A soft flutter of unfamiliar wings announced the arrival of a dove, a dove that was most certainly not Tama-chan. (How had he known it was a dove anyway? All he'd heard was the animal's wing beats. It just wasn't possible. Was it?).

A pair of gnarled little legs gripped ahold of the magician's wrist, the white bird shooting a rather grumpy look at it's master before settling comfortably. (How could it do that? Kai-nii was still trying to break in, so his wrist was constantly moving!)

/Geez, how long does it take you to figure out these aren't normal locks, you moron.\ The dove grumped, sounding distinctly masculine. Conan blinked at the dove with mild amusement. He seemed almost like Tama-chan, only much... well, he wasn't sure. He'd call this dove bossy, only that didn't quite fit.

The dove had very gnarled legs, rough and twisted skin making it look like burn marks, now he looked closer. And those pristine white feathers weren't so white as he'd first thought. No, there were little flecks of black and grey peppered lightly all over him. Almost like specks of ash. Had he been caught in a fire? Or had he hatched like that?

     (He dismissed the first thought as highly unlikely as he considered it more. A birds feathers moulted and changed over time, making it highly probable that this dove had hatched looking like he was covered in flecks of ash.)

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Kaito sighed in exasperation as he failed yet again to pick the lock. Mouri-chan has been very clear; if he wanted to help, he had to break into the Kudo manor. She'd enforced her point by slamming her fist into the front gate, leaving obvious dents in it.

The magician nodded to his dove as the bird landed on his wrist, but continued with failing to break in, not bothered in the slightest by the rough and scarred little feet digging into his hand, restricting movement only fractionally. A quick glance at the flecked feathers told Kaito which dove it was.

Al was his oldest dove, his first dove and probably the luckiest bird in the whole flock. Al, who'd survived countless injuries and accidents over the years. Ok, so he'd thought he'd lost his first pet way back when he was seven, when the bird had gone missing for a few days –or had it been weeks? Kaito couldn't really remember, it'd been around the same time his dad had died in that so called stage accident– but he was such a sweet, stubborn, sly, sturdy little thing and was one of Kaito's most reliable and intelligent spy doves.

"Hey Al. I don't think I've ever been stumped by a lock before." The magician greeted, petting the dove in a calming manner after another failed attempt at breaking in. The bird fluffed his feathers out at him and cooed, reminding Kaito of the other bird in his company, who was apparently looking rather amused at the whole situation.

The falcon-like detective on his shoulder made a sort of whistling cry, which seemed to be aimed at Al, who cooked back with a curious yet wary look. Kaito felt a little lost as the birds seemed to trade a rapid-fire set of coos and not-quite-screeches.

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Conan heard Kai-nii greet the dove by name, and committed it to memory in case he wanted to talk to the smaller bird in the future. He was just a little annoyed that he couldn't talk right now. He'd never outright tell the thief how to get into his house, but he would have at least dropped a hint or two. But then... Ran had obviously locked him out for a reason, so... maybe not?

     Al shot him a curious yet wary look, before cracking a dove equivalent of Kid's grin. Ok. That was just.... creepy. Really creepy. The bird turned his attention back to his Master. /You know, even normal thieves would have twigged that these are puzzle locks by now. What's taking you so long?\ The Grey flecked dove cooed in exasperation, not expecting to be understood by his human. Conan made a sort of whistle sound to get his attention. Beady eyes stared at him.

     /I don't think your Master has read the Night Baron books yet. Do you have any way to tell him these locks aren't detective proof? I think that would help.\ The dove clicked his beak twice in quick succession, before answering.

     /well... we do have a Morse code style tap code? Us Spy birds have several short-wing words as well.... what?\ Conan was trying to suppress a gleeful cackle. Mostly a surprised sort of glee. Of course they had a way to talk to and report to their Master. Why had he ever assumed otherwise?

     /Of course you do. Did he teach you? Or did someone else?\ Al shot him a look that implied the Falcon hybrid was crazy.

     /Black feather, the first Phantom Thief, taught me. I taught the rest of my flock, and Tama-chan led white feather, the second Phantom Thief,  to Black Feather's notebook. Now... if you don't mind, fledgling, I have something to tell the imbecile.\ conan ruffled his feathers slightly at being called a fledgling. Somehow, he knew that was meant as an insult of sorts.

     The look on Kaito's face as he heard Al's tap-code more than made up for it though. It was as if a light had been turned on in a very dark room. The rather dark glare turned into a more familiar grin as the master thief picked the lock with renewed zest, actually going about it the right way this time.

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     Conan ruffled his wings as he settled on Ran's shoulder, earning a sweet chuckle as he preened his feathers. It wasn't something he was really thinking about, it was just something that felt right. Ran didn't seem to mind either. Hopefully she didn't find it too adorable.

     The currently winged detective was relatively happy with how things had gone with Ran and Kaito; Ran hadn't mauled Kaito, and Kaito hadn't pranked Ran. The falcon hybrid was a little apprehensive though. Sure, he should be able to change back into his abnormal self, if the Raven was to be believed. However... Haibara would be like a starved vampire the moment she clapped eyes on 'Conan'. After all, she was fully under the belief that he'd flipped sizes from Kid Killer to Heisei Holmes earlier.

     (Well... he had flipped sizes, but not in the way the evil eyed devil spawn thought. She probably wouldn't believe him if he told her he'd been gifted what basically boiled down to a mystical ability and he had a gut feeling that he was supposed to keep his special gift a secret. Nobody needed to know he was even more of a freak than he already seemed to be.)

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Ran smiled in that soft, sweet sisterly way she had at Conan. He was clicking out what he wanted to say, causing the karate champion to shake her head in fond, mock despair. Conan, oblivious to the fact he was technically worrying out loud, continued on. Ran noted that it was mostly about Hattori-kun and Kuroba-san's dove Al, who was apparently more like Kudo-san than the avian Shin'ichi could handle.

Of course, she'd been grateful for Kuroba-kun's assistance, especially when he'd gone so far as to cover for Conan's disappearance. She was so grateful, in fact, that she'd covered for the thief when Takagi-keiji began asking awkward questions, before practically forcing him to agree to dinner, promising her future aid, if he could get into the mansion unaided...

...The basic locks of the manor should've been no problem, yet it'd taken Kuroba-kun a shocking half an hour to break in. How he hadn't been caught by nosey neighbours or the overly paranoid little demon-biochemist not-child next door was beyond even Conan, if the bird's ranting was to be believed.

Once Conan-kun had calmed down enough to stop his ranting, Ran gently prompted him to change back. She was well aware that the clothes he'd been wearing were currently folded and waiting on the coffee table, along with his shoes, watch, glasses and belt. That meant Conan-kun would most likely be completely naked if and when he changed back.

The sleek falcon hopped off her shoulder, a single mottled brown feather sticking out of his beak, where he'd preened one wing earlier. Ran had a hard time holding back the laugh which threatened to bubble up at the sight; the currently feathered detective looked so comically cute; but she managed it for Shin'ichi's sake. She couldn't resist plucking the feather from his sharp little beak though.

He looked just a little nervous, she supposed. Was it because he didn't want her to seem him naked? Shin'ichi was fairly shy about that sort of thing after all, even around other men -except when he was on a case of course. It was spooky, how calm the detective was on a case, even when, or maybe especially when, he was little Conan-kun.

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Conan started up at Ran for several moments for where he was perched on the edge of the coffee table, rather embarrassed at the thought of Ran seeing him, even as Conan, without even a stitch on him. But it was either that, or stay as a bird for goodness knows how long, possibly forever.

Strangely enough, he trusted his scary scary Karate Champion 'sister' with his life, so why not what little dignity he had left as well? It wasn't like he was attracted to the ladies either. (Which was admittedly why he had such a difficult time at high school, changing into sports gear around the other boys was just... too awkward. Luckily he'd had the ready made excuse of 'I don't want anyone dropping dead on me so I will change separately, thank you very much.')

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Ran was both fascinated and greatly concerned as she watched her childhood-friend-turned-little-brother's feathery frame sort of just... snap back into the tiny detective she knew and loved. He looked disoriented for the briefest of seconds before snatching at his clothes and bolting for the nearest bathroom. Ran noticed the distinct limp her small charge had, even if he seemed determined to ignore it.

(Though why the Kudo's needed four bathrooms, she'd never know. Shin'ichi even had his own en-suite!)

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Hakuba Saguru was having a rather rough day. It had started ok, he supposed. Nakamori-chan had dragged them off to a shopping centre one of her friends had recently recommended. He and Kaito had spent a generous part of their morning trying to convince the crazy 'mop-fu' girl that she really, really shouldn't buy the red dress she'd tried on because it just plain did not suit her.

(Kaito had only semi-jokingly said even he suited that dress better, only to get a mop to the head. Which begged the question. Where had Nakamori-chan hidden that mop? Was it really a telescopic handle? It had to be basic sleight of hand. Right?)

They'd then proceeded to browse a few other, less girly, shops, before heading over to a cafe-slash-bakery that Kaito had insisted on going to for an early lunch. Saguru had chosen a simple English style sandwich and a modest little fruit parfait, whereas Kaito, the madman, had gone for nothing but a monstrous piece of chocolate cake that was more chocolate pieces than actual cake.

Nakamori-chan had chosen a fairly normal sandwich, and what was possibly the worst cake she could have in the entire shop -an entirely too realistic koi-carp complete with black and white mottled markings made out of coloured icing- which had caused his magician to shriek in fright and plaster himself to the back of the furthest part of the bench when it arrived at the table.

This, in turn, attracted the attention of one Suzuki Sonoko, self proclaimed president of the Kaitou Kid fan-club, and of course the Kid-Killer Edogowa-kun had to be hot on the heiress' heels.

It had been... a fair shock to learn Edogowa-kun knew about Kaito's civilian identity. Even more so to realise the seven year old knew about the magician's extremely unusual phobia. And then the shocks just kept on coming as Nakamori-chan revealed that she too knew about the magician's 'night job' and had even covered for him on more than one occasion.

For at least several months. Oh, and apparent Edogowa-kun had turned out to be both Kaitou Kid's contact and more involved in the whole mess than even Kid was.

Who the bloody hell had a seven year old -no matter how unutterably bright said seven year old was- as his go to guy on the matters concerning certain alcoholic/wildlife problems both Saguru and his lunatic magician boyfriend shared?

Of course, then he'd somehow wound up in his idol's living room. Being given a comprehensive and serious explanation by said idol, who just so happened to be currently seven and going by the name Edogowa Conan.

How the bloody hell had his life become a bizarre murder-mystery-fantasy novel for pete's sake?

Mystical immortality granting gems and classmate witches aside, Kudo-sempai was probably the single most reality breaking person he'd ever met -and that was saying something, considering Saguru's boyfriend was an internationally wanted magician thief seemingly hell bent on breaking reality all on his own.

To learn that his idol, the Heisei-Holmes himself, was far more involved with whatever mess Kaito was in than either of them had thought...

Kudo-sempai was frighteningly good at all of this; having planned ten different contingencies and set them all up just in case, in less than 48hours.... whilst looking like a nerdy little seven year old brat. That was... downright terrifying.

Once all that was over and done with, just as they were leaving with Nakamori-chan still in tow, Edogowa-kun had received a phone call. A phone call that had the miniature detective asking to borrow Kaito and leaving Saguru with Nakamori-chan, who'd shrugged as if this was normal and forcibly dragged him back to Kaito's. She was very firm in her belief that 'Kaito will be fine, he's Kaito for heavens sake.' When the detective had tried protest.

     By the time he'd gotten to Kaito's home -his too, at least until Baaya came home- the eventful morning was starting to tell on him, and Saguru had practically collapsed into the soft armchair he'd all but claimed with a soft groan.

     Damnit, he felt too tired. (And dizzy, mildly nauseous and completely, utterly fed up with feeling ill all the time. But don't tell Kai or Nakamori-chan that.) it wasn't even 3PM yet! The half-Brit did worry about his seemingly declining health though.

     He couldn't worry Kai or Nakamori-chan though. He just... couldn't. He didn't want to add to the magician's mounting stress, and the mop-wielding maniac know as Nakamori Aoko was worried enough about her father and Kaitou Kid.

     Since the scare he'd given everyone just over a month ago, Saguru had found it harder to do... pretty much everything, really. Some mornings he'd feel physically fine, but then a case would crop up and he'd find himself thinking through and solving cases much slower. Others he'd wake up in full-body agony, writhing in pain that he'd so far managed to convince his boyfriend were echos of some nightmare or other.

     Then there were days like today, where he'd start out ok, but be on the edge of collapse by the early afternoon. His vision would blur, like it was currently, his body would flare in pain and he'd just wish the pain to stop until he passed out.

     Nakamori-chan busied herself in the kitchen, probably brewing a nice, British cuppa, like she usually did for him when Kaito was out. Saguru just sat there, aware of what she was doing, but not really paying any real attention to her. He felt... oddly distant from the world. He didn't even register the hot cup that was placed in his hands, the not quite reflexive action of grasping it automatic.

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     Aoko watched with mounting concern as Hakuba-kun spaced out, unaware of anything, (even the mop she shove at his face!) the cup of tea still clasped in his hands despite it probably burning the palms by now. Palms that were connected to hands that had a very fine tremor to them.

     Aoko lurched forwards suddenly, arms outstretched. Saguru pitched forward at about the same time, a cry escaping his lips and hot tea flying everywhere, though the liquid miraculously missed both teens. One pale hand shot up to his chest, clutching at it as if in great pain. All Aoko could do was hold him steady in her arms, unable to lift him as they were, but also unable to move her grip without running the rest of dropping him.

     Aoko didn't know how long she crouched there, just holding her friend like that. What she did know what's the worry and dread creeping though her at the realisation that this reaction of Hakuba-kuns was similar to something she'd heard about only that morning. (And sort of seen, thanks to Kaito's terrifying yet brilliant acting.)

     But... that was impossible. Right? Kudo-san was able to change sizes, having been fed an experimental poison after suffering head trauma. The talking to birds thing was because Akako had apparently took pity on him after being caught in one of her physics defying traps. Or something like that anyway. Hakuba-kun hadn't been poisoned. If he had been, he'd be dead or a toddler right now. Right?

     Eventually, the Brit came to enough for her to help him back into the armchair, though he wasn't exactly coherent as such. Aoko would almost say he was acting sleep deprived or maybe even drunk, but she knew full well Hakuba-kun didn't drink and got a full eight hours rest every night. Even with BaKaito in the house.

     She cleared up the spilt tea, then went up to the spare room that was currently Hakuba-kun's, returning to the Brit with a soft fleece blanket that she chucked over him. He didn't respond to the kindness either, Which was highly out of character for him. She'd have to talk to Kaito about it when he came back from wherever Kudo-kun had dragged him to.