Not in the Job Description

[Kuroba Chikage]

Novelists.

Detectives.

Chikage inwardly groaned, walking upstairs to the bedroom she shared with Kaito. She couldn't decide if she was more frustrated with Mouri Kogoro or Yuusaku. What had she gotten herself into?

Chikage actually began to wonder if Kaito staying with the Kudos was the wisest choice. Something like this wouldn't have happened if they were in Ekoda and in their own house, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to admit she might have made a mistake. After all, her primary intentions for Kaito coming to the Kudo household was for it to act as a refuge against Sharon.

But Sharon was already here.

Since her release from the hospital, Chikage had been putting up a front and behaving like she was fine. Her body ached as she walked upstairs, longing to just flop right on that bed after chatting with Yukiko and Aoko. When she entered the room, she did something similar: she lied down on the bed without even bothering so much as to change into pajamas or close the door.

[Kuroba Kaito]

No, indeed. It wouldn't have happened if they'd been in Ekoda, alright; but you didn't think that through, didn't you, mom? The things he could have said if he had known what was going through her mind; but unfortunately he didn't and therefore remained ignorant.

He was sitting at the desk when his mom walked in; He'd heard the foot steps and he had turned around when the door had swung open, hand writing the last few letters to finish the answer to his homework.

"You really should have stayed at the hospital, you know."

Kaito said, turning back to his homework and penciling in numbers to a complicated equation. He doesn't know the things that were going through his mother's mind at the current moment, but there were insecurities dormant in the back of his head also.

He still remembers what happened at that heist with Sharon and the murder, and how Edogawa-kun was more than he seemed to be. He wonders if they're up against the same syndicate.

The playing field had just gotten a lot more dangerous. He wasn't sure what to feel.

[Kuroba Chikage]

"You are kidding me, right?" Chikage glanced skeptically at Kaito from the bed. She didn't even realize that he was in the room when she walked in with a fixated gaze towards the bed, fully expecting the room to be empty. She slowly eased herself up into a sitting position and refused to get off of the bed.

"Close the door will you?" Chikage asked with a gesture. Although she trusted the residents of the home, Chikage knew that they were in a detective's home. Eyes and ears were everywhere and Chikage wanted to talk privately with her son while he was here.

She'd only start talking if he closed the door.

"When I was flying in from Los Angeles with Yuusaku, I wasn't expecting to come to this," Chikage said tetchily; in fact, this event made Chikage want to fly right back to Las Vegas. But her injuries had her grounded and she wasn't going to continue thieving again until she was fully healed. Her stay became extended and forced. She assumed that her exhaustion prior to the rescue mission was likely the cause for most of her injuries; she was tired at the time and didn't have too much focus.

"Do you know anything about that boy, Kaito?"

[Kuroba Kaito]

Ah. Yes. Because how dare he be serious at all.

Biting sarcasm aside, he supposed this was where he got his stubborness from-- from his mom. Checking herself out when she was clearly still hurt was an idiotic move in his opinion; though he could half deduce the reasons for it-- wait, deduce?Oh look. Kuroba Kaito, detective extraordinare.

Beika was having its toll on him.

"You really should have, though." Kaito mumbled anyway, concern seeping into his voice. The only parent he had, and if she was going to die on him because of an unchecked internal wound of somesort or of some stupid reason, well--

As if he was going to let that.

Kicking off from the desk and rolling the swivel chair to the open door, he shut it with a reach of his hand, feeling the lock click under the door knob.

"I don't think anybody would have expected this, really." Speaking of...

What was his mom doing with Yuusaku-san?

Question for later.

Sliding over to the bed, he propped his feet up on the plush covers while he reclined in his makeshift mobile fortress; if swivel chairs could be called that.

"Conan-kun, right?" How much should he tell her? He was Kudo Shinichi for sure but--

It wasn't his secret to tell.

"Teitan Elementary, class 1-B. Age 6, 18 kilograms and extremely short. Detective, apparently, and has a cute attachment to Ran-san, of all people. Mature as all heck if he wants to be."

He pondered. All old information to his mom, if she'd done her reasearch on him.

"So all in all--not really. He popped up a few years ago, solving cases and the like. Heists, too. The background checks I've done are rather odd... have you noticed?"

[Kuroba Chikage]

Chikage didn't respond to Kaito's insistence. She felt that she didn't have to, she felt that with a simple shift in posture to the opposite direction of the room that he was facing sufficed. Chikage didn't particularly enjoy being reminded of her wounds especially when it came from her son. They both were thieves and oftentimes injuries came with the territory, but in this particular instance, Chikage admittedly knew he was right on the matter—not that she'd ever openly admit it.

Regardless, some good came out of her checking out early: she could use it as an excuse to stay in Beika longer and check up on how things were with Kaito and everyone. And get back at Yuusaku for dragging her into this!

"When in Beika…a detective's paradise." Chikage chuckled lowly.

"Yeah, that boy..." Placing her index finger against her chin as she sat upright again, Chikage couldn't help but wonder what his story was. She knew exactly what source to turn to: his caretaker, Mouri Ran. She knew that Yuusaku and Yukiko weren't going to be much help in the matter with how they were.

It couldn't have been a coincidence that another child had randomly popped up that looked like her son when he was a little boy. Not only that, but if her memory served her right, he looked a lot like Yukiko's own son. She assumed that the odds in that happening were minimal at best.

"I've noticed, and I've got my own idea on what to expect from the boy," Chikage nodded as she huffed. "It's always a detective's job to make your life tougher, you know." She pointed out matter-of-factly before she would turn to Kaito, smirking.

"Say Kaito…for old time's sake…once all of this blows over…we've got a horde of detective's in the area… Why don't we have some fun?"

[Kuroba Kaito]

He knows he's touched a nerve with his initial comment, and he knows he was pushing it, but really, mom. Take care of yourself. Even if they worked on a basis that placed trust and acceptance in each other, he wasn't going to uphold his part if his mom was going to do self destructive deeds.

He's not even sure how to feel on Kaitou Corbeu. Prinpricks of anger ride up his spine, but he quells it with the thought that it's really not the time to bring it up; not with his mom not in her optimal state.

He snorted at her comment, shaking his head ruefully-- no kidding. He would be turned into one at this rate. (Someone shake him to his senses if he did.)

He's oblivious to his mother's deductions about the child-- but he can assume where her thoughts may be going. Their family's relationship with the detective obsessed counterparts was not exactly a well kept secret; combined with the fact that Edogawa Conan looked strikingly like his child self ( and by uncanny and non-familial relation, Kudo Shinichi ) wouldn't fly under his mother's nose. (Geez, what a game he played. Keep a secret from her, keep a secret from him-- what was he, a spy master?)

(Though being one would be pretty rad.)

And on the detective's making his life harder front...

"Gee whiz. How lucky of us." His wry tone does not hold any sarcasm at all. Let's just frolic in the roses, Hakuba, Edogawa. It'll be fun, see?

The suggestion his mother makes sparks up cautious interest in his eyes though-- for old time's sake? Fun? And most importantly, 'We'?

"I'll hear it as long as you don't intend to make me do all the work."

A smirk is pulling at his lips though; one that mirrored his own mother's, and really-- it's not his dad he got this sadistic streak from.

"What are you cooking up?"