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batsutousaiTitle: Frozen Moonlight
Fandom: Detective Conan/Magic Kaitou
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Kidnapping, hand-wavy medical knowledge
Summary: Kaito's relaxing holiday with the Nakamoris gets turned on its head when a certain miniature detective shows up at the same resort, and then promptly goes missing.
A/N: My first DCMK fic, whoops. ^^; (I swear I told myself, when I fell in love with Magic Kaitou 1412 back when it was releasing, that I wouldn't create for this fandom. I don't know why I ever think that will work.)
I send out ficlets with holiday cards every year, and this fic is inspired by last year's prompt, which was trapped in a cottage because of a blizzard. (In my, very limited, defence, I was supposed to be working on this year's ficlets when my muse got distracted by DCMK. ^^; He finally let me refocus my attention after doing both this fic and a KaiShin piece for this year's cards (see my tumblr for more on that last). I have regrets; my muse is behind most of them.)
No promises about any further fics in the DCMK universe, mostly because I'm honestly not certain I'd trust myself to sort out a heist or a case; mystery has never been my strong suit.
Cross-posted to Archive of Our Own and LiveJournal.
Kaito honestly couldn't understand what had possessed Aoko to think that a ski resort would be a good winter holiday trip, especially since he doubted she'd learnt to ski since their field trip at the beginning of the year. Still, she'd insisted and had even talked her old man into coming along. (Something about work stressing him out? Maybe Kaito shouldn't have put the man into one of Aoko's mum's old dresses during his last heist, but finding the trunk of them hidden in the attic when he'd got bullied into helping clean their house had been too good an opportunity to let pass.)
He'd tried to bow out of the trip – the excuse "But surely it should be just you and your old man," usually worked when she tried to drag him along on 'family holidays' – but she'd determined he was lonely, with his mum not having come home in over a year, and had absolutely refused to take no for an answer.
(The real problem was, of course, that if he didn't have his secret life as Kaitou Kid to keep him distracted, he probably would be missing his mum; it was the longest period they'd ever been apart, and video calls weren't the same as seeing her in the flesh. Especially once he'd realised exactly how much danger both of them would be in, should either of their alternate egos be discovered by the wrong people.)
Kaito's sole saving grace, it seemed, was that Aoko was a lot more worried about her father than Kaito, after the dress incident, so he was able to leave them to their own devices while he took to the slopes, wasting his usual excess of energy in a way he didn't often get to do.
"Okay," he allowed over lunch on their last full day, "maybe this was a good idea."
"Kaito should listen to Aoko more often!" she informed him in return, looking far too proud of herself.
Kaito opened his mouth to tell her it would be an even better holiday if he got the chance to watch her make a fool of herself on the slopes again, when he caught sight of a very familiar gaggle of kids. "Toilet!" he choked out, then made his escape before the smallest thorn in his side could see him; the problem with looking so much like Kudou Shinichi, and letting Conan know it, was that the miniature detective would almost certainly be curious if he spotted him. And the last thing Kaito needed was for Conan to get curious while the head of the Kid Task Force was within spitting distance.
"At least," he muttered to himself as he made for his room, fully intending to collect his skiing things and hide out on the slopes for the rest of the day; even if Conan was as good as Kaito expected he was, he was too young to be allowed on the expert slopes, so there was no chance of them running into each other there, "they waited until today to show up." Because he'd only have to find a way to avoid him for dinner and breakfast, which was minor, in the grand scheme of things.
But, almost two hours after lunch, Kaito glanced up at the sky while he was riding back to the top of the slope to find ominous black clouds rolling in over the mountains.
"We're shutting down the lift," the worker at the top apologised.
"Are you expecting the storm to be bad?" Kaito heard the couple who'd been in the seat behind him ask.
"We're not certain, but we're taking all possible precautions. We're sorry for the inconvenience."
Kaito sighed and took a moment to hope his usual luck prevailed and they'd be able to leave in the morning, then pulled his goggles snuggly back over his eyes and joined the queue at the top of the slope.
Back at the lodge, everyone was being supplied with complimentary hot drinks, and the larger lounge space had been set up with a family-friendly film. Kaito only poked his head in the doorway long enough to spot the Detective Boys' heads, then turned towards the lodge's free library in hopes of finding something halfway decent to read; he'd left all his books at home, intending to spend most of his time skiing or irritating Aoko. He had magic tricks he could practise, but he much preferred doing something that wasn't going to draw attention to himself while the Detective Boys were in the building.
He'd got about three steps when he realised there had only been four little heads in the Detective Boys' group, with the most worrying one absent. "He's probably just in the toilet or getting a drink," he muttered to himself. Just because the miniaturised detective seemed to attract murders, didn't mean he'd got himself into another sticky situation. And, even if he had, it wasn't Kaito's problem.
Still, Kaito didn't get far in the book he'd picked out before he was sneaking back down to peek into the lounge with the film. Conan was still missing, but when he stepped into the room far enough to catch sight of the kids and old inventor's profiles, none of them looked worried, and the seat at the end of the row was empty, despite the otherwise rather packed room, implying someone had been sitting there at some point.
"Walk away," he whispered, and forced himself to leave the lounge.
Once again, he didn't get more than a couple of steps away before stopping. But, this time, it was a young voice behind him saying, "He's been gone for over thirty minutes," that stopped him.
Kaito swallowed – he knew that voice – and quickly yanked a pair of bulky frames out of the pocket inside his sleeve – a 'just in case' measure he was glad he'd taken – shoved them on his face, then turned with a confused smile, looking down at the more serious of the two girls. "Did you say something, little miss?" he asked in rather a close match to Hakuba's voice.
Not quite what he'd been going for, but it would do.
Her eyes were sharp and way too intelligent for her apparent age. "Edogawa-kun," she said. "He left for the toilet and never came back."
Kaito cleared his throat, a little thrown. "I...see."
She turned away. "Be a good thief and go find him for me," she ordered, before returning to the lounge.
The audacity! Kaito had half a mind to just go back to his book and leave the pint-sized detective to get himself out of whatever trouble he'd found that time.
And yet.
He pushed the glasses up his nose a bit and sighed. "You better be in real trouble, tantei-kun, or I'll make you regret ruining my holiday," he muttered, then went to check the nearest men's toilet. He was unsurprised to find no signs of Conan, so checked with the woman manning the free hot drinks. She remembered seeing Conan and serving him a drink, but he'd been with his friends at the time, and she hadn't seen him since.
The lodge's front desk was Kaito's next stop, but they hadn't seen him, and no one had left the lodge since the snow had started, about an hour ago. They hadn't been willing to tell him which room the boy was staying in, despite his claim of them being cousins. Which Kaito appreciated, he did, especially with how many enemies the little detective made, but it did make it harder for him to rule out the possibility that Conan had gone for a nap. (Though he assumed that, in such a case, he would have thought to warn at least one person in his party. Especially given his history of tripping over crimes.)
He was on his way back to the lounge, intending to drag Haibara out to help him, when a cold breeze made him shiver, and then stop.
The whole building was kept at a warm enough temperature that Kaito had opted to leave his jumper in his room with his coat, when he got back from skiing. With everyone inside because of the storm, there shouldn't be any doors or windows opened far enough to let in a draft that was strong enough for him to feel it in the lobby, closer to the side halls or no.
The draft led him down past the toilet he'd checked for Conan, past a couple of 'lodge staff only' rooms, and to a partially opened fire door. And, laying half buried by snow that had blown through the door, was one of the Detective Boys' pins and Conan's mobile.
"Your fucking luck, tantei-kun," Kaito snarled as he picked up the pin and mobile. He pushed the door open enough to see the footprints leading away from the lodge, which were rapidly vanishing under the falling snow, swore, then ran to get his outdoor wear. And he knew he should let someone know where he was going – Aoko or Inspector Nakamori or even Haibara – but there wasn't time. Especially not if he would have to explain how and/or why he gave a damn that some random kid was missing.
What was that saying? Better to ask for forgiveness than permission?
It took him almost twenty minutes to catch up to Conan and his abductors, and he suspected it would have taken a lot longer if they hadn't been weighed down with the miniaturised detective and a sled holding something wrapped in opaque plastic and vaguely the shape of a thin, short person. Conan, Kaito spotted as soon as he was close enough to make out details through the thickly falling snow, wasn't wearing a coat and was hanging limp in the one-armed hold of the person who had him.
The snow would hamper all of their movements, and while Kaito had his card gun on him – he'd learnt early on to never leave home without it – it wasn't meant to seriously injure, and the snow would lessen its effectiveness. Still, it was the best he had, and he needed to get Conan warm, so he pulled it out, aimed as best he could, and shot at the rope lead to the sled.
The rope snapped, and the person holding it panicked, twisting too fast to grab for it and overbalancing. Which made the other person turn towards them and gave Kaito a partially covered face he could aim at; not something he usually liked to do, but needs must, and a kidnapper deserved a blow to the face.
His first shot glanced off the person's goggles, but his second shot got them across the cheek, scoring blood.
"Who the fuck're you?!" the person – male, voice rough like he did a lot of yelling or breathed in smoke on a regular basis – shouted, turning to face Kaito properly and not seeming to notice the cut to their face.
"A gun!?" the other person – voice pitched higher, in that range where they were probably female, but could have been a teenage boy – recognised.
Right, faced numbed by cold; the card gun really was useless. With that sobering thought, Kaito moved forward as quickly as he could manage and used the solid weight of the card gun to knock out the man holding Conan, then twisted and took out the other person while they were scrabbling at their coat, almost certainly reaching for a weapon of their own.
Kaito shoved his card gun into a pocket as he knelt next to the man who'd been holding Conan and extracted the boy from his hold. He yanked off his glove and hissed at how cold the boy's skin was as he felt for a pulse. "Come on, tantei-kun," he whispered.
He didn't feel a pulse, but a shaky breath fogged the outside of his goggles when he hunched over him. Relief warmed him for a moment, but then he remembered he'd have to get Conan back to the lodge, which was a twenty-minute walk, and he wasn't completely certain about the direction, not with the snow falling hard enough to already be erasing his footprints.
His gaze caught on the sled and he frowned. "Where were you two going?" he murmured, twisting to look in the direction they'd been headed. He wasn't certain, but he thought he saw a flicker of light through the snow.
He grit his teeth, didn't even need to think about it to know that going forward was Conan's best chance for survival. So he opened his coat, pulled the boy against his chest, and closed his coat back up as much as he could, then got to his feet and started moving towards the possible light. (He'd worry about the kidnappers later; it would serve them right if they died of hypothermia.)
The flicker of light turned out to be a small cottage, a soft yellow glow of light shining out through one large window, while a small ornate fixture just to the left of the front door glowed with a brilliant white light. There was no sign of life inside when Kaito knocked, and the door opened when he turned the knob. The place clearly had some sort of heating system, because it was warm inside, despite there not being a fire lit in the fireplace.
"Thanks for letting us in," Kaito muttered to the absent owners – he suspected at least one of them was out cold in the snow behind him – as he kicked off his shoes.
He set Conan on the sofa closest to the fireplace, divested him of his damp clothing – and taking the opportunity to throw his blasted belt well out of reach, while pocketing the watch to take apart later – then wrapped him up in his own coat and set about getting a fire lit.
Once he had the fire going, he brought Conan over and sat them both as close to it as he dared, checking over his extremities and doing his best to rub some warmth back into chilled fingers; his shoes and socks had at least served some protection against the cold, but he hadn't been wearing any gloves. Based on how Kaito had found him, it looked like the miniature detective had had the forethought to pull his hands into the sleeves of his jumper and clench both hands into fists, so he'd at least had a little protection.
"If you lose any extremities, just remember it wasn't my fault," Kaito muttered as he left off the rubbing and shifted so he could pull out Conan's mobile. "Also, next time you end up stuck in a lodge while it's snowing, do yourself a favour and keep your gloves on you. Just in case."
It only took two tries for him to figure out Conan's password – the little detective probably thought he was clever, but anyone who knew who he really was could have figured it out before they ran out of tries – and Haibara's name was the second down in his texting app, after Mouri Ran. "Oh," he murmured teasingly as he opened the chat history with Haibara, "looks like you can't even go a few hours without texting your girlfriend."
Conan, unsurprisingly, had no response for that. Which was a pity; it wasn't often that Kaito had the opportunity to tease him about Mouri without chancing a football to the face.
'Tantei-kun got kidnapped. Warming him back up at a cottage about 20 minutes from the lodge. Will return when the snow stops,' he sent to Haibara.
Her response was almost immediate: 'Good thief.'
Maturely, Kaito stuck his tongue out at the mobile.
'The kidnappers?' she sent next.
Kaito sighed and glanced towards the door. "You'd never forgive me if they froze to death," he muttered to the unconscious detective in his lap.
'Left them in the cold. Getting them now,' he sent back, then got up and set Conan back on the sofa, leaving him in his coat while he went looking for alternate clothing or towels or something so the miniaturised detective wouldn't be left naked while Kaito was out collecting the two kidnappers.
There were a few jumpers in the bedroom, which Kaito figured would serve for a while. Also, Conan looked adorable in the too-large jumper, which Kaito took a photo of just for the sheer joy of being able to pull it out at some inopportune moment in future and embarrass the shit out of the little detective. (Privately, mind; he wasn't so cruel as to spread something like that around.)
Once again dressed in his own coat, Kaito left Conan's mobile on the coffee table next to him, obvious and close enough for him to grab without too much trouble, and opened to the chat with Haibara – her response to him saying he was going to get the kidnappers was 'They'll keep,' which had made Kaito laugh – so he would have some idea of where he was and who was nearby, should he wake while Kaito was gone.
It took him longer than he wanted to admit to find the kidnappers, not helped by the snow doing its best to bury them. He checked the sled first, hoping he could use it to cart them, and was vaguely surprised to find guns in the plastic; when Conan got involved, he usually expected a body to be involved, not weapons.
"Won't be needing these," Kaito muttered, shoving the load off the sled and dragging the smaller of the two gunrunners-turned-kidnappers onto the sled in its place. Then he set off, back towards the glimmer of light just visible through the snow.
He set the kidnapper up in the bedroom, sans the gun she'd been carrying, and tied securely but not too tightly with some rope he'd found in the shoe cabinet next to the door. He collected the other kidnapper and set him up similarly, then went back out for the guns; as much as he'd like to leave them behind, it was probably best they not be left laying around for anyone to collect after the snow had melted.
There was a woodshed around the side of the cottage, and Kaito stashed the collection of guns, as well as the three he'd taken from the gunrunners, in there, grabbed a couple of log quarters to restock the collection inside, then returned to the cottage.
Conan was awake and glaring drowsily towards Kaito when he stepped back inside. He was holding his mobile, suggesting he'd caught himself up on recent events. "Kid," he said after a moment.
Kaito cleared his throat and toed off his shoes. "Tantei-kun," he said in return.
He heard a quiet thud and glanced over, finding that Conan had tossed his mobile onto the coffee table and was glaring at it. "My clothing?" he asked, rather obviously not looking at Kaito.
"Drying in the bathroom," Kaito replied as he walked over to drop the logs onto the pile next to the fireplace. "And the gunrunners are tied up in the bedroom," he added as he pulled off his goggles, replacing them with the thick-lensed glasses.
"The guns?" Conan demanded.
"Safe. You can direct the police to them once the snow has cleared."
"Yeah, okay," Conan agreed, sounding tired.
"If you're tired, sleep," Kaito suggested drily as he shrugged out of his coat. "It looks like it'll be a while before the snow clears."
"I'm not tired," Conan insisted, sounding very much like he was in danger of falling back to sleep.
Kaito turned his best approximation of Aoko's disapproving stare on the miniaturised detective. "You don't trust me," he assumed, and hoped it wasn't obvious how much that rankled; Kaito might be a thief, but he still had morals, at least when it came to lives being on the line, and he'd thought that Conan, of all of the people intent on putting him behind bars, got that.
"I trust you fine," Conan was quick to reply, no hint of hesitation in his voice.
Kaito blinked.
Conan made a face. "I trust you right now. You're not a killer. And you're..." He trailed off and waved his hand at Kaito. Then he frowned. "Glasses? Really?"
"I got the idea from Superman," Kaito explained, then flashed a wide, slightly manic grin at him.
"From Superman," Conan repeated, sounding like he couldn't decide if he believed him or not.
Kaito snorted and turned away, looking towards the kitchen. "Would you rather I say I got the idea from you?"
"Ah."
They were both quiet as Kaito poked through the cupboards, eventually coming up with some tinned soup, a box of tea, a medium pot, and a ceramic kettle. He didn't know about Conan, but he could use some food and a hot drink.
"Why are you even here?" Conan asked once Kaito had everything heating on the hob and had gone looking for dishes.
"Contrary to whatever you might believe, I don't make a habit of stalking you," Kaito replied, irritated. "A friend insisted I join them for their holiday."
"I don't–" Conan let out a frustrated noise, and Kaito glanced over at him with raised eyebrows. "I know you don't stalk me, idiot! I mean why are you here! Why get involved?"
Oh. Kaito turned back to the cupboard and forced himself to take a breath as he pulled down a mug; he really should have known better than to assume the miniature detective's meaning. "It's not hard to notice that you tend to attract trouble, tantei-kun, often more than you can handle on your own. And I may be a criminal, but I draw the line at endangering lives, whether by action or inaction."
"So why not call the police and let them handle it?" Conan asked.
It was only because he sounded honestly confused, that Kaito was able to calmly turn around and ask, "Would you have?"
Conan opened his mouth, then frowned and closed it, shaking his head.
Kaito turned back to the soup, picking out a wooden spoon from the holder of utensils on the worktop to stir it. "The snow was already covering the traces of anyone passing; it was faster for me to go after you alone, than to try and gather help."
Conan was silent for a long moment before saying, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Kaito replied quietly.
The silence that fell between them was a comfortable one. Far more so, Kaito mused, than any silence between himself and Hakuba had ever been. But, then, Conan had always been more willing to bend a few rules, especially when it came to their little rivalry.
He half expected to find Conan had fallen asleep by the time he'd served out a bowl of soup and a mug of tea, but the miniaturised detective had turned his attention to staring at the fire, a particular set to his expression that Kaito assumed meant he was doing his best to stay awake.
Rather than reopen the previous debate about trust, Kaito said, "You realise you owe me for this."
Conan huffed. "Fine. Next time I have you cornered, I won't stop you from escaping."
"Oh, this is worth more than just one escape, tantei-kun," Kaito insisted, even as he held out the bowl of soup in an offer to share.
Conan's expression went flat and unimpressed. "No one forced you to come after me."
"Exactly! Selfless acts of bravery should be worth at least two passes."
"One," Conan intoned, then motioned for the mug of tea with the one hand he'd managed to work all the way through the too-big sleeves.
Kaito sighed and passed the mug over. "Fine, one for rescuing you, one for taking you back to the lodge."
"How is that supposed to deserve a pass?" Conan muttered into the mug.
"Disguising as Kudou Shinichi always deserves a pass," Kaito insisted. Because, somehow, he always ended up having to deal with the police and play detective. And he'd have to make a quick escape before the Nakamoris left without him, while still staying around long enough to ensure Conan would be properly taken care of, and that someone would be sent for the gunrunners and their guns; it was going to be a huge hassle.
"No way!" Conan shouted, nearly spilling tea all over his borrowed jumper. "Disguise yourself as someone else!"
"Coming after you was more important than getting any disguises," Kaito informed him. "That leaves me with two options, and I don't have any interest in revealing my civilian identity to you."
Conan hunched over the mug, looking sour. "You'd probably demand an infinite number of passes in trade," he muttered.
Now why hadn't Kaito thought of that?
"Ran's always a misery after you play Shinichi, though. Especially if she doesn't get to see him."
"So just tell her Kid had to rescue your idiotic arse again."
"That's even worse!"
Kaito couldn't help it; he burst out laughing.
After a moment of looking insulted, Conan joined him.
In the end, Kaito did end up playing Kudou, as much because one of the rescue team sent from the lodge the next morning had guessed that was who he was when he opened the door, as anything else. He hovered around Conan long enough to determine the rescue team knew exactly what they were doing and that they would be transporting him to hospital as soon as they got back to the lodge, then took a member of the rescue team to see the gunrunners and where the guns had been stashed.
He let the rescuer head into the wood shed ahead of him, called out directions to the stash of guns, then made his escape back to the lodge.
Aoko yelled at him for disappearing all night when she found him attempting to sneak back to his room, but shut up when he revealed the winter wonderland snow globe he'd bought for her for just such an occasion.
Somehow, despite Kaito taking his time packing up his things and Aoko wanting to making one last stop in the gift shop – which ended up taking almost thirty minutes, because she couldn't decide what she wanted to get for each of her friends – they stepped out of the lodge as Conan was being loaded into an ambulance, the rest of the Detective Boys being herded towards the carpark by Professor Agasa.
Kaito knew he should have ducked his head down, or turned and teased Aoko so he had an excuse to make a quick escape, or 'remembered something he'd forgot'; should have done anything but met Conan's eyes.
And yet.
He knew the moment the miniaturised detective recognised who he was with, because his eyes went wide behind his glasses.
And then, for some reason, he started to laugh, loud and delighted, like he'd just been handed the punchline to the best joke.
Kaito knew there was a reason Conan was his favourite detective.
.
