Saguru sighed as he went about his morning routine. Watson fed, and school bag packed, he guessed it was time to leave. Only... it would be strange to go to school without Kaito. Sure, Nakamori-chan and Momoi-san would be worried about him, but surely not as worried as they were about Kaito. After all, Saguru sometimes flew back to England for a week, so him missing school wouldn't be that much of a concern, as long as his sister had covered his absence like she'd promised....

But Kaito not being in school? Yeah, no. That never happened. Ok, so his idiot thief sometimes skipped classes or even outright skipped school, but never for more than a day at a time, so to be absent for three? Especially as he was confident Nakamori-chan would have noticed he neighbour had not been home since the Kid heist.

Yeah. If Nakamori-chan hadn't reported him missing yet, she would soon. He sighed again as Baya jostled the car-keys warningly. Saguru picked up his school bag and smiled gratefully at his housekeeper as she shoved a wrapped bento into his face.

The drive to school was quiet, though Saguru's thoughts were not. He'd already decided on telling Nakamori-chan he'd been working on a rather... sensitive case with a fellow detective whom he could not name due to the Ah... particulars of the case. He certainly wasn't going to outright lie. He was certainly not going to say he'd spent the weekend and first part of the week in England with his family over there.

Gods, why would anyone want prolonged exposure to his mother anyway? Sapphira was ok. Most of the time. But his mother was to be taken only in very small doses, with long periods of avoidance in between. Yeah, he doubted Hattori Heiji and Kudo-sempai had such issues with wacky parents. Especially wacky parents who thought a good family bonding exercise should always involve getting locked in a dark, cramped wine cellar with a colony of bats. Or falling from vast heights. Or that one time.... yeah, he should probably stop thinking about his mother's antics now.

What would Kaito think of his mother, he wondered with morbid curiosity. Well, they would either get along too well, or try and kill each other. It could go either way really. And good gods his sister knew where he went to school. He sent a silent prayer to whichever god would listen for mercy. His sister was a bit like a cross between their mother and Kaito. That is to say, she was completely batty with a side of genius.

Baya prodded him in the shoulder, giving him a pointed look until Saguru realised they were at the school gates already, and damnit, he'd been so lost in his thought he couldn't even remember which route they'd taken, despite him having stared out the window the whole way.

Thanking Baya, he grabbed his bag and exited the car, ignoring some of the less intelligent students that liked to insult half his heritage everyday. Which had actually been toned down recently, likely because those to insult him often found themselves more targeted by Kuroba's pranks than normal.

As per usual, he walked past them as if they weren't even there, and straight towards his classroom, a faint feeling of concern curling in his chest for no discernible reason. Saguru shook it off as he opened the door, ducking instinctively as a mop-head flew towards his face.

"Good morning to you too, Nakamori-chan." He greeted calmly, raising an eyebrow at the slightly disheveled girl before him. She looked even more chaotic than usual, and the poor half brit had a strong suspicion he knew why, even if the rest of his clearly disturbed class seemed clueless. The mop vanished in a poof of grey smoke.

"Ha...Hakuba-kun?! Gomenasai! I was hoping you were Kaito. Have you seen him?" Saguru shook his head, hoping she'd back off. He didn't like lying, but he was willing to, for his Kaito.

"Oh. That's Right. You've been away since Friday evening. Of course you haven't seen Kaito."

"I wish I had. That last case.... a lunatic prankster might've been an asset." Saguru was suddenly uncomfortable as every pair of eyes in the room suddenly turned to look at him. "Ah.... Did I just imply that Kuroba's help would've been useful? I ah... stumbled over a case that proved to be more trouble than I'm used to." He lowered his voice significantly, so as to ensure none of their peers could hear them, despite not having been loud in the first place. "Can we discuss this at lunch? In private?"

"Ah, no worries Hakuba-kun." Nakamori-chan waved her hand in front of her, smiling. She lowered her voice as well. "My usual spot then." It was a barely audible whisper, but Saguru heard it anyway. That was about when Akako arrived, her... allure spell (as Kaito called it) working full blast this morning. Something had clearly rankled the... the witch and Saguru made a mental note to avoid her where possible.

Saguru was not immune to the effects of Akako's ah... skills, but he was effected far less than the others, for some reason (maybe because he'd never been interested in girls?) and Kaito was apparently immune to Akako's magic. He wondered if there was any way to fully negate her effects on him, or if he just had to learn to deal with it.

Taking his seat, the detective resigned himself to several hours of boredom, What with high-school work and no Kaito to deal with. Luckily, first two lessons happened to be double chemistry, which obviously meant something was going to explode. (If Kaito wasn't there to do it, then Saguru would just have to do it himself.) The guy next to him had mixed the wrong powders together, so if he swapped that beaker with his beaker....

POOF! "Ack!*cough cough* ARGH! I CANT EVEN BLAME KUROBA CAN I?" The teen yelled, wiping a smudge from his glasses. Saguru kept his expression neutral even as he mentally cackled and he wondered how Kaito would have reacted to that. Probably laugh himself stupid. And damn, but Kaito's humour was rubbing off on him.

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"Hakuba-kun?" Saguru chose not to respond, instead staring out at the city over the roof-top's railing. There were two doves on a nearby building, watching him. Usually, he'd think nothing of it, but these two particular doves were perched either side of a small bird of prey of some sort. Specifically a type of falcon that he was fairly sure wasn't native to Japan. That bird was either his sister's pet; Hawthorne; or he was going crazy.

"Hakuba-kun?" Saguru turned to acknowledge Nakamori-chan this time, noting her clear worry. "I was just... that case.... it didn't... didn't?" She gave him a pleading look, clearly unable to finish the thought out loud. Saguru understood anyway.

"No. I haven't seen Kuroba, Nakamori-chan. I just... don't like to talk about my cases at school. Especially this one." He grumbled the last three words, but Aoko, having dealt with her father's grumbling for years, heard him perfectly.

"Hakuba-kun? Are you alright?" Saguru turned away, going back to staring at the odd falcon and dove trio on the opposite building. He wasn't, no. And he couldn't even go and check and Kaito either. It just wasn't safe, even if no-one had spotted him with Kid last heist. He couldn't worry anyone though, and he certainly couldn't admit to being in a relationship with the not quite missing prankster, let alone with Kaitou Kid. Nakamori-keibu would skin him alive if that particular tidbit got out.

"No. I'm not." He... really hadn't meant to say that. Nakamori-chan shot him a look that clearly stated she hadn't expected him to say that either.

"Hakuba-kun?" Thinly veiled worry. Saguru sighed shakily, deciding he was best off explaining, in part at least.

"You can't tell anyone ok, Nakamori-chan?" Nakamori-chan nodded, a frown on her face. "It's just... the case I've been working on..." he trailed off to take a deep, calming breath. Damnit, he'd never been this easily ruffled before he'd started dating Kaito.

"Someone... it's just... I've never dealt with that type of case before." A shaky breath as he tried to steady himself. It was true; he'd never had to work with a child to protect a criminal before; not that Kaito was a criminal per say. Kid, yes. Kaito? Not so much.

"What... sort of case Hakuba-kun?" Nakamori-chan sounded hesitant, as if she wasn't too sure if he'd be upset over the question.

"...."

"Hakuba-kun?"

"Sorry." Saguru apologised, feeling uncomfortable with going into detail. "Kidnapping and attempted murder. But... I couldn't think straight. Do you know how terrifying it is when... when...." Saguru trailed off as he sank to his knees, an entire weekend's worth of hiding his worrying over Kaito catching up on him suddenly.

"It wasn't just a civilian, was it, Hakuba-kun?" Saguru didn't answer, feeling terribly transparent all of a sudden. Either he'd become too lax, or Nakamori-chan really was as good at reading people as Kaito claimed she was. (Excluding Kaito, to an extent. Though the magician claimed she could still read him even better than his mother.)

Should he be honest? He could not, in good conscience, out his cunning, clever, thieving boyfriend to anyone, especially Nakamori-chan after all. But he could at least explain a little whilst still being vague. Right?

"No. They weren't. But... you can't tell anyone, Nakamori-chan. Not even your father." A slight nod of her head, then a worried frown.

"This... can't get back to the police, can it?"

"No. It can't....."

"Aoko... Aoko thinks Hakuba-kun's.... emotionally involved with someone. Someone who was trying to protect a kidnapped child and got badly hurt. Is Aoko right? Actually...Aoko doesn't want to know..... hey, isn't that one of Kaito's doves?" Saguru looked up, seeing the small white bird perched on the railing, a rather grumpy look on it's little face.

(Before Saguru started dealing with Kaito's doves on a daily basis, he'd have outright laughed at anyone who said a dove could look grumpy. But then, these were magician's pets, and not any magician's pets either. They were Kaitou Kid's pets. Well. Spies would be the better term really. Those birds were creepy.)

The dove cooed in a rather irritated way, snapping its beak with attitude as Saguru held his hand out gently. If doves could speak, Saguru was willing to bet this one would be saying finally. He opened his mouth to ask what the bird wanted, but closed it again with a snap as the bird of prey -it wasn't Hawthorne!?!- landed on the railings next to the dove. It looked like someone had crossed a merlin with a peregrine falcon, only was that even possible?

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Conan grumbled quietly as he glared at Hakuba. He wasn't too happy with leaving Kai-nii with White-chan, but he still needed to go to school. Well, until he'd gotten a text from a certain red-head saying a 'dark and malevolent force' was nearing the 'white night' and would he do something about it please? It was a little gratifying how that witch had decided to keep an eye on Kai-nii and Hakuba for him.

(Probably to make up for her magical blunder and doing this to him in the first place. It seemed he was also immune to the emotional aspect of Akako's spell, just like Kaito. Why would the teenage witch want a perfectly obedient bird anyway?)

/he's being especially slow today, Meitantei./ Tama cooed, a rather grumpy expression on her feathered face. Conan bobbed his head in acknowledgement before turning his icy stare back to Hakuba. He wondered idly how Kaito was doing. He'd left him alone with White-chan.

Sure, she'd worked miracles on the theif's injured leg, but now she was relentlessly teasing the poor magician about Hakuba, when he was still too doped from the sedatives to actually defend himself. The miniature detective dreaded to think what the crazy woman was planning to do later. After all, she was probably recording the whole conversation for Hakuba's reluctant amusement. Conan didn't know who he felt more sorry for. Kai-nii for being mercilessly tormented, or Hakuba for being related to her.

A soft caress to his feathered head snapped Conan back to the present, deep blue eyes staring at the person both stupid and brave enough to pet him. It was annoying enough when he looked like a seven year old child, let alone now, when he looked like a twisted hybrid of Falcon and Merlin. Oh. It was only Hakuba.

"It's nice to see you listened to me. Kuroba never listens. It's a miracle he's even lasted this long." Conan-the-bird wasn't the only one to jump as the red witch spoke. He clacked his beak at her, trying to convey just how irritated he was at her. Didn't she know he was missing football practice for this? She better be grateful he actually cared about his fellow detective. Heck, he didn't even know if he could change back yet!

"Mou, Akako-chan! Do you have to creep up on us? And what do you mean listened to to? What did you say to Hakuba-kun?" Conan would have laughed if he'd been able to at that moment, as the British detective's head turned stiffly to look at him, eyes going sort of hazy. Conan would bet his entire allowance Hakuba had just figured out who the 'bird of prey' belonged to.

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The older detective stumbled a step, leaning heavily on the railing as his balance deserted him momentarily. He heard Nakamori-chan's worried voice asking if he was ok, and he wasn't sure what he said, but she did back off slightly, which was a relief.

The little brown feathered bird hopped along the railing a bit, before stepping up onto his arm, talons gripping soft but firm against the fabric of his school shirt. Those eyes stared up at him, the direct eye contact a little disconcerting, especially combined with the too-human blue of it's irises. A familiar, piercing blue he usually only encountered at Kaitou Kid heists and the occasional crime scene. If he had not seen the wings before, even if it was fleetingly, he would never, not in a million years, believed it.

"Holmes?" Hakuba asked softly, knowing Nakamori's-chan would hear and think he was hoping she wouldn't. He was fully prepared to dodge if the mop appeared. The bird bobbed it's head, much like Kaito's doves did. Good Gods, it was Conan-kun.

/yes, it's me Barõ. Now please, understand. You have to follow. Now!/ Conan ordered, knowing full well all the poor brit and the two girls -one of which was that damned witch- could hear was a bird's call. He stretched his neck, pecked gently at Hakuba's nose, then tightened his grip with the talons, flapping his wings just enough to pull on the sleeve of the older detective's school uniform.