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The cold kiss of a handcuff around his wrist wasn’t a feeling he’d had in a while now. Then again, he did have to make some concessions when dealing with this little prodigy of a detective.
“Give it up, Kaito KID!”
He couldn’t help but chuckle hearing such a serious command in a child’s voice. Keeping his top hat low over his eyes, he turned to meet Conan’s scowl with a playful grin.
“Ah, so you caught me already? Shall I give you a reward?” He knelt in one swift movement, catching the young detective by the chin as he darted close enough for their noses to brush.
The sudden closeness was enough to put Conan, who’d probably been expecting him to struggle, off balance. Without giving the young detective time to recover he flicked the now unwanted gem he had just purloined at that startled face. It gave him enough time to slip his hand out of the cuff with the ease of long familiarity.
After that it was only a dash and somersault from the edge of the roof before he was flying free.
Hakuba had a way of popping out and surprising him when he thought he was a dozen steps ahead. It happened again just as he was reaching for the emergency exit, about to make a clean getaway while the police massed to the roof looking for him.
There was suddenly a hand around his wrist, a grip hard and cold as a steel cuff, and he was being shoved bodily into the wall. Hakuba might conduct himself like a gentleman with anyone else, but that didn’t stop him from man-handling Kaito at every opportunity.
“I thought you’d try for something less flashy this time. Now, let me just confirm your identity, Kuroba.”
Hakuba was trying to get a good look at his face, his real face, and that would never do. He twisted quickly, covering Hakuba’s eyes with his open hand as he turned. He knew he couldn’t hold Hakuba off like that forever.
It had already been a long, frustrating night, and this was the last straw. Anything would have been fine if it set him free. He darted forward, pressing his lips to Hakuba’s mouth in an unthinking ploy to shock. . .
It worked well enough. Hakuba jerked back in surprise and lost his grip. In a heartbeat he had scrambled out the emergency exit and into the freedom of cool night air. How polite of Hakuba not to let any of the police in on his plan and leave the way nice and clear. His only regret was that such a trick would probably only work on Hakuba once.
Another night, another rooftop, another detective who just didn’t know when to quit. The whole thing should have been resolved easily with a smoke bomb and a little fancy footwork. Instead he found Hattori Heiji was not the type to hesitate at plunging into a cloud of smoke after him, and the detective actually had the good luck to catch his cape, which then just had to get caught in the hang glider frame and not break away as it was supposed to.
Whatever unlucky streak he was having that night, it had landed him flat on his back with his hands pinned on either side of his head. Heiji was sitting on his chest, still coughing and tearing uncontrollably from the smoke. He did appreciate that Heiji didn’t insist on coughing in his face, but the hard grip around both wrists meant he wouldn’t be shaking the detective off so easily, even blinded as he was.
“Why don’t you just behave until the police catch up,” Heiji managed, after a few raged breaths.
“I’ve never been good at waiting.” His mind was racing, even as he tried for casual banter. He had plenty of tricks up his sleeves, if only he could reach any of them.
“Drop the act already! You don’t have to keep borrowing Kudo’s voice, ya’know!”
It was an interesting irony that his face and voice matched one of those criticizing detectives, but even more amusing than the coincidence itself was seeing Heiji take it so personally. Those two had developed some kind of devoted partnership and occasional rivalry, but at times Heiji acted like he had a complex for his Tokyo-based counterpart.
“But it’s for your benefit,” he taunted, since that was what Heiji apparently believed. “Didn’t you know, a magician can show you whatever you want to see.” He lifted his head, with Heiji too stubborn to draw back even an inch, and pressed a teasing kiss to the persistent detective’s lips.
Years of reading people correctly had left him confident that Heiji would recoil from the implications and the kiss and give him a chance to escape. The last thing he expected was to have his kiss returned with a strength that flattened him.
Heiji drew back with a shuddering gasp of breath that betrayed him, before trying to cover it by clearing his throat. “I hope that’ll teach you not to play stupid tricks.”
Wiggling under his captor, he was able to get into position to make his escape. Heiji’s grip was tighter than ever, but at least he had lowered his guard enough to not realize until it was too late.
Since a more fun distraction hadn’t gotten Heiji off of him, he settled for a flash bomb. He slithered free all in one motion like a snake shedding its skin, leaving Heiji clutching at his empty jacket.
As he darted out of reach of the newly-blinded detective, he had to admit this had been an interesting evening. His diversionary tactic apparently wasn’t as effective as he’d thought. Of course, that certainly wouldn’t cure him of doing what he needed to keep his persistent detectives on their toes.