Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Devil’s Rock

*Author's Note: I'm going to try a third-person view for the first time. Someone tell me whether they prefer third-person or first-person cuz they're the same to me. It's just a bit hard to think of which person to do each time.*

A small tea-haired girl stared hostilely at the teenager dressed in a white tux on the couch. She recognized him from the news and television. A fearless smile, she could see them even if he was sleeping. Kaitou Kid.

"Why the hell is Kaitou Kid here?" she snarled, good mood vanishing. The others in the room froze, as if turned to stone by her icy glare.

"Ah, Ai-chan," said Ran, fear in her voice. "Maybe we should go back home for dinner now-" She tried to push the small girl out of the room, but it was no use.

"Tell me why he's here now!" The teenager on the couch woke up startled. He stared at her for less than a second before recoiling.

"W-who's that?" He sat up and tried to back up, but there's only so much you can back up while you're on a couch.

"Ai-chan, this is Kuroba Kaito-kun," Kazuha introduced her, managing to keep a smile on her face. "He's been through a tough time today, so maybe we could save this for tomorrow…"

"No," she replied stubbornly as ever.

"Fine, Haibara. This guy's Kaitou Kid-well, I mean, look at his outfit- and he's going to help us with this case. He's got a grudge against them too, and he's willing to be the bait." Hattori-kun finally gave her the answer she'd been waiting for.

"What kind of grudge?" she asked suspiciously, remembering her own. Akemi…

"His dad was killed eight years ago by those guys. And he's trying to lure them out by stealing a gem they want. Says it'll grant the owner immortality or something along those lines. It's called Pandora, have you ever heard of it?"

The girl froze, remembering something a long, long time ago. "Nee-chan," the little girl said happily. "Can you tell me a story?"

"What kind do you want, Shiho?" The dark browned hair girl smiled back warmly.

"Something exciting!" Poor girl, thought Akemi. She doesn't even know what she'll become. I hope this innocence lasts long…

"I'll tell you about a magical jewel, it's called Pandora. A long, long, time ago, god put a spell on the gem…"

The story went on and on about a prince and a princess, and other things that made the little girl squeal with delight. "Is it real?"

"Maybe, Shiho." The older girl patted her on the head. "Maybe."

"Ai-chan! Ai-chan!" Someone called her back into reality. Long brown hair and caring blue eyes. Akemi? Her eyes lit up with hope, and then it faded when she realized it was only Ran. "Do you remember anything?"

"My sister told me a nonsense story about it once, and she hardly mentioned anything about it ever since. But I remembered hearing the words 'ultimate goal' and 'Devil's Rock'." Her voice was shaking. Any thought of Akemi threatened to bring tears with it.

"Devil's Rock?" asked Kaito curiously. Had he heard of it before? It sounded like a jewel, could it be Pandora?

"It's a red diamond," Ai informed him. "But it's the color of blood, Akemi said it was really rare. Pandora was supposed to be inside of it, but nobody even knows where the Devil's Rock is, so they kind of gave up on most of it. There are a couple people still working on it, but not the hundreds there used to be. Science is where they're looking now." She looked at her hands, the hands that had been working towards immortality. But you don't get immortality without a couple of deaths first.

"I've seen a jewel like that before!" exclaimed Kaito. "In Dad's chest! It's around this big, and it's kind of shaped like a sphere." He cupped his hands to the size of an apple. "Is that about right?" His voice was filled with excitement, suddenly, his goal wasn't that far away.

"I think that's what she said." The small girl frowned, and looked back up at the thief. "How did you end up here anyways?"

"My identity was revealed this morning," he said, embarrassed. "By a stupid detective named Hakuba Saguru. No offense to detectives of course." Heiji's slightly angry face calmed down.

"I see," commented Ai uncaringly. "I hope you haven't told him too much. At least not without asking me. We're all in this together you know."

A question mark was almost visible over the head of Kaito, who stared confused at the little girl. He had finally realized that this was a elementary school kid that was giving out all of the orders. Accusing him, scaring the heck out of everyone. Who in the world was she?

"Of course not!" said Heiji angrily. "I don't trust him that much yet. Hmph!" He turned up his chin arrogantly, almost childishly. Ai started laughing at him. "What's so funny?"

"You, Heiji," explained Kazuha. Then she looked down at the little girl. "It's great to see you laughing, Ai-chan." She patted the little girl on the head, even though she obviously didn't like it.

"What secrets?" asked Kaito, curiously. He wanted to know what was with that little girl. That strange, mysterious, scary little girl. But there was no one willing to give them to him.

"You'll know sooner or later," smirked Heiji. He knew that with this boy's intelligence, he'd be able to figure it out in no time at all. Kaitou Kid was renowned for his quick wits and amazing memory after all.

"No fair!" he whined, looking like a depressed child. Then he sighed, and pulled a dove out of thin air. "I'm not about to betray you guys, and you're not about to turn me in. I've honestly told you everything that I know, specific details excluded, so you owe me a couple of tidbits, don't you think?" The dove settled on his shoulder, and he patted it gently.

Heiji stared at Ran, and then at Ai. They both gave him a slight nod. Kaito was right, they needed to get him on the same page if he was going to help them. "Listen here, Kuroba. What I'm going to tell you will sound weird. Beyond weird. But you're going to have to believe me, okay?" Kaito nodded his head, eager to hear the story. "Do you want to start with the little girl, or Mouri?"

"The little girl please," he answered, looking at Ai. Her cold gaze gave nothing as usual. Her poker face was just as good as his. It just wasn't right.

"Then you'll have to know she's not really a kid named Ai Haibara. She's twenty year old scientist Shiho Miyano, A.K.A. Sherry of the Black Organization." He watched Kaito's expression, but he just kept the same lofty grin the entire time.

"Go on, I'm waiting." His eyes sparkled, and he showed no surprise. After all, it was weirder to think that this girl was seven or six or something anyways.

"She got turned into a little kid when she swallowed the drug she made to commit suicide after her sister was killed." Heiji tried to summarize it, but Kaito looked a little bit confused. "Look, her sister was killed because she was a weak link in the chain. Then she tried to kill herself with an apoptoxin called APTX4869, it didn't work and she became Ai Haibara, it's a name we made up for her. She's on our side now. She knows a lot about those guys."

"I see," said Kaito, carefully controlling his voice. This girl was one of those bastards who killed his father. Calm down, Kaito! She's not one of them anymore.

"Now for Mouri's story," continued Heiji. "Perhaps it would be better if she told you. I have a hard time getting my head around it anyways."

"You've heard of Shinichi Kudo, right?" Ran asked. "The high school detective who was murdered a couple of weeks ago?" Kaito nodded, it had been big talk in his school. "He was my best friend, and I liked him. A lot. But I don't actually miss him that much." His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "He's still with me."

Is this girl delusional? He thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"I'm not joking. He's in my head, talking to me. It helps a lot, thanks to him we knew about all of this. How he was killed, and a start about who killed him. It doesn't matter if you believe me or not, just, trust Shinichi when he needs you to listen." Kaito was instantly reminded of Aoko. Would she be like this, or would she just pick up a broom? He had been shocked when she had acted so gently when he'd been exposed. She hated Kid, so why in the world…?

"Okay, I got it now." Kaito smiled, looking like he did at a heist. "Everything's out. They also know exactly who Kaitou Kid is. We have to hurry with everything, or it'll all be over. For me at least," he admitted. That syndicate weren't too suspicious of these guys, but Aoko could be in danger. "I'm taking Devil's Rock tonight," he announced, as if there was a huge audience in front of him. "Get me paper and a pen, tantei-kun, don't want to leave the police unexpecting." Then he laughed. "Kind of funny isn't it? I'm robbing my own house."