/Tantei-kun. Can. You. Help. Me?\ The dove repeated slowly, in the way one would speak to a particularly slow or stupid person. Not once since he'd gotten his ah...gift had he been spoken to directly by a bird. Until now.

"May...maybe?" Conan spluttered, still trying to comprehend that he was being spoken to directly by a white dove, that was very likely one of Kid's considering the name it had for him. His sharp eyes noted the not-quite dried blood on the birds leg as it stumbled to it's feet.

The dove managed to look surprised. Humans didn't normally understand birds, even if most birds understood at least some Human speech. Tama wasn't a normal dove though. She was Master's dove, super smart like him and white like his work clothes.

She'd been shot at by bad people again, clipped by the bullet this time because she'd dodged the wrong way. Tantei-kun had helped her before, and he was much closer than Master, so she'd managed to crash land here in the hopes the little boy would help her again.

/It hurts Tantei-kun.\ She cooed, hoping he understood enough bird to get the gist of it. The boy scooped her up, just like he did back then, and cradled her to his tiny chest as he carried her indoors. He placed her on a cushion on the sofa, left her to pack his things away, then returned to look at her with a soft expression.

It was strange how gentle the little boy was, how he asked for her permission to stretch her wings out before doing so, how carefully he handled her especially when cleaning her bad leg. He cursed when he'd finished though. Master never seemed too upset when he saw her leg, so maybe young Tantei-kun was just more expressive?

Wound cleaned and dressed, the boy vanished from her sight only to return with a small glass dish of water and a slice of seeded brown bread, which he broke into several small pieces.

/Thank-you. How did you know I was thirsty?\ She thanked, adding the question on the end as an afterthought.

"I didn't. It's just polite to offer guests a drink." Conan answered, as the bird took a beak full of water. It eyed him warily as it drank, a too-human look in it's eyes.

Conan watched the bird carefully as he tried to place where he'd seen the little animal before, without much luck. He scratched the back of his head in frustration. All doves looked the same to him at first glance, but there was just something familiar about the bird aside from it most likely belonging to Kaitou Kid. Where had he seen it before?

/Do you always pull that face when you think?\ The dove suddenly chirped, looking amused. /I'm Tama-chan by the way. Master's still grateful towards you because you looked after me when he went swimming when his wings broke.\

Conan started at the bird, one eyebrow raised. The bird —Tama-chan— ruffled it's feather's in amusement at the young boy's expression, before looking slightly worried. How the dove could even look worried was beyond Conan's comprehension though.

/You can understand me properly. Can't you?\ Tama asked, worried because she'd get bullied for talking to a human like this. Like they understood. Even if she was part of the 'phantom's flock', as the wild birds called them collectively, it didn't mean the others would believe her if she said some humans were smart enough to actually understand.

Conan nodded, suddenly past being weirded out by this new power of his. Why should being able to understand birds be odd, when he himself was running around looking ten years younger than he should?

/Oh. Good. I thought I was going crazy. Well... more crazy. Master is a teenager who dresses in white at night to steal things from people, who also lives....... Ack! You did not hear that from me, Tantei-kun. Understand? Master might turn me into a pet and give me to a normal person.\ The dove —Tama-chan, Conan reminded himself—rambled.

The young detective assured the dove with a single wink that his lips were sealed, before gently checking her over again, only to realise that her injury was actually two; the recent one covering over a much older one that had clearly been far worse for the little bird.

How had she gotten that old one?... actually, Conan wasn't sure he wanted to know, with what he knew about Kaitou Kid and his unfriendly fans. It chilled him to think that maybe Kid wasn't the only one the snipers had been shooting at.

'Tadaima, Conan-kun." Ran called, breaking the detective from his musings as she stopped dead to stare at him. He was currently kneeling on the floor by the sofa, eye to eye with Tama-chan.

     "Ohaiyo, Ran-neechan." He greeted automatically, before he realised Oochan wasn't home so there was no need to pretend. Ran smiled softly at him.

     Yes. That's right. Mouri Ran knew he was Shin'ichi. She'd known for a fair while in fact; ever since 'Conan' had turned seven and broken down on her. He'd told her everything, from that first night at tropical land to then. He'd even told her how he really felt about her. How he feared his love for her was turning less romantic and more familial the longer he had to be Conan....

     (Not his proudest moment, but at least she understood him better now. He still couldn't quite believe how she laughed at learning the truth behind Nemuri-no-Kogoro. Wasn't she supposed to be mad at him using her dad as a puppet? And when he'd been honest about his feelings... Conan had expected to be punted through a wall, not understood.)

     "Who's your friend Conan-kun?" Ran asked, sticking to her old naming habits despite knowing she could call him Shin'ichi if she wanted. She didn't want to fall into any bad habits like a certain dark skinned osakan had.

     Conan blinked at her innocently, knowing full well the look wouldn't work on her, before turning to the little white bird, who cooed sweetly at him. Ran raised a questioning eyebrow at him and crossed her arms as he turned back to her with a slightly confused amusement in his eyes.

     "Do you remember that dove we rescued back when kid got shot at the Imperial Easter Egg Heist?" The karate champion nodded, realising where this might be headed without actually believing it yet. Shin'ichi wouldn't lie to her without very good reason after all.

     "This is Tama-chan, the same dove. I think she was shot. Again." The not-boy paused to stare at his big sister figure/best friend a little glimmer of fear in his eyes as Ran continued to be silent. She sighed, breaking her silence, and had to bite back a chuckle as her miniature detective shivered involuntarily.

     "You know Shin'ichi, for someone who was adamant on the non-existence of the supernatural only a few years ago, you run across some really strange things." Ran did chuckle as she saw his wide, child-like eyes looking up at her in mild terror.

      "First off, you survive a body destroying poison by turning into a child, then you discover a wine that can turn you back if you have a bad cold...then you meet the creator of said poison... and befriend her six-year-old self... and if that wasn't bad enough you got knocked out on a roof at the last Kid heist and now I come home to see seven-year-old you talking with a criminal's pet dove. Well... I assume she's talking to you, anyway." Ran reminded, sounding completely unsurprised.

     Since the big reveal of Conan being Shin'ichi —which she'd been suspicious of for a while anyway— she had been far harder to surprise, though corpses usually still caught her off guard. Ran was also still scared of the supernatural, but less so than before. However it was more than a little disconcerting to see mini-Shin'ichi apparently talking to a dove.

     "Sonoko is going to laugh herself to death if she finds out you know." Ran snickered as the thought materialised in her head. Conan paled at the mere idea.

     "Aaaa. Which is why I haven't told anyone else yet. Especially Hattori and Sonoko. Well... that and I didn't actually know they could talk back until just now." Conan agreed dryly, feeling just a little overwhelmed all of a sudden.

     The young detective looked up at Ran with a sad, lonely smile on his face, practically begging her to pick him up, but not wanting to actually say it. He was mentally seventeen after all, even if he did look like a seven-year-old.

     Ran noticed the silent begging, but before she could respond to the silent plea, the not-child did something entirely out of character by flinging his arms wide in a childish yet clear invitation. Ran wavered for less than a second before taking a few steps and crouching down to scoop her childhood friend into a sisterly hug, mildly perturbed by the not-child's sudden clingy behaviour.

     "Gomen-ne, Ran-neechan. Everything's been weird as hell since the Kid heist and..." Ran silenced him by hushing him softly. She understood that feeling. Sometimes she needed a hug after a rough day too. However...

     "Talk about it whilst I cook dinner?" Ran offered as she caught sight of the time. She'd have to start dinner now and leave her father's out for him to come home to if she was to make it to Conan's parents evening that night. A nod against her shoulder.

     /Hey! If you're eating can I have some birdseed if you have any? Master gets mad if we eat too much bread.\ Tama chirped, looking distinctly nervous as she asked. Conan tapped on the karate champion's arm in their unique little tap code they'd come up with, relaying the question. He didn't feel like breaking the comfortable hug and the silence just yet.

     Then Neechan assured Tama they did have some birdseed in the kitchen, and there would be a dish for her when she had finished preparing their dinner, before setting Tantei-kun down and turning into the kitchen, the little detective hot on her heels.

💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎

     Kaito was in his workshop, making a few routine repairs to his basic heist gear, when a loud crash, followed by a soft thump and a clatter, broke the usual late afternoon silence.

     The magician was up and out of the Kid workshop, hidden door locked behind him, and steel edged playing cards in his hand before he'd even registered his own movement. He crept down the stairs with silent steps; he wasn't called a Phantom Thief for nothing; but dropped the stealth the moment he spotted what —or rather who— had made such a racket.

     Indigo blue eyes widened in genuine fear as he took in the sight before him, concern and worry bubbling up through his well crafted poker face and shattering it it.

     "Saguru?! I thought you were with Aoko." Kaito exclaimed softly, dropping all semblance of his poker face as he realised how his boyfriend was holding himself.

     Saguru was on his hands and knees, his right hand clutching his chest as he grimaced in obvious pain, breath coming in strangled gasps and eyes shut tightly. Kaito very nearly panicked. This... was very similar to the way Meitantei had behaved the one and only time Kid had seen him change back to Tantei-kun. No. No no no no nonono...

     A hand grasped the hem of Kaito's shirt and pulled him down, a pair of honey-brown eyes gazing into his. They were slightly glazed with pain, though he could also see relief flooding through the blonde as he registered who was knelt next to him.

" 'Ru?" Kaito's soft whisper was laced with worry and fear as he shifted into a more comfortable kneeling position, the blonde just sort of flopping into his lap with a soft huff. Something had happened, that much was clear, but it didn't really matter. Saguru was clearly distressed. And filthy, now he looked closer. It looked like mud.

Wait... where was Aoko? She was supposed to be with him today so Kaito could focus on his 'homework'. (Heist plans actually, but she didn't need to know that.) it should worry him, but it was Aoko and Saguru would tell him if something had happened, no matter how bad he really was.

(And it would be bad, because Saguru was almost as bad as Kaito for covering the true extent of injuries and illnesses. If he was still this much out of it, he'd either been drugged, shot or poisoned. No blood meant 'shot' was highly unlikely, and with the way he was still clutching at his chest... it made fear spike in the thief's heart.)

"Kai...." the detective mumbled, after a seemingly infinite length of time had passed. Indigo eyes snapped to the other teen's face, taking in the creased brow and pale skin. He wasn't sweating. But...

A flurry of white announced his doves, which Kaito almost scolded them for, until he realised they'd worked together to bring the carrier bag of Saguru's spare clothes he kept in his room. Huh. The detective would need to change wouldn't he?

"Thanks guys. You too ladies." The magician murmured appreciatively, quick-changing the blonde into clean clothes whilst also checking the other teen over for any injuries, just in case Saguru was just hiding the wound.

No. 'Ru was physically fine, other than obvious chest pain (it wasn't Tantei-kun's poison, Saguru would be either dead or tiny by now if it was.) (right?), just a little... not in shock exactly, but worse than just dazed. So... that meant his detective had seen something.

Saguru had been called in to Ekoda police station because Division two were stumped on a particular pair of thieves, and they'd wanted a 'fresh set of eyes' on the case.

(Kaito had mentally cracked up at that because Saguru was technically one of Kaitou Kid's accomplices now. Maybe that was why 'Ru was getting so much better at his work? After all, he was constantly in the company of Japan's most elusive phantom thief.)

From what Kaito had understood of said case, a pair of petty thieves had suddenly gone large scale, so to speak; hitting two banks and four temples in less than a month, with hardly a trace. No conclusive evidence, and not nearly enough circumstantial evidence either. Whoever the pair were (and it had to be a pair, no single person could pull those thefts off unless they were superhuman) they were good.

Not Kaitou Kid good, but good nonetheless.

Had someone been been hurt? Or had Saguru stumbled upon a murder? (Not as common an occurrence for him as it was for Tantei-kun, but still far more frequent than any normal person should have to deal with.) Kaito shook his head to clear it.

Since when had the question 'had he stumbled over another corpse' become a normal part of his musings whenever Saguru was involved?

Gently, without saying a word, Kaito managed to coax the still stunned detective over to their favourite armchair, where the blonde sat down without protest, honey-brown eyes watering ever so slightly in a sort of prelude to tears that never came.

The magician moved to head into the kitchen to make his detective a drink, only for a pale hand to shoot out and clamp onto his arm in a death grip that silently screamed 'don't leave!'. Kaito shook his head at the blonde.

"Very sweet tea, and something hot and spicy." Saguru demanded, in a soft, almost-but-not-quite broken voice. Kaito didn't say no. Couldn't. He'd seen the detective like this once before, and had hoped to never see him like it again.

The vice-like grip loosened as Kaito agreed, a familiar whistle announcing the arrival of Watson, who perched upon the arm of the chair and blinked up at the magician with a sharp look. The hand left his arm in favour of petting the Hawk's feathers, leaving Kaito free to sort out dinner.

A phone call to a local take-away delivery service and a boiling hot cup of sweetened Assam tea later, along with a rushed assurance that there would be food arriving soon, and Saguru was looking much better, if a little haggard still.

" 'Ru? Wanna talk about it?" Kaito asked in strongly accented English. The detective seemed to calm slightly at the sound of his primary language, glancing up at him with slightly glazed eyes.

"I saw... our... mutual enemy." Saguru explained haltingly, a slight shiver running down the teen's spine. Kaito closed his eyes and counted to ten, doing his utmost to suffocate the burning anger that always rose when he thought of Snake. The blonde gave a shuddering sigh.

"Earlier, after I'd left the station." The accent was definitely strong, and Kaito had to wonder how hard Saguru had to work to hide such a pronounced English accent so completely. (His japanese and accent were so flawless, most of his class had already forgotten that 'Ru was actually raised in England.)

The magician's eyes hardened in the way they always did at the reference to certain limbless replies who took great pleasure in shooting at white clad thieves. Saguru had seen Snake? Where? Was that why he'd been so filthy? Had he been spotted and chased?

"Kaito..." the detective stated, seeing the worry and fear flashing across his boyfriend's face. Indigo-blue eyes zoned in on him, uncertainty showing through the poker-face.

"Kaito... he was... with three others. One... was tall. White-blonde hair. A shorter, much stockier man wearing... wearing sunglasses and a fedora next to him. And the third... the third... I... it was..." then stream of English petered out as he begun to hyperventilate, even as he drummed a three letter word in Morse code on the arm of the chair.

(Saguru always did that when stressed. He tapped out his thoughts in Morse code, sometimes even unaware he was doing so.) Kaito stilled saguru's hand with his own, silently waiting for the blonde to calm down a little bit.

"It's ok 'Ru. I'll have my... contact look into it." Kaito soothed, sticking to English for the moment. Kaito closed his eyes and prayed to whatever gods were out there that it wouldn't come to the next bit... "if we absolutely have to, we can vanish, like Kid. No-one get's hurt. Right?"

The Brit nodded. He knew that. He did. But this... this was... so utterly, completely, terrifyingly unexpected. Please, please let me be wrong Saguru thought to himself, as he somehow calmed his thoughts slightly. Kaito was rubbing soothing circles on his hands with his thumbs.

"Feel up to eating something?" A faint nod. "Good. Dinner will be here in five minutes. The spiciest thing on the menu. After we've eaten, I'll call my contact and get them to look into things for us, and then... we are cuddling." The tone of voice left no room for protest. Not that Saguru minded. Kaito cared about him in a way that not many people had in his life.

"Aren't you going to ask about my... state of dress?" Kaito shook his head. If 'Ru wanted to tell him why he was caked in mud, he would. But Kaito wouldn't ask. He never did, unless it involved large quantities of dried blood.

"The robberies... I may or may not know which two are responsible. I merely lack enough evidence to pin them. I left Nakamori-chan and Nakamori-keibu arguing." Kaito couldn't help but snicker at that.

"You mean you left Aoko threatening Nakamori-keibu with her magically appearing mop." He corrected teasingly. Saguru just shook his head in mock exasperation, cheering up at that thought. Nakamori-chan was a menace with that mop, but she rarely used it on anyone but Kai, so the inspector was probably deserving of his daughter's wrath.

A buzzing sound made both teens look toward the front door, a flurry of white and brown feathers vanishing back upstairs out of sight. Kaito paused for the briefest of seconds to wonder how intelligent his doves really were —there was only so much you could teach the birds, and he most certainly hadn't taught them half of what the little creatures knew— before getting up to answer the door before whoever it was could ring the bell.

Ah. Dinner was here. And two minutes early at that. Kaito thanked the delivery boy —no older than himself— and paid in full, just as a very familiar yell rang out. Kaito rolled his eyes as the other boy stared as the front door of the next house burst open and a full grown man (whom the boy clearly recognised if his expression was anything to go by.) came careering out with a panicked look on his face.

Kaito watched in amusement as Aoko came charging out after her father whilst doing a passable impression of an enraged rhinoceros. She was screaming at him for 'not telling her' about something or other, but Kaito was too busy watching the rather poor attempts at acrobatics to focus on what Aoko was saying as well.

Aoko was clearly going easy on her dad though; she wasn't swinging that mop with nearly half the power he knew she had; so Kaito knew she wasn't too mad at him. In fact, he'd bet good money she was only chasing Nakamori-keibu because she could.

"Ano... is that normal?" the delivery boy asked in confusion. Kaito grinned his not-quite-Kid grin and chuckled as he handed the boy a hefty tip, just as the mop finally connected to the poor inspector's shoulder.

"Perfectly normal. Just don't get in her way. She might get you with the mop accidentally." Kaito replied blithely as he clicked his fingers, making the food vanish in a puff of yellow-brown smoke, only for it to reappear on the top of the shoe rack in the genkan behind him.

The teen nodded hesitantly, before making a mad dash for the Kuroba residence front gate, just as Aoko turned her attention from her father to Kaito's front door. Kaito waved at her cheekily and shut the door fast behind him as he retreated back indoors.

The locks on the door clicked behind him as Kaito picked up the bag of takeout and headed into the kitchen to put the meals onto plates. By the time the food had been served up onto two plates, Saguru was there, sat at the table with a pair of chopsticks in his hand.

Kaito smiled warmly at him, glad to see the childishly eager look on the other teen's face. He handed the plate with the spicier dishes on to Saguru, before placing his own on the table by 'his' seat. Saguru dug in with a little more enthusiasm than normal. Kaito frowned.

       Their meal was eaten in relative silence, Saguru only speaking (in English) to complain about the lack of heat to his dish. (Something which still perplexed Kaito. Saguru had a crazy high tolerance for extra spicy food, and that dish was one which would've had Kaito in tears as his tongue singed off.)

     Once their meal was over, Kaito cleared away away their mess and pulled the little grey lever that worked the dove feeders. (A tiny gauge told Kaito he'd need to refill the container soon, but not quite yet.) he then pulled a white flip-phone out of thin air with a dramatic flourish, a four leaf clover charm hanging from it.

     "Uh... Kai? I've been meaning to ask. Who exactly is your ah... contact? You are always so evasive when I ask. About them." Indigo-blue eyes turned ice-cold, causing Saguru to regret asking.

     "Someone you really don't want to upset. Now shhh... it's ringing." Kaito replied firmly, switching back to Japanese.

     "Kai-nii? Make this quick. Ran-neechan's glaring at me. I shouldn't have my phone on at parents evening." A childishly stern voice warned as the 'contact' answered.

     "Parents evening?! I take it you're on speaker phone?" This earned Kaito a raised eyebrow from Saguru.

    "Hai!" The childish cheer wasn't fooling Kaito for a second, though he was fairly sure it'd be effective on the two the chibi Meitantei lived with, and any of his elementary teachers, come to think of it. A voice in the background piped up. Mouri-chan?

     "Conan-kun, go talk to Kai-nii outside ok?" A childish 'hai, Ran-neechan' could be heard and then scuffing sounds as the boy moved to do as he was told. A quick glance assured Kaito that 'Ru couldn't hear Tantei-kun's side of the call. though there were bound to be questions later about the 'parent's evening' comment.

     "So, what was so urgent that you had to call me?" The lack of childishness in his voice told Kaito that there was nobody within earshot of his littlest detective, making it relatively safe to talk.

     (Though considering the not-child was implying he was still at school, safe was only a notion. Small children, Kaito had found, whilst the most appreciative audience, were rather too nosey and absolutely awful at keeping secrets.)

"You won't like it."

"That's a given. Who do you need me to background check?" Kaito barked out a laugh, more nervous than amused. Tantei-kun was scarily perceptive. Of course he'd know why the magician was calling.

"My charming partner's father." Saguru definitely heard the sharp gasp on the other end of the line, and Kaito was fairly sure the rest of japan did too.

"Why do you...?" Kaito cut him off with a slight growl.

"My partner spotted him with Snake, and two others. By his description, I'd say it's the two you blame for your Ah... condition. I can't be sure though." Silence on the other end of the line, drawing out so long Kaito began to worry, until...

"A phone call won't cut it this time. Accidentally bump into us in that little cafe by Beika's biggest bookstore in two days time. I'll hopefully have what you need then. Oh... right. Your dove Tama-chan is in my room. I'll bring her with me. I can't explain right now. I'm hiding from Neechan in the toilets! Ja ne!" The last few words were sung in a childish voice, meaning someone was there with the young detective as he hung up.

A blonde eyebrow raised to join it's already raised partner in question, which had Kaito shaking his head in a warning not to go there. Tantei-kun was a scary, scary not-child, always ten steps ahead. However, he wasn't going to tell Saguru that. It wasn't Kaito's secret to tell after all.

"You'll meet them soon enough 'Ru." Kaito assured, grinning with a fierceness that made the Half-Brit fall off his chair in his haste to back away. Kaito couldn't wait. Saguru was going to be completely utterly shocked when he saw who Kaitou Kid had on his contacts list...