the trend, he continued while adjusting his collar. “Dare I ask where it came from?" 

At least he managed a playful little smile along with it, tilting his head as he looked back at the young man that he knew, without a doubt, was a thief. That fact did nothing to deter from the sweet expression he gave, though, brown eyes warm and full of feeling as he looked at him with an almost embarrassing amount of vulnerability. 

”…or is it better left a mystery?“ 

City Jaunt!

harajukuharuspex:

image

Everything hurt.

She came to with a start, with a gasp, with a near-silent cry of pain and an even quieter mental cry-

      [Emi.]

Her world spun. The walls, were they white or black or somewhere in between. Was someone there? She felt – or she thought she felt – a warmth, a heartbeat of someone close by, her left side in fact, and what was jammed down her throat? Akira choked on the breathing tube and heard the erratic beeping of the heart monitor as she struggled. The person beside her stirred, and Akira recoiled at the garish white and black smeared into grey and the black pits for eyes, a red slash for a mouth.

Akira screamed.

All of the time spent waiting, hyper-focused on every factor of his friend’s vital statistics, had lulled the detective into a false sense of the passage of time. Even the cases that Hakuba brought with him did little to hold his attention for any particular length of time, most of his presence dedicated to counting between each heartbeat, each revolution of the machinery in the room. It had become a sort of comforting despair. 

The scream, of course, disrupted that ever so thoroughly. 

Hakuba fell off of the chair that he’d been sitting in, papers scattering to the floor in a flurry of white and manilla, then scrambled to pick himself up. Any residual pain from his injuries was nothing to the pounding of his heart or the panic that flared up like scalding steam.

“A-AH! Akira-kun!” he cried, eyes wide. “Ah- ah, j-just hold on, hold on, let me… let me get the…”  The detective threw himself to the call button, hitting it a bit harder than necessary, and turned back to the girl in the bed. “Th-they’re coming! They’re coming! It’ll be all right!" 

He didn’t want her to choke, but strictly speaking, he wasn’t really permitted to remove the breathing apparatus on his own. Still, could he stand there and do nothing? Hesitantly, he edged closer to try to put a hand on her shoulder, frantic. 

Autumn Afternoons

koizumiakako:

image

She had learned awhile back that many people found it easier to communicate if they were performing some distracting task with their hands. It was sort of a comforting gesture in a way. She thought it was cute that Hakuba would resort to such a quirk in his nervous state. His anxiety was almost tangible, in fact, thick and heavy in the air as if drawing the breath out of him and making him silent.

When he finally found the words to speak they were hurried and messy as if he had choked on them on the way out. What kind of question was that anyway? She raised an eyebrow at him and continued scribbling away at her work.

“Just fine. Thank you so much for asking. I have found that simply getting it over with is the best method for completing school work.” If he was going to ask such shallow questions then she was determined to provide him with equally shallow responses.

Eventually one of them would grow tired of it.

image

“That’s a fair strategy, yes… it seems to work quite well." 

Would things ever stop being so awkward between them? Or between himself and, really, any number of people? Hakuba glanced over to her, feeling a sort of twinge in pain at the degrees of separation that they now had.  He pursed his lips, considering.

"Koizumi-sa… Koizumi,” he sighed, turning his head away in defeat. He was tired of it, and as much as he longed to cling to his resolve, it was far too difficult to keep up the pretense of indifference with someone he still had feelings for. Not that he could admit that to anyone but himself, but he knew it at his core. It was pointless to try to say otherwise. 

“What are we going to do?” He left the question open, vague, hoping that she could supply the meaning that he was attempting, and failing, to convey. 

Split Decisions

blackorgkaito:

Finger on the trigger— not. His eyes might as well have been the Looking Glass, such tips tops turvy the reality he gazed at was; tremors in his hands were rejections of the gun in he was holding and I can’t do this, he wanted to say. It’s a life with a family and a past and maybe they’re someone’s father and—

He’s becoming exactly who he vowed that he wouldn’t be, couldn’t be; he’s becoming his father’s killer, he is a killer, and he can’t, he can’t—

A familiar voice.  

He could literally feel the blood draining out of his face. There was a sharp askance in his ear that he barely comprehended— What was that? What’s happening? You’d better answer me, KID, or your friends and family’s gone by next morning.

His breaths came sharp, quick, and damn it he was hyperventilating; a hand slammed to his mouth to cut off oxygen as thoughts of Aoko and Nakamori and his mother dead flashed by— house blown to bits? Maybe it would seem like a simple car accident— or if they were feeling particularly sadistic, it would be arson and memories of a burning stage and screams for his dad to come back echoed in his mind. 

If— if he could ask Hakuba to help— no, he can’t get the detective wound up in this mess. But if he could, if he could, if Hakuba could stop him from doing this, please, please— if he died in action, would his family live at least? He wouldn’t have to kill, and this nightmare would be over, but he couldn’t ask Hakuba to do that.

Not to mention they had thought of everything, he couldn’t ask anyway, the furiously whispering voice in his ear served as a reminder that he was live on air— 

Why hadn’t he checked to see if he was being tailed? Stupid stupid stupid stupid!

“It’s nothing. I’ll take care of it.”

Was his answer to the buzzing voice on the other end, his own forced through a twisting stomach and a constricted throat. A cautious shift in position to slowly rise, head swimming as he did so— placing the gun down (thank you) and raising his hands cautiously to show that he was unarmed. And he wanted to say that he was— No uncomfortable pistol hidden in the small of his back or a knife strapped down to his ankle because he was better than that, right?

But he wasn’t. 

The hidden hand gun that sat all too comfortably at his waist made him sick.

“Well then, you know what to do.”

The tone that came through the ear phones were anticipatory and taunting, a cat playing with it’s prey. He grit his teeth— Hakuba’s not the annoying classmate you know anymore, Kuroba, Kaito tried to tell himself even as his breath made an attempt to quicken again. Lets see, lets see, there was a camera somewhere that was monitoring him— Earphone guy wasn’t looking at it but Headquarters were.

Hakuba was just too noticeable of a person to pass by as a random intruder— what to do—  stupid British teenage detectives who messed everything up.

He can’t fake this, can’t pretend to shoot and cover the other’s mouth, can’t get a silent message across to him and even then he wouldn’t understand. Hakuba was just too good for that, despite his fallacies and annoyances. The stupid idiot would try to save the other and somehow save the day— because that’s what detectives did. 

Save lives.

Unlike him. 

So unlike him.

But that wasn’t the problem here he had to —

He can’t try any stupid moves. He licked his lips— one toe out of line and bang bang boom. He wouldn’t be surprised if the Syndicate would take it one step further and blow up his whole school.  

He would have to play along, then, at this game. If he knew the other as well as he did — the detective wasn’t going to flee anytime soon—or would he? The other was never one to run from danger if what he saw at his heists were any indication but then that was different. Either way, Kaito wanted him here— as soon as the detective got out of sight, the syndicate was going to hunt him down. Trap set. Game over.

He had to checkmate him— them— here. 

But how? 

All of these thoughts ran by in split seconds, mind working overdrive— he had to get the detective out of this alive. 

There was a final decision made at that moment— so many paths pointing to so many directions and he wasn’t sure if he had stepped foot in the right one. Not when all sense of moral “correctness” had gone down the drain. 

Right and wrong didn’t apply anymore.

No looking back.

“I’m afraid that doesn’t apply when the person in question isn’t quite thieving at the moment." 

Kaito said, slipping into his persona altogether too easily — Hakuba’d approached him as KID, and he’d reciprocate— stick with what’s familiar. He’s not in a rush to get to that sniper anytime soon, the conference would last for a while anyway, all he had to do was—

To do was—

He licked his dry lips again; body language Kaito, stop that, you’ve already given away enough.

The game changed all at once, and Hakuba’s expression hardened a degree in both confusion and concern, gaze trained on his classmate, his thief, flicking only briefly toward the gun set on the concrete of the rooftop, then back again. It wasn’t the card gun; that much was clear, and there was so much wrong with the scene before him that he’d have had to be a fool not to recognize it for what it was, at least in part. 

He couldn’t act without more data, though, and a clearer picture on where Kuroba stood in all of it. Theories leapt to his mind in a raging torrent, offering explanation, justification, and warnings, but settling on any would be dangerous to proceed on at the present juncture. 

At least there was the string of usual banner. It was safe– the only neutral territory in the face of potential upheaval. 

"Not quite?” Hakuba asked, forcing a smirk on his lips. “Honestly, you’d think that you could pick a better place and time to case a heist location than during a busy conference, Kaitou-san.”

The words, so familiar, gave him a chance to breathe, to sort through what he did know. KID wasn’t exactly a pacifist, he knew that, and he had dangerous people on his tail. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that he had access to weapons beside his typical KID gear, especially after everything with Nightmare. But it wasn’t like KID to display so much hesitation, minute and discrete as it was. The fear, the bit of chatter… 

Was it Nightmare all over again? Were they being watched? Was Kuroba being controlled? 

Typical of his character, the detective shifted his gaze without turning his head to try to get a better feel for their surroundings, scanning for potential exit strategies. It would be such a simple matter to call for backup. He licked the back of his teeth, contemplating. He had cuffs on him. Perhaps he could take KID in– though, no, no, that wouldn’t work. KID couldn’t be caught for a multitude of reasons, and he still needed more information. 

“Don’t tell me that you’re losing your touch? Or is it just the thrill that you’re looking for?"