Post by Mikauzoran on Aug 28, 2016 0:40:50 GMT
Word Count: 5,363
Rating: T
Mikau: Sorry I'm a little late in getting this posted. Today was my Grandma's eighty-fourth birthday party, so it's been a busy day. I didn't get around to my final read through until everyone left. But here it is: Tiny and my collab project. Well, the first chapter anyway. I hope you enjoy it, even though it is a little rough.
“With all due respect, Sir,” Kuroba Kaito started their most likely one-sided conversation with a huff, “if you send me to Colorado one more time, I’m going to die.” Before his boss, James Dubois, could get a word in edgewise, Kaito plowed on. “The FBI thinks that just because I was—was—a criminal, I’d be willing to smoke a joint for the sake of a cover. Did you know that cannabis is legal there?”
“Yes,” Dubois replied without missing a beat, setting his papers down momentarily to regard Kaito. “Kuroba, that can’t be the only reason you’re here. What do you want?”
Kaito scowled, and James sighed. No matter how irritating Kaito was, he had to admit that he was an asset if Interpol ever had one; after all, not every major police organization could claim the infamous Kaitou KID as one of their own agents.
“I want to stop being sent on shoddy cases that break my morals just because the local cops don’t want to break their own.” He paused a moment before adding resolutely, “I want to go back to Japan. For good.”
“Okay.”
“...Wait, really?”
Kaito’s boss took a moment to savor the look of surprise on his face before nodding and returning his attention to the papers he had been reading before Kaito had barged in.
“I have a case file here from Division Two of the Japanese Metropolitan Police Department—I’m aware that you’re very familiar with them.”
Kaito snorted amusedly in response, unable to forget the years he had that whole group of gullible cops known as a ‘task force’ chasing after him.
“See, they have something of a smuggling problem on their hands. Ah—” He held the file away from Kaito as the thief tried to reach for it. “You know the drill, Kuroba. Details after you accept the case. Now, as I was saying, it’s been....what, a few years already you’ve been working with us? If you do a good job on this case, then I’d see no problem with transferring you over to Japan permanently.”
Kaito raised an eyebrow before reaching over to try and snatch the documents. This time, James let him take them, and watched as Kaito skimmed the document, scowling. “Barely anything here. Details, my arse.”
“You know how the Japanese are—no offense, of course,” James added with a wave of his hand. “They didn’t want to give us too much, thought we’d try to take over the case.”
That earned an eye roll from Kaito. “Of course you’re not trying to do that. You’re sending me to do that instead.” He ignored his boss’s resigned sigh in favor of staring at the document more. “So you’re saying that all I have to do is clean up this mess and I’m a free man.”
“Technically a free man. You’d still have to do work for Tokyo, of course, but no more Interpol...unless you prefer working in Colorado.” The face that Kaito made assured him that he would rather not. “That’s what I thought.”
Kaito was quiet for a few moments more before sighing. “All right, I’ll do it. But you better keep your word, okay? Once this case is done, I’m gone.”
“Of course,” James reassured him. In all honesty, he probably would have been glad to be rid of Kaito. His attitude was so bad sometimes that his usefulness barely made up for it. “And one more thing, Kuroba,” he added as Kaito began to turn away.
Kaito didn’t turn back, but huffed slightly. “What now?”
“Try not to kill your partner.”
"Hey, Hakuba? …Earth to Hakuba Saguru. …Hakuba-no-niisan!"
Saguru jumped, but once he'd recovered from the jolt of adrenaline and recognized the speaker, he smiled sheepishly. "What are you, seven again, Kudo?"
Shinichi took a seat on the other officer's desk and returned the grin with a chuckle. "Just trying to get your attention, space cadet."
Saguru rolled his eyes, shuffling some papers to look busy. "I'm just glad you weren't Inspector Mamiya catching me zoning out on the job. But what are you doing over here? Just come to pester me? Do you really think Division One can spare their star player, Kudo?"
Shinichi laughed, shaking his head. "Just checking up on you. And I think Takagi-keibu and the team can hold the fort for half an hour while I wander down the hall."
Saguru smiled, remembering, "He's due to go on paternity leave again in a few weeks, isn't he? And then you'll be in charge."
Shinichi waved Saguru away. "Unofficially."
"It'll be official soon enough," Saguru assured, excited for his friend, but slightly bothered that his own career…life wasn't really going anywhere. "A promotion on the way, and a wedding next June after Ran-san passes the Bar…. At least one of us is excelling," he added in a mumble.
Shinichi frowned, lightly bopping his friend on the head with a practically empty file folder. "Hakuba, you just busted a crew of bank robbers yesterday, and last week you took down that forger. Don't you think you're being a little too critical?"
Saguru shrugged and grumbled. "I really didn't do much. Just helped the team, played my part."
"Dragged everyone else through the cases," Shinichi added pointedly. "One of these days you're going to get back some of that annoying self-confidence that you had when I first met you."
Saguru shook his head and smiled wryly. "I was a dumb kid, and my father was right. It only took a year or two of doing real detective work to curb my enormous ego, and it's never recovered."
Shinichi pursed his lips, holding back an admonishment about how Hakuba was 1) an idiot, 2) doing "real" detective work even before he started with the task force, and 3) to Division Two what Shinichi was to Division One, so he should stop being so hard on himself already. Shinichi knew it wouldn't do any good, even if he did say all of that out loud. He'd been trying throughout their friendship to convince Hakuba, but nothing he'd said thus far had successfully changed the Brit’s mind.
He reluctantly let it go and switched topics, finally getting around to the whole purpose of his visit…in a roundabout way. "So what's up with you? Any new projects?"
He tried to sound casual, burying in nonchalance the anxiety that that unexpected phone call from an old frenemy the previous evening had dredged up within him.
But Hakuba shrugged. "Not yet. I'm still doing paperwork from the bank robbers bust."
Shinichi nodded. Then he hadn't heard yet.
"So what were you so lost in thought over when I disturbed you?" A light, teasing tone came back into Shinichi's voice.
Saguru chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "Oh, I was writing my report, and if you haven't already heard, I ended up chasing one of the culprits into the sewer and tackling him. It was…" Saguru cringed. "…messy. And I was just thinking that…" Here his smile waned, turning bittersweet. "…it's been a long time since I've been covered in sludge on the job like that. And then that one thought led to another, and…"
Shinichi nodded in understanding. "KID used to cover us in confetti and glitter and glue and gunk, didn't he? I can't say I really miss it, though."
Hakuba grunted, looking down at his papers and getting lost in thought again. "I wonder where he's gotten to. Aoko-san told me he'd gone overseas for work, but…that was after the fact. He never said anything about it to me. Never even bothered to say goodbye," Saguru grumbled, remnants of bitterness coming to the surface, but it wasn't even a tenth of what he'd felt four years ago when he'd found his best friend simply gone without a trace.
Shinichi winced (and was glad that Hakuba was too engrossed in his own reverie to see it). He wished he could explain where KID had neglected to do so, help Hakuba to understand, but…it really wasn't his secret to share—classified.
Instead he replied gently, "Maybe he couldn't say goodbye. Or maybe it was too hard. I mean, you guys were pretty good friends by the end of university, by the time Aoko-san got through forcing you to spend time with one another, right?"
Saguru gave a little snort and looked up, smiling ruefully. "Well, I thought so, but seeing as he vanished and hasn't bothered to contact me once in almost half a decade, I'd say that the feeling wasn't mutual, and I have not been missed."
"Hakuba," Shinichi breathed, getting down off the desk and turning to fully face his friend in concern.
"But that was years ago, and I'm over it," Saguru declared, adjusting his expression accordingly with the skill of a seasoned actor…or someone deep in denial.
Shinichi frowned, but resisted the urge to answer with a sarcastic "Obviously".
Just then, Inspector Mamiya paused in the doorway and barked, "Hakuba! I need to speak with you. My office."
Saguru paled, muttering, "I bet it's about the fraud case that I made a mess of the other day. They're finally going to fire me," he sighed.
Shinichi didn't bother replying that Hakuba meant ‘the fraud case that his team had screwed up’ because they hadn't listened to Hakuba. Shinichi was too busy worrying that he knew what Mamiya really wanted, and he was afraid that things were about to get messy.
Saguru took a deep breath before knocking tentatively on the open door and stepping inside his superior's office. "You had wanted to speak with me, Sir?"
"Yes. Shut the door and take a seat," the aging officer sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose, trying to fend off the headache dealing with interagency bureaucracy was giving him.
"If it's about the Yamazaki case, Sir, I can explain," Saguru began, only to be waved off.
"Hakuba-kun, you don't need to explain senior officers thinking they know better than their smarter junior," Mamiya snorted. "Now come in and sit down."
Saguru did as ordered, all the while searching his memory for some other recent failure that had landed him in his boss's boss's office.
Mamiya didn't keep him waiting long. "What I'm about to tell you is classified, but there's a very important case that I need you to work on. A certain yakuza family heavily involved in smuggling arms, drugs, art, and you name it has recently been upsetting the power balance, and we can't overlook them anymore. We're sending an officer in undercover to gain enough evidence to dismantle them."
Saguru paled and pointed to himself. "You mean me? But, Sir—with all due respect—I have no experience with undercover work, and I'm a little…" Saguru bit his lip. "My European heritage makes me a little conspicuous in Japan."
Mamiya shook his head. "You're a talented officer, Hakuba, and you think fast on your feet. It may be a bit of a trial by fire, but you can do this. Besides, you'll be in good hands. We reached out to Interpol, and they're sending their best."
Stunned and almost speechless at his chief's praise, Saguru managed to piece together, "But why me?"
"They asked for you," Mamiya informed. "I believe it has something to do with the fact that their man is technically a criminal consultant serving as an agent in lieu of a jail sentence, and they thought you'd more readily work with him than some of our other officers, but even still…" He paused and looked Saguru directly in the eye. "Hakuba-kun, I wouldn't give you this case if I didn't have full confidence you could do it, regardless of Interpol's requests. You need to stop thinking you only have this job because of who your father is. You earn your keep. Now will you accept the case?"
Saguru stood and saluted, unable to contain the overwhelming joy he felt. He was good enough. He was wanted. "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir."
"Excellent. I thought so." Mamiya let a slight smile slip through his exhaustion. "Well then, let's go. He's waiting in briefing room three."
It was like being knocked off his feet. "What? Now? The Interpol agent's here already?" Saguru stuttered out, his mind whirling as things happened a little fast.
He would have liked a night to sleep on it, think things over before he was thrown into an undercover mission, going amongst yakuza with some unsavory ex-criminal for a partner…with whom he would be entrusting his safety…his life.
Then again, it was probably best to get it over with, pass the point of no return before his brain could truly catch up and his good sense change his mind. At least, that's what he tried to convince himself as Mamiya briskly walked him down the hall to briefing room three.
When Mamiya opened the door and Saguru got a look at his new partner, it was a blow to the gut with a crowbar, and a violent swarm of emotions welled up within him, ripping through him like a cyclone: anger and relief; fear and peace; pain and joy. It took him no time at all to recognize the person in front of him, but it felt like years before his brain caught up to his heart, and in the haze, he barely heard Mamiya say, "This is Agent Kuroba Kaito, one of Interpol's most talented operatives. I'll leave you two to get acquainted, but Inspector Yukimura will be coming to brief you. She should be here in a few minutes."
Thoughts raced through his mind like hounds on the scent: this was a dream—no, a nightmare. What was Kuroba doing here?! And “Agent”?! Since when?! But, man, he looked good. And Saguru was glad to see his long-lost friend. Was Kuroba glad to see him? And how should Saguru react?
He wanted to punch the thief and scream, "Where have you been, you jerk, and why did you never call me?!" He wanted to hug the magician and shout, "Thank God! I was so afraid you were dead in a ditch somewhere!"
What he actually did was stare in dumb shock until Kuroba broke the silence.
Kaito had never gotten used to police stations. Although he was firmly on the right side of the law now, he always felt like the briefings in those claustrophobic, blindingly white conference rooms were going to turn into vicious interrogations without warning if he let his guard down.
It was probably because the law enforcement officials he worked with never really saw him as a fellow agent. He was the criminal consultant—emphasis on criminal. Even though he had been with Interpol longer than he had been KID, those two years in high school before he started working with the FBI always seemed to be what his partners (handlers) focused on. It kind of made it hard to make friends at work, and it wasn't like Kaito was stationed anywhere long enough to form any meaningful bond with civilians—even if he had been free to divulge the personal details necessary to become more than casual acquaintances. As it stood, everything that he was was classified, and it could get lonely after hours without the adrenaline rush of his undercover missions to keep his mind busy.
Kaito set down the pen he had been fiddling with and glanced at the door, then the clock, then back to the door. With a sigh, he picked up the pen once more and began twirling it around.
He was so ready for some semblance of "normal" again. It had been almost four years since he'd left his hopes and dreams for the future, his friends, his family, his entire life behind to be Interpol's gofer in order to avoid jail. He knew it was the right choice. He would have been wasted in prison, and he'd done so much good, but…it was breaking him. He was lonely, irritated, fatigued, and sick of the abuse he got from his various partners. He needed stability and comfort—something familiar, something he could trust and fall back upon.
He put down the pen and stood up, pacing to burn off some of the nervous energy.
As excited as he was to get this mission underway, to prove his worth, and to earn a permanent place for himself, he was also apprehensive with a touch of anxiety. Any minute now he was going to see Hakuba again, and he honestly didn't know what to expect.
Originally, when he had first requested to work with Hakuba, he had predicted that the Brit would smack him upside the head for taking off out of the blue, and then they'd laugh it off, rile each other up with old taunts, and confess that they'd missed one another. That was the way things had been between them when Kaito had left. They'd been close, like brothers, and Kaito had imagined that they could step back into those roles after the initial surprise had passed.
According to the phone conversation he'd had with Kudo Shinichi the previous evening, however, that wouldn't be the case.
"I doubt he'll be happy to see you, Kuroba," Shinichi had warned. "How would you feel if someone ran out on you and then tried to shoehorn their way back into your life after so many years?"
Kaito chewed on the inside of his cheek.
Okay, maybe Hakuba would be ticked a little longer than Kaito had first anticipated, but…wouldn't Hakuba's joy at seeing an old friend again outweigh his anger? Surely Hakuba wasn't still upset over a four year-old incident. Kaito was certain he could get the detective to crack a smile and laugh about it without too much effort, and then all would be forgiven once Kaito had the opportunity to explain his absence.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to leave the inside of his cheek alone. Everything was going to be fine.
Kaito's ear twitched at the sound of a heavy hand on the door handle. He took another breath and prepared his trademark smirk, despite buzzing with excitement on the inside.
The door opened to find Kaito looking smug as he nonchalantly rested an elbow on the back of one of the chairs, exuding confidence. He straightened as Mamiya and Hakuba entered, giving a polite bow so as to start off on the right foot with the top brass.
He studied Hakuba's face as Mamiya introduced him, and the look of shock and bewilderment was exactly as Kaito had imagined. Soon it would change to outrage and then annoyance to teasing and then begrudging delight at the reunion.
Kaito grinned as Mamiya turned to go, and he made sure to inject a healthy dose of playful heckling into his tone as he chuckled. "Surprise! Long time no see, Hakuba. Did you…miss…"
Kaito trailed off, smirk faltering as Hakuba's expression failed to make the predicted changes. Instead of angered or annoyed, Hakuba looked more scared, almost wounded, than anything. Chiefly his expression was one of daze, but in his eyes there was fear, pain, and sadness.
"What…what's wrong?" Kaito stammered, completely thrown by his friend’s unexpected response.
Saguru felt sick. His legs were going to give out on him, and he was going to cry, making a total fool of himself in front of Kuroba Kaito—Kuroba Kaito who had only grown more handsome with maturity, strength training, and a bit of a tan.
“Nothing,” Saguru managed to respond. His voice was weak, but that made his words sound brusque and indifferent. “Nothing is wrong.”
Everything was wrong.
He was supposed to be over the hurt and betrayal from four years ago. He was supposed to be fine, healed. He had genuinely believed himself to be okay, and he was horrified to find that he had only rubber-banded himself together. Saguru wasn’t over anything, least of all his schoolboy crush.
He was disappointed in himself. He’d only been deceiving himself this whole time, and now he felt so foolish.
“You…sure?” Kaito arched an eyebrow in concern for his friend. “Shock” had its limits. This was way beyond the surprise one might experience at running into an unexpected friend out of the blue. This was panic and dread—Hakuba obviously did not want to be here right now.
“Be careful with him,” Shinichi had cautioned on the phone the previous night. “Hakuba won’t be happy to see you, Kuroba.”
“Positive,” Saguru replied curtly, putting on a façade of apathetic calm as he pulled out a chair and took a seat, grateful that his hands didn’t shake and that he had avoided collapsing in front of the other young man. “Everything is fine,” he reassured Kaito, grabbing the pen off of the table and squeezing it in his hand. He needed something tangible to hold onto in order to keep himself grounded in the present.
Everything was not fine, and Kaito could tell. He could read it in the way Hakuba averted his eyes and pursed his lips, arms crossed like he was trying to protect himself and legs following suit. Hakuba’s closed body language screamed: “Leave me alone! Don’t hurt me! Don’t even look at me!”
Saguru could feel Kuroba’s eyes on him, studying, and it burned in the same way Saguru’s cheeks and lungs and heart did. He wanted to escape. He wanted this not to be happening.
This hurt so much more than it was supposed to. Kuroba had come back with that flippant attitude of his, like he had done nothing wrong. Did he expect Saguru to be right where Kuroba had left him like a toy that had fallen out of favor for a while but was now wanted once more? Saguru felt like a plaything. He’d been used, replaced, forgotten, and while everything he had felt for Kuroba—the friendship, fraternity, rivalry, and affection—had been so precious to Saguru, it was apparent that it had all meant nothing to Kuroba, because Kuroba had given it up without a second thought.
Had Saguru missed Kuroba? Like an arm he’d awoken one day to find missing.
This was not going well, Kaito decided, taking a seat opposite Hakuba. Something was wrong, and Kaito was lacking the vital clues he needed to piece this puzzle together.
He cleared his throat and tried small talk. “So…how have you been?” Kaito started awkwardly.
“Fine,” Saguru insisted. “Well.”
Hakuba looked…not too bad. A little coarse around the edges, but Kaito was intimately familiar with the effects of long hours, stressful cases, little sleep, and lots of pesky paperwork to fill out about it afterwards. Hakuba’s rough appearance at the moment could easily be chalked up to work.
When Kaito looked past the tired eyes and unkempt hair, however, he could easily see that Hakuba was the same as always: dedicated to the point of obsession and working too hard, but doing a hell of a good job at it. Hakuba had become more solid from the physical demands of the work, but his face retained that soft, boyish charm that made the fangirls squeal. He looked healthy, successful…if one could read the cues and see past the maelstrom of negativity that was currently playing out on Hakuba’s features.
“You look well,” Kaito conceded.
Saguru was pretty sure Kuroba was lying because Saguru knew for a fact that he looked deplorable. Part of him wished he had a mirror; the other half knew he’d be appalled by what he saw. He was a sleep-deprived mess with hair like rumpled sheets and clothes that wanted an ironing badly. His cheeks burned with shame at the thought of what Kuroba must think of him right then.
Kaito frowned as his fishing failed to elicit a response. He tried again. “So…it’s been a while. What have you been up to?”
“Work, mostly.” Saguru cast a glance at the door, wishing Yukimura-keibu would hurry up and rescue him from this torture.
Kaito nodded, chewing pensively on his bottom lip. “Me too. …Got a girlfriend?”
Saguru let out a long sigh as he shook his head.
“Me either,” Kaito added futilely before letting things dissolve into unhappy silence.
This was not the reunion he’d been so desperately excited about.
They sat there uncomfortably for nearly a minute before Kaito tried one final last ditch effort: “Well, aren’t you going to rub it in?”
Despite himself, Saguru looked up in confusion and asked, “Rub…what exactly?”
“The fact that I was KID this whole time,” Kaito stressed in a pathetic effort to get his friend to snap out of it and just…be the Hakuba he had missed so much the whole time he’d been gone. “You were right, and now while I’m serving out my time with Interpol, I finally have to admit it. Aren’t you going to say ‘I told you so’ or ‘I knew it’? Gloat a little, will you?” Kaito urged teasingly.
But Saguru didn’t smile. “True, I was right,” he admitted, finally looking Kaito in the eye, “but how many times did we both wish that I wasn’t?”
A somber air fell between the two.
“Hakuba, what’s wrong?” Kaito tried again.
“What exactly do you want from me, Kuroba?” Saguru sighed, eyes sad and tired.
Kaito shook his head. “For one, I thought you’d be glad to see me. A little ‘Nice to see you, Kuroba.’ ‘I missed you, Kuroba.’ would be nice.”
"Why should I have missed you?" Saguru replied coldly, lashing out in his pain and resentment. "You so obviously didn't miss me."
Kaito's brow furrowed, his eyes narrowing. "What? Why would you—"
"—And furthermore," Saguru continued, "why should I be glad to see someone who cares so little for me that they could go off for four years without so much as a word and then not even bother to send me a postcard?"
Saguru's voice broke slightly, and his tone lost a bit of the icy chill. "Kuroba, you were one of the few people in my life that I let myself trust, and you abandoned me. I'm not some dog who's going to wag his tail at the return of his master. I'll work with you and be mature and professional. I'll do whatever is necessary to successfully complete this mission because that's my job. I'll be civil and maybe even friendly with you once I get over the initial wave of shock, but don't expect me open up to you again. Things can't be the way that they were between us."
It was then that Kaito realized how royally he had screwed up that night four years ago. They'd been sitting out on the back deck while the girls ran around the yard, chasing each other as much as the dragonflies.
They'd both had something to say, and Kaito let Hakuba go first. The detective tentatively broached the subject of getting an apartment together now that they were university grads leaving the nest and starting out on their chosen career paths.
Kaito promised to think about it and then promptly lost the nerve to tell his best friend that he had to leave everything he loved behind him to go to a foreign country and work off his mistakes in less than twelve hours.
Why hadn't he just said something? Why had he choked?
It was probably because Hakuba looked so excited for the future and Kaito didn't have the heart to ruin everything. Maybe it was partially because Kaito didn't really want to admit to himself that it wouldn't be happening.
Regardless, he was paying for his silence now. How had he not realized what a big deal just up and leaving would be to Hakuba? Perhaps he had underestimated his own importance to the blonde and the impact his absence would have.
Kaito stood, leaning forward with his hands on the table as he tried to explain. "Hakuba, it wasn't like that." He stressed every word in hopes that his earnestness would get through and change things between them, undo some of the hurt he had unwittingly caused.
At least Hakuba was looking at him now. Albeit, with an empty, damaged look in his eyes, but it was an improvement from the "wounded animal" behavior of just minutes before.
"I did miss you, and I did want to contact you, but I couldn't." God how he wished he could make Hakuba believe him. "Leaving wasn't my choice—well…it was either Interpol or prison, but…I've been doing dangerous missions and undercover work for them for the past four years. Everything I do, everywhere I go, it's all confidential. I couldn't—"
"—You could have at least told me you were going," Saguru broke in softly, knowing in his heart that what Kuroba said was true, despite Saguru's personal feelings and wishes on the matter.
From a purely logical standpoint, his head knew that this wasn't Kuroba's fault. Nothing could have been done. From everything he'd learned that day, he understood that Kuroba wasn't the one in the wrong, and he knew it'd be pointless to keep holding onto his own bitter resentment.
The problem was that Saguru's heart was not always capable of logic. It still felt injured and abused and neglected. It wanted Kuroba to somehow go back and change things, save it the immense grief it had suffered.
Kaito sighed, reluctantly nodding. "You're right. I should have said something. I tried a couple times, but I just…couldn't," Kaito summarized lamely. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. It never occurred to me…" Kaito bit his lip. It sounded like he was making excuses. "I'm really sorry, Hakuba. Even though my hands were tied about most things, I could have at least said goodbye, and I didn't."
Saguru studied his former friend's face for a long moment. Kuroba looked and sounded so sincere, and yet… "I wonder why you didn't," he hummed softly. "Don't say it was too hard. I know you told Aoko-san you were going abroad for work. If you could say goodbye to the woman you loved, a mere friend should have been nothing. You said goodbye to her because you cared, you didn't want her to wonder and worry. Your oversight in my case leads me to conclude that I wasn't actually all that important and you never really cared about me."
"Hakuba," Kaito interjected, desperate to refute those toxic beliefs his friend had been living with the past four years.
Just then the door opened and in walked a middle-aged woman with salt and pepper hair done up in a bun.
Her stern expression and sharp eyes told Kaito that this was the "Yuki Onna" Yukimura-keibu that he had heard about when he'd been briefed on the personnel of the present day Division Two.
She raised an eyebrow as she read the tense atmosphere. "I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"
Hakuba clattered to his feet, giving his boss a salute and assuring, "No, Inspector. Agent Kuroba and I were merely catching up. We were classmates."
Yukimura nodded, but her eyes said that she could tell something was up. "Yes, so I've heard." She turned to Kaito and bowed. "Agent Kuroba, I look forward to working with you. Please take care of my cute subordinate. He's one of the most competent employees I have."
Kaito returned the bow and repeated the expected greeting, putting on a mask of calm. On the inside, he was vibrating with anxiety. He needed to make things right with Hakuba for his and Kaito's own sakes as well as for the success of the mission. There was also the fact that Kaito's ability to stay in Japan was riding on this job.
Although, at that point, mostly Kaito wanted to heal the tremendous hurt he had carelessly caused.
"Well." Yukimura brought Kaito back into the present. "Let's all sit down and get started."
Rating: T
Mikau: Sorry I'm a little late in getting this posted. Today was my Grandma's eighty-fourth birthday party, so it's been a busy day. I didn't get around to my final read through until everyone left. But here it is: Tiny and my collab project. Well, the first chapter anyway. I hope you enjoy it, even though it is a little rough.
Chapter One
Oak doors swung open without so much as a knock, and the man at the desk—old, weathered features begetting years of experience—looked up as another man—much younger, much more upset—marched into his office. “With all due respect, Sir,” Kuroba Kaito started their most likely one-sided conversation with a huff, “if you send me to Colorado one more time, I’m going to die.” Before his boss, James Dubois, could get a word in edgewise, Kaito plowed on. “The FBI thinks that just because I was—was—a criminal, I’d be willing to smoke a joint for the sake of a cover. Did you know that cannabis is legal there?”
“Yes,” Dubois replied without missing a beat, setting his papers down momentarily to regard Kaito. “Kuroba, that can’t be the only reason you’re here. What do you want?”
Kaito scowled, and James sighed. No matter how irritating Kaito was, he had to admit that he was an asset if Interpol ever had one; after all, not every major police organization could claim the infamous Kaitou KID as one of their own agents.
“I want to stop being sent on shoddy cases that break my morals just because the local cops don’t want to break their own.” He paused a moment before adding resolutely, “I want to go back to Japan. For good.”
“Okay.”
“...Wait, really?”
Kaito’s boss took a moment to savor the look of surprise on his face before nodding and returning his attention to the papers he had been reading before Kaito had barged in.
“I have a case file here from Division Two of the Japanese Metropolitan Police Department—I’m aware that you’re very familiar with them.”
Kaito snorted amusedly in response, unable to forget the years he had that whole group of gullible cops known as a ‘task force’ chasing after him.
“See, they have something of a smuggling problem on their hands. Ah—” He held the file away from Kaito as the thief tried to reach for it. “You know the drill, Kuroba. Details after you accept the case. Now, as I was saying, it’s been....what, a few years already you’ve been working with us? If you do a good job on this case, then I’d see no problem with transferring you over to Japan permanently.”
Kaito raised an eyebrow before reaching over to try and snatch the documents. This time, James let him take them, and watched as Kaito skimmed the document, scowling. “Barely anything here. Details, my arse.”
“You know how the Japanese are—no offense, of course,” James added with a wave of his hand. “They didn’t want to give us too much, thought we’d try to take over the case.”
That earned an eye roll from Kaito. “Of course you’re not trying to do that. You’re sending me to do that instead.” He ignored his boss’s resigned sigh in favor of staring at the document more. “So you’re saying that all I have to do is clean up this mess and I’m a free man.”
“Technically a free man. You’d still have to do work for Tokyo, of course, but no more Interpol...unless you prefer working in Colorado.” The face that Kaito made assured him that he would rather not. “That’s what I thought.”
Kaito was quiet for a few moments more before sighing. “All right, I’ll do it. But you better keep your word, okay? Once this case is done, I’m gone.”
“Of course,” James reassured him. In all honesty, he probably would have been glad to be rid of Kaito. His attitude was so bad sometimes that his usefulness barely made up for it. “And one more thing, Kuroba,” he added as Kaito began to turn away.
Kaito didn’t turn back, but huffed slightly. “What now?”
“Try not to kill your partner.”
"Hey, Hakuba? …Earth to Hakuba Saguru. …Hakuba-no-niisan!"
Saguru jumped, but once he'd recovered from the jolt of adrenaline and recognized the speaker, he smiled sheepishly. "What are you, seven again, Kudo?"
Shinichi took a seat on the other officer's desk and returned the grin with a chuckle. "Just trying to get your attention, space cadet."
Saguru rolled his eyes, shuffling some papers to look busy. "I'm just glad you weren't Inspector Mamiya catching me zoning out on the job. But what are you doing over here? Just come to pester me? Do you really think Division One can spare their star player, Kudo?"
Shinichi laughed, shaking his head. "Just checking up on you. And I think Takagi-keibu and the team can hold the fort for half an hour while I wander down the hall."
Saguru smiled, remembering, "He's due to go on paternity leave again in a few weeks, isn't he? And then you'll be in charge."
Shinichi waved Saguru away. "Unofficially."
"It'll be official soon enough," Saguru assured, excited for his friend, but slightly bothered that his own career…life wasn't really going anywhere. "A promotion on the way, and a wedding next June after Ran-san passes the Bar…. At least one of us is excelling," he added in a mumble.
Shinichi frowned, lightly bopping his friend on the head with a practically empty file folder. "Hakuba, you just busted a crew of bank robbers yesterday, and last week you took down that forger. Don't you think you're being a little too critical?"
Saguru shrugged and grumbled. "I really didn't do much. Just helped the team, played my part."
"Dragged everyone else through the cases," Shinichi added pointedly. "One of these days you're going to get back some of that annoying self-confidence that you had when I first met you."
Saguru shook his head and smiled wryly. "I was a dumb kid, and my father was right. It only took a year or two of doing real detective work to curb my enormous ego, and it's never recovered."
Shinichi pursed his lips, holding back an admonishment about how Hakuba was 1) an idiot, 2) doing "real" detective work even before he started with the task force, and 3) to Division Two what Shinichi was to Division One, so he should stop being so hard on himself already. Shinichi knew it wouldn't do any good, even if he did say all of that out loud. He'd been trying throughout their friendship to convince Hakuba, but nothing he'd said thus far had successfully changed the Brit’s mind.
He reluctantly let it go and switched topics, finally getting around to the whole purpose of his visit…in a roundabout way. "So what's up with you? Any new projects?"
He tried to sound casual, burying in nonchalance the anxiety that that unexpected phone call from an old frenemy the previous evening had dredged up within him.
But Hakuba shrugged. "Not yet. I'm still doing paperwork from the bank robbers bust."
Shinichi nodded. Then he hadn't heard yet.
"So what were you so lost in thought over when I disturbed you?" A light, teasing tone came back into Shinichi's voice.
Saguru chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "Oh, I was writing my report, and if you haven't already heard, I ended up chasing one of the culprits into the sewer and tackling him. It was…" Saguru cringed. "…messy. And I was just thinking that…" Here his smile waned, turning bittersweet. "…it's been a long time since I've been covered in sludge on the job like that. And then that one thought led to another, and…"
Shinichi nodded in understanding. "KID used to cover us in confetti and glitter and glue and gunk, didn't he? I can't say I really miss it, though."
Hakuba grunted, looking down at his papers and getting lost in thought again. "I wonder where he's gotten to. Aoko-san told me he'd gone overseas for work, but…that was after the fact. He never said anything about it to me. Never even bothered to say goodbye," Saguru grumbled, remnants of bitterness coming to the surface, but it wasn't even a tenth of what he'd felt four years ago when he'd found his best friend simply gone without a trace.
Shinichi winced (and was glad that Hakuba was too engrossed in his own reverie to see it). He wished he could explain where KID had neglected to do so, help Hakuba to understand, but…it really wasn't his secret to share—classified.
Instead he replied gently, "Maybe he couldn't say goodbye. Or maybe it was too hard. I mean, you guys were pretty good friends by the end of university, by the time Aoko-san got through forcing you to spend time with one another, right?"
Saguru gave a little snort and looked up, smiling ruefully. "Well, I thought so, but seeing as he vanished and hasn't bothered to contact me once in almost half a decade, I'd say that the feeling wasn't mutual, and I have not been missed."
"Hakuba," Shinichi breathed, getting down off the desk and turning to fully face his friend in concern.
"But that was years ago, and I'm over it," Saguru declared, adjusting his expression accordingly with the skill of a seasoned actor…or someone deep in denial.
Shinichi frowned, but resisted the urge to answer with a sarcastic "Obviously".
Just then, Inspector Mamiya paused in the doorway and barked, "Hakuba! I need to speak with you. My office."
Saguru paled, muttering, "I bet it's about the fraud case that I made a mess of the other day. They're finally going to fire me," he sighed.
Shinichi didn't bother replying that Hakuba meant ‘the fraud case that his team had screwed up’ because they hadn't listened to Hakuba. Shinichi was too busy worrying that he knew what Mamiya really wanted, and he was afraid that things were about to get messy.
Saguru took a deep breath before knocking tentatively on the open door and stepping inside his superior's office. "You had wanted to speak with me, Sir?"
"Yes. Shut the door and take a seat," the aging officer sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose, trying to fend off the headache dealing with interagency bureaucracy was giving him.
"If it's about the Yamazaki case, Sir, I can explain," Saguru began, only to be waved off.
"Hakuba-kun, you don't need to explain senior officers thinking they know better than their smarter junior," Mamiya snorted. "Now come in and sit down."
Saguru did as ordered, all the while searching his memory for some other recent failure that had landed him in his boss's boss's office.
Mamiya didn't keep him waiting long. "What I'm about to tell you is classified, but there's a very important case that I need you to work on. A certain yakuza family heavily involved in smuggling arms, drugs, art, and you name it has recently been upsetting the power balance, and we can't overlook them anymore. We're sending an officer in undercover to gain enough evidence to dismantle them."
Saguru paled and pointed to himself. "You mean me? But, Sir—with all due respect—I have no experience with undercover work, and I'm a little…" Saguru bit his lip. "My European heritage makes me a little conspicuous in Japan."
Mamiya shook his head. "You're a talented officer, Hakuba, and you think fast on your feet. It may be a bit of a trial by fire, but you can do this. Besides, you'll be in good hands. We reached out to Interpol, and they're sending their best."
Stunned and almost speechless at his chief's praise, Saguru managed to piece together, "But why me?"
"They asked for you," Mamiya informed. "I believe it has something to do with the fact that their man is technically a criminal consultant serving as an agent in lieu of a jail sentence, and they thought you'd more readily work with him than some of our other officers, but even still…" He paused and looked Saguru directly in the eye. "Hakuba-kun, I wouldn't give you this case if I didn't have full confidence you could do it, regardless of Interpol's requests. You need to stop thinking you only have this job because of who your father is. You earn your keep. Now will you accept the case?"
Saguru stood and saluted, unable to contain the overwhelming joy he felt. He was good enough. He was wanted. "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir."
"Excellent. I thought so." Mamiya let a slight smile slip through his exhaustion. "Well then, let's go. He's waiting in briefing room three."
It was like being knocked off his feet. "What? Now? The Interpol agent's here already?" Saguru stuttered out, his mind whirling as things happened a little fast.
He would have liked a night to sleep on it, think things over before he was thrown into an undercover mission, going amongst yakuza with some unsavory ex-criminal for a partner…with whom he would be entrusting his safety…his life.
Then again, it was probably best to get it over with, pass the point of no return before his brain could truly catch up and his good sense change his mind. At least, that's what he tried to convince himself as Mamiya briskly walked him down the hall to briefing room three.
When Mamiya opened the door and Saguru got a look at his new partner, it was a blow to the gut with a crowbar, and a violent swarm of emotions welled up within him, ripping through him like a cyclone: anger and relief; fear and peace; pain and joy. It took him no time at all to recognize the person in front of him, but it felt like years before his brain caught up to his heart, and in the haze, he barely heard Mamiya say, "This is Agent Kuroba Kaito, one of Interpol's most talented operatives. I'll leave you two to get acquainted, but Inspector Yukimura will be coming to brief you. She should be here in a few minutes."
Thoughts raced through his mind like hounds on the scent: this was a dream—no, a nightmare. What was Kuroba doing here?! And “Agent”?! Since when?! But, man, he looked good. And Saguru was glad to see his long-lost friend. Was Kuroba glad to see him? And how should Saguru react?
He wanted to punch the thief and scream, "Where have you been, you jerk, and why did you never call me?!" He wanted to hug the magician and shout, "Thank God! I was so afraid you were dead in a ditch somewhere!"
What he actually did was stare in dumb shock until Kuroba broke the silence.
Kaito had never gotten used to police stations. Although he was firmly on the right side of the law now, he always felt like the briefings in those claustrophobic, blindingly white conference rooms were going to turn into vicious interrogations without warning if he let his guard down.
It was probably because the law enforcement officials he worked with never really saw him as a fellow agent. He was the criminal consultant—emphasis on criminal. Even though he had been with Interpol longer than he had been KID, those two years in high school before he started working with the FBI always seemed to be what his partners (handlers) focused on. It kind of made it hard to make friends at work, and it wasn't like Kaito was stationed anywhere long enough to form any meaningful bond with civilians—even if he had been free to divulge the personal details necessary to become more than casual acquaintances. As it stood, everything that he was was classified, and it could get lonely after hours without the adrenaline rush of his undercover missions to keep his mind busy.
Kaito set down the pen he had been fiddling with and glanced at the door, then the clock, then back to the door. With a sigh, he picked up the pen once more and began twirling it around.
He was so ready for some semblance of "normal" again. It had been almost four years since he'd left his hopes and dreams for the future, his friends, his family, his entire life behind to be Interpol's gofer in order to avoid jail. He knew it was the right choice. He would have been wasted in prison, and he'd done so much good, but…it was breaking him. He was lonely, irritated, fatigued, and sick of the abuse he got from his various partners. He needed stability and comfort—something familiar, something he could trust and fall back upon.
He put down the pen and stood up, pacing to burn off some of the nervous energy.
As excited as he was to get this mission underway, to prove his worth, and to earn a permanent place for himself, he was also apprehensive with a touch of anxiety. Any minute now he was going to see Hakuba again, and he honestly didn't know what to expect.
Originally, when he had first requested to work with Hakuba, he had predicted that the Brit would smack him upside the head for taking off out of the blue, and then they'd laugh it off, rile each other up with old taunts, and confess that they'd missed one another. That was the way things had been between them when Kaito had left. They'd been close, like brothers, and Kaito had imagined that they could step back into those roles after the initial surprise had passed.
According to the phone conversation he'd had with Kudo Shinichi the previous evening, however, that wouldn't be the case.
"I doubt he'll be happy to see you, Kuroba," Shinichi had warned. "How would you feel if someone ran out on you and then tried to shoehorn their way back into your life after so many years?"
Kaito chewed on the inside of his cheek.
Okay, maybe Hakuba would be ticked a little longer than Kaito had first anticipated, but…wouldn't Hakuba's joy at seeing an old friend again outweigh his anger? Surely Hakuba wasn't still upset over a four year-old incident. Kaito was certain he could get the detective to crack a smile and laugh about it without too much effort, and then all would be forgiven once Kaito had the opportunity to explain his absence.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to leave the inside of his cheek alone. Everything was going to be fine.
Kaito's ear twitched at the sound of a heavy hand on the door handle. He took another breath and prepared his trademark smirk, despite buzzing with excitement on the inside.
The door opened to find Kaito looking smug as he nonchalantly rested an elbow on the back of one of the chairs, exuding confidence. He straightened as Mamiya and Hakuba entered, giving a polite bow so as to start off on the right foot with the top brass.
He studied Hakuba's face as Mamiya introduced him, and the look of shock and bewilderment was exactly as Kaito had imagined. Soon it would change to outrage and then annoyance to teasing and then begrudging delight at the reunion.
Kaito grinned as Mamiya turned to go, and he made sure to inject a healthy dose of playful heckling into his tone as he chuckled. "Surprise! Long time no see, Hakuba. Did you…miss…"
Kaito trailed off, smirk faltering as Hakuba's expression failed to make the predicted changes. Instead of angered or annoyed, Hakuba looked more scared, almost wounded, than anything. Chiefly his expression was one of daze, but in his eyes there was fear, pain, and sadness.
"What…what's wrong?" Kaito stammered, completely thrown by his friend’s unexpected response.
Saguru felt sick. His legs were going to give out on him, and he was going to cry, making a total fool of himself in front of Kuroba Kaito—Kuroba Kaito who had only grown more handsome with maturity, strength training, and a bit of a tan.
“Nothing,” Saguru managed to respond. His voice was weak, but that made his words sound brusque and indifferent. “Nothing is wrong.”
Everything was wrong.
He was supposed to be over the hurt and betrayal from four years ago. He was supposed to be fine, healed. He had genuinely believed himself to be okay, and he was horrified to find that he had only rubber-banded himself together. Saguru wasn’t over anything, least of all his schoolboy crush.
He was disappointed in himself. He’d only been deceiving himself this whole time, and now he felt so foolish.
“You…sure?” Kaito arched an eyebrow in concern for his friend. “Shock” had its limits. This was way beyond the surprise one might experience at running into an unexpected friend out of the blue. This was panic and dread—Hakuba obviously did not want to be here right now.
“Be careful with him,” Shinichi had cautioned on the phone the previous night. “Hakuba won’t be happy to see you, Kuroba.”
“Positive,” Saguru replied curtly, putting on a façade of apathetic calm as he pulled out a chair and took a seat, grateful that his hands didn’t shake and that he had avoided collapsing in front of the other young man. “Everything is fine,” he reassured Kaito, grabbing the pen off of the table and squeezing it in his hand. He needed something tangible to hold onto in order to keep himself grounded in the present.
Everything was not fine, and Kaito could tell. He could read it in the way Hakuba averted his eyes and pursed his lips, arms crossed like he was trying to protect himself and legs following suit. Hakuba’s closed body language screamed: “Leave me alone! Don’t hurt me! Don’t even look at me!”
Saguru could feel Kuroba’s eyes on him, studying, and it burned in the same way Saguru’s cheeks and lungs and heart did. He wanted to escape. He wanted this not to be happening.
This hurt so much more than it was supposed to. Kuroba had come back with that flippant attitude of his, like he had done nothing wrong. Did he expect Saguru to be right where Kuroba had left him like a toy that had fallen out of favor for a while but was now wanted once more? Saguru felt like a plaything. He’d been used, replaced, forgotten, and while everything he had felt for Kuroba—the friendship, fraternity, rivalry, and affection—had been so precious to Saguru, it was apparent that it had all meant nothing to Kuroba, because Kuroba had given it up without a second thought.
Had Saguru missed Kuroba? Like an arm he’d awoken one day to find missing.
This was not going well, Kaito decided, taking a seat opposite Hakuba. Something was wrong, and Kaito was lacking the vital clues he needed to piece this puzzle together.
He cleared his throat and tried small talk. “So…how have you been?” Kaito started awkwardly.
“Fine,” Saguru insisted. “Well.”
Hakuba looked…not too bad. A little coarse around the edges, but Kaito was intimately familiar with the effects of long hours, stressful cases, little sleep, and lots of pesky paperwork to fill out about it afterwards. Hakuba’s rough appearance at the moment could easily be chalked up to work.
When Kaito looked past the tired eyes and unkempt hair, however, he could easily see that Hakuba was the same as always: dedicated to the point of obsession and working too hard, but doing a hell of a good job at it. Hakuba had become more solid from the physical demands of the work, but his face retained that soft, boyish charm that made the fangirls squeal. He looked healthy, successful…if one could read the cues and see past the maelstrom of negativity that was currently playing out on Hakuba’s features.
“You look well,” Kaito conceded.
Saguru was pretty sure Kuroba was lying because Saguru knew for a fact that he looked deplorable. Part of him wished he had a mirror; the other half knew he’d be appalled by what he saw. He was a sleep-deprived mess with hair like rumpled sheets and clothes that wanted an ironing badly. His cheeks burned with shame at the thought of what Kuroba must think of him right then.
Kaito frowned as his fishing failed to elicit a response. He tried again. “So…it’s been a while. What have you been up to?”
“Work, mostly.” Saguru cast a glance at the door, wishing Yukimura-keibu would hurry up and rescue him from this torture.
Kaito nodded, chewing pensively on his bottom lip. “Me too. …Got a girlfriend?”
Saguru let out a long sigh as he shook his head.
“Me either,” Kaito added futilely before letting things dissolve into unhappy silence.
This was not the reunion he’d been so desperately excited about.
They sat there uncomfortably for nearly a minute before Kaito tried one final last ditch effort: “Well, aren’t you going to rub it in?”
Despite himself, Saguru looked up in confusion and asked, “Rub…what exactly?”
“The fact that I was KID this whole time,” Kaito stressed in a pathetic effort to get his friend to snap out of it and just…be the Hakuba he had missed so much the whole time he’d been gone. “You were right, and now while I’m serving out my time with Interpol, I finally have to admit it. Aren’t you going to say ‘I told you so’ or ‘I knew it’? Gloat a little, will you?” Kaito urged teasingly.
But Saguru didn’t smile. “True, I was right,” he admitted, finally looking Kaito in the eye, “but how many times did we both wish that I wasn’t?”
A somber air fell between the two.
“Hakuba, what’s wrong?” Kaito tried again.
“What exactly do you want from me, Kuroba?” Saguru sighed, eyes sad and tired.
Kaito shook his head. “For one, I thought you’d be glad to see me. A little ‘Nice to see you, Kuroba.’ ‘I missed you, Kuroba.’ would be nice.”
"Why should I have missed you?" Saguru replied coldly, lashing out in his pain and resentment. "You so obviously didn't miss me."
Kaito's brow furrowed, his eyes narrowing. "What? Why would you—"
"—And furthermore," Saguru continued, "why should I be glad to see someone who cares so little for me that they could go off for four years without so much as a word and then not even bother to send me a postcard?"
Saguru's voice broke slightly, and his tone lost a bit of the icy chill. "Kuroba, you were one of the few people in my life that I let myself trust, and you abandoned me. I'm not some dog who's going to wag his tail at the return of his master. I'll work with you and be mature and professional. I'll do whatever is necessary to successfully complete this mission because that's my job. I'll be civil and maybe even friendly with you once I get over the initial wave of shock, but don't expect me open up to you again. Things can't be the way that they were between us."
It was then that Kaito realized how royally he had screwed up that night four years ago. They'd been sitting out on the back deck while the girls ran around the yard, chasing each other as much as the dragonflies.
They'd both had something to say, and Kaito let Hakuba go first. The detective tentatively broached the subject of getting an apartment together now that they were university grads leaving the nest and starting out on their chosen career paths.
Kaito promised to think about it and then promptly lost the nerve to tell his best friend that he had to leave everything he loved behind him to go to a foreign country and work off his mistakes in less than twelve hours.
Why hadn't he just said something? Why had he choked?
It was probably because Hakuba looked so excited for the future and Kaito didn't have the heart to ruin everything. Maybe it was partially because Kaito didn't really want to admit to himself that it wouldn't be happening.
Regardless, he was paying for his silence now. How had he not realized what a big deal just up and leaving would be to Hakuba? Perhaps he had underestimated his own importance to the blonde and the impact his absence would have.
Kaito stood, leaning forward with his hands on the table as he tried to explain. "Hakuba, it wasn't like that." He stressed every word in hopes that his earnestness would get through and change things between them, undo some of the hurt he had unwittingly caused.
At least Hakuba was looking at him now. Albeit, with an empty, damaged look in his eyes, but it was an improvement from the "wounded animal" behavior of just minutes before.
"I did miss you, and I did want to contact you, but I couldn't." God how he wished he could make Hakuba believe him. "Leaving wasn't my choice—well…it was either Interpol or prison, but…I've been doing dangerous missions and undercover work for them for the past four years. Everything I do, everywhere I go, it's all confidential. I couldn't—"
"—You could have at least told me you were going," Saguru broke in softly, knowing in his heart that what Kuroba said was true, despite Saguru's personal feelings and wishes on the matter.
From a purely logical standpoint, his head knew that this wasn't Kuroba's fault. Nothing could have been done. From everything he'd learned that day, he understood that Kuroba wasn't the one in the wrong, and he knew it'd be pointless to keep holding onto his own bitter resentment.
The problem was that Saguru's heart was not always capable of logic. It still felt injured and abused and neglected. It wanted Kuroba to somehow go back and change things, save it the immense grief it had suffered.
Kaito sighed, reluctantly nodding. "You're right. I should have said something. I tried a couple times, but I just…couldn't," Kaito summarized lamely. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. It never occurred to me…" Kaito bit his lip. It sounded like he was making excuses. "I'm really sorry, Hakuba. Even though my hands were tied about most things, I could have at least said goodbye, and I didn't."
Saguru studied his former friend's face for a long moment. Kuroba looked and sounded so sincere, and yet… "I wonder why you didn't," he hummed softly. "Don't say it was too hard. I know you told Aoko-san you were going abroad for work. If you could say goodbye to the woman you loved, a mere friend should have been nothing. You said goodbye to her because you cared, you didn't want her to wonder and worry. Your oversight in my case leads me to conclude that I wasn't actually all that important and you never really cared about me."
"Hakuba," Kaito interjected, desperate to refute those toxic beliefs his friend had been living with the past four years.
Just then the door opened and in walked a middle-aged woman with salt and pepper hair done up in a bun.
Her stern expression and sharp eyes told Kaito that this was the "Yuki Onna" Yukimura-keibu that he had heard about when he'd been briefed on the personnel of the present day Division Two.
She raised an eyebrow as she read the tense atmosphere. "I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"
Hakuba clattered to his feet, giving his boss a salute and assuring, "No, Inspector. Agent Kuroba and I were merely catching up. We were classmates."
Yukimura nodded, but her eyes said that she could tell something was up. "Yes, so I've heard." She turned to Kaito and bowed. "Agent Kuroba, I look forward to working with you. Please take care of my cute subordinate. He's one of the most competent employees I have."
Kaito returned the bow and repeated the expected greeting, putting on a mask of calm. On the inside, he was vibrating with anxiety. He needed to make things right with Hakuba for his and Kaito's own sakes as well as for the success of the mission. There was also the fact that Kaito's ability to stay in Japan was riding on this job.
Although, at that point, mostly Kaito wanted to heal the tremendous hurt he had carelessly caused.
"Well." Yukimura brought Kaito back into the present. "Let's all sit down and get started."