Questions were always flying through Conan's mind, weather they were important, or didn't matter, yet he always found an answer. As such, a certain question was going through the not-boy detectives mind, yet no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't seem to find an answer to a seemingly simple question.
How do you see what can't be seen? It was a harmless question, didn't have any significance to him at the moment, and he couldn't answer it.
"Conan?" He was pulled out of his thoughts by Ran's worried voice, he smiled up at her.
"What is it?" he asked sweetly, slightly cocking his head. Ran shook her head to say 'it was nothing', and then went back to staring out the car window. Conan stared at her blankly for a few moments, and then did the same, sub-consciously going back to his question. The three of them, that is to say, Conan, Ran and Kogoro, had been invited to a dinner party by a man by the name of Mr. Hawkins, and were on their way to his manor now. They had each gotten a very formal invite, which seemed strange to Conan, but he quickly pushed the thought to the back of his mind. Now, as he decided to leave the question for later, that thought was resurfacing.
"Well, are you going to get out or what?" Conan was pulled out of his thoughts again, and was slightly shocked to see Ran and Kogoro out of the car. He opened the door and jumped out, taking Ran's hand as she held it out to him. The manor, Conan decided, wasn't really a manor at all, but a mid 16th century castle. The walls were a grey stone, with ivy slowly creeping up them. It had 2 towers and a huge oak front door and to add to it, it had that look of being abandoned for years. Kogoro knocked three times on the door, and it was quickly opened by an elderly man.
"Come in, please!" he ushered the trio in, and as the door closed behind them with an echoing bang, smiled. He had grey hair, and wide brimmed glasses. The eyes behind them were a friendly brown. "You must be Mori Kogoro."
"The one and only." He replied, throwing out his chest. The man nodded, then turned to Conan and Ran.
"So then you're Ran." She nodded. "So that makes you Conan." Conan replied with a happy 'yes' and smile.
"I'm Mr. Hawkins, the owner of this manor." The man, now identified as Mr. Hawkins, turned and started leading them down the hall, into what Conan presumed to be the living room.
"So, are we the only one's coming?" Kogoro asked, catching up to Mr. Hawkins.
"Oh no." He replied with a chuckle. "You're only three out of thirty-two."
"Th-thirty-two?!" Kogoro stuttered. "Why so many?!" Ya, thought Conan. Why so many?
"Well, twenty-seven not counting my family." Mr. Hawkins turned back to Kogoro. "But I only invited detectives and their friends and family, and a son of a friend of mine that passed." He turned back around. "He's a magician too." He added as an afterthought. Magician?
"Why only detectives?" Conan piped up. "And the magician?" Mr. Hawkins looked slightly surprised at Conan's question, but answered none the less.
"I'm a little bit of a detective myself, and I never got to meet my friend's son. I also just made an astounding deal with the Suzuki Company and wanted to celebrate." He fell silent, pushing open finely polished oak doors. Conan wasn't even a millimeter in the room before he was tackled to the ground by a person much larger than him.
"Tantei-kun!" Conan, made immobile by the person's tight grip, started rolling around in a futile attempt to get his attacker off.
"Get off me!" he screeched.
"But you're so cuddly!"
"I don't care Kaito!"
"Uh…Conan?" The two were now sitting up, Kaito still hugging Conan, and glanced at Ran. "Do you know him?" Conan froze, while Kaito put on a look of mock hurt.
"You didn't tell her about me!?" he wailed. "How could you!?"
"Will you can it?!" Ran and Kogoro were taken aback at Conan's snappy comment, and then narrowed their eyes at him when he replied.
"Kaito-kun's a friend of Shinichi-niichan's!" He said quickly. I mean, how the hell where you supposed to tell someone you knew who Kaito KID was?
"Shinichi's in town?" Ran asked icily, making Conan flinch.
"N-No." Conan laughed nervously. "Why would you think that?" Ran narrowed her eyes at the two boys, swiveling around as three of the four detective boys ran past her.
"Conan!" Once again, Conan was tackled to the ground, this time by three people, and Kaito looked horrified as Conan was knocked out of his hands, quite littatlry.
"Can you three please get off me?" Conan asked, "I can't really breathe." Well, after Conan was done being tackled by, Kaito picked him back up, deaf to all his protests, then was knocked out of his hands, again, by Ran, who started lecturing Kaito. Mr. Hawkins and Kogoro just stared, unable to understand what the hell was going on.
"Well, I guess I don't need to introduce you then." Mr. Hawkins chuckled when Ran was finished.
"Hey there Ku-Ku-Conan!" Heiji called the detectives name, correcting himself before he said Kudo. All seven of them turned too looked at Heiji, who was making his way across the room. Conan detached himself from Ran, making the promise to the detective boys that he would join them in a few moments, and then meet Heiji before he made it to the door.
"Smooth." He replied.
"At least I'm getting better." Heiji pouted, then blinked when Kaito 'poofed' himself next to the two.
"What did I miss?"
"Does it matter what you miss?" Conan asked the magician.
"Yes, tantei-kun, it does matter." Heiji started to laugh at Kaito's expression, then fell silent when he shot him a glare that could rival Conan's death glares.
"What matters?"
"Ah, Hakuba, so glad you could join this merry little party!" Kaito regained back his usual grin, and gave the blond detective one of his bear hugs, which Conan had the experience to receive.
"I'm going to go see Dr. Agasa now." Conan quickly side stepped away from the group just as shouting broke out, finding said Dr. among the crowed easily, with the detective boys around him.
"Hey doc!"
"Ah, Conan." Dr. Agasa turned to face the not-boy detective as he ran up to the group. "Glad you could find us."
"It's not that hard." Conan replied, glancing at Ai, who was leaning against the wall, staring off into the distant as she usually does.
"Lady's and Gentleman, if I can have your attention please?" the room fell silent quickly, and Mr. Hawkins, smiling at how quickly he could get everyone attention, continued. "I have invited you all here for the simple pleasure of communicating detective to detective." Conan could Kaito scoff across the room. If anybody herd it, they weren't saying. "I hope you will all find the manor to your likening, as you will be staying the night. And I would now like to introduce my family to you." He gusterd to an elderly woman, with the same grey hair as Mr. Hawkins, who smiled pleasantly.
"This is my Wife, Amelia Hawkins, but I'm sure she would prefer if you called her Mrs. Hawkins." He then pointed to twins, both with sleek black hair and striking green eyes, and around Kaito, Heiji and Hakuba's age. (I would say Conan, but you know, he's shrunk. =) ) "This is Serenity and Anna, my twins." he then gestured to a young boy, with light brown hair and blue eyes. "And last but not least Phillip, my youngest." Phillip smiled.
"Dinner will be ready shortly." Noise slowly started filling the room again, and when it did, Kaito went on a rant.
"Detective to detective?! I'm a freaking MAGICAIN! Not a DETECTIVE!"
"Oh, you're a Magician?" the three boys jumped as the twins materialized next to Heiji and Hakuba. Kaito quickly regained his poker face, and smiled.
"Yes, yes I am." In a poof of smoke, he produced two white roses, which he handed to them. "The best magician in fact." The girls giggled, then walked off, there head's bent together, shooting glances at Kaito every now and then.
"If I didn't know any better, I say in the near future you're going to be pumbled by love letters or something by thou two." Heiji mumbled.
"Please, no one could fall for this idiot." Hakuba smirked at Kaito, who brushed off the insult.
"I hate to let them down, but I'm already trying to win over someone's heart." He shot a quick glance at Conan. "And yes, people fall for me EVERY day." Kaito glared at Hakuba, and the two instantly started to argue again. The clink of a glass cut them off, and, as everyone was led into the dining hall, they still glared at each other. Conan, spotting the tension, made sure to sit between them but made sure to say sorry to Ayumi, Genta and Mitshuhiko for not sitting next to them.
"Heiji, why didn't you come say hello to me?" Kazuha sat next to Heiji, who looked a little shocked at seeing his friend.
"I didn't know you were coming!" he said, earning himself a glare.
Conan poked at his food, listing to the conservations around him, in which none of them inserted him. He then gasped, feeling sharp, hateful eyes staring at him from across the table. He quickly looked up only see Mr. Hawkins happily chatting away with Ronald Blackwater, an detective working for the American F.B.I. who was visiting for the week.
"Conan?" Kaito looked at him, not getting a response. "Conan are you OK?"
"Ya, I'm fine." Conan said slowly, sparing one last glance at Mr. Hawkins, then looked back down at his food. Kaito looked at him uncertainly, but went back to his own food, letting out a high pitched shriek when a platter of fish was brought out.
oOo
Conan layed in bed, his hands behind his head. The room he was staying in only had two beds, and seeing as how Heiji, Hakuba and Kaito refused to share a bed with any one of them, Conan was stuck with Kaito, while Heiji ended up on the plush rocking chair. This whole dinner party didn't seem right to him, but he couldn't find anything wrong with it. Conan rolled over, and then let out a squeak when Kaito pulled Conan against him. Conan started to fight, his face slowly heating up, and then fell limp at Kaito's side. There was just no use in wasting his energy. Conan's mind slowly went back to his previous train of thought, and as it did, he started to get sleepily. Eventually he closed his eyes, listing to Kaito's soft breathing, then falling into a surprisingly peaceful sleep.
oOo
He stood over the chess board, marveling at the shining white and black pieces. It was a shame they were going to be stained with blood. A grin spread across his face as he moved his finger to a knight, then a pawn. Yes, he would start slow, give them time to figure out his game. Not enough time to find him out, but just enough so he could have some fun. And with a soft chuckle, he slowly moved a shining white pawn two spaces forward.
A/N:
Eliza: I was wearing my thinking hat-
Kaito: you have a thinking hat?
Eliza: ya, so?
Kaito: nothing, just continue.
Eliza: ok, so as I was saying I was wearing my thinking hat, and this epic idea suddenly popped into my mind, and I was all like 'ohmygodohmygodohmyGOD!' and started to write it down. I think this is goanna be Kaito and Conan, but im-
Conan: Wha?! You're paring me with HIM!?
Kaito: I don't see a problem with it.
Conan: YOU DON'T SEE A PROBLEM WITH IT!?
Kaito: Nope. –smile-
Eliza: uh…well, I'm goanna let you guys go…favorite, follow and review please! Oh and if any of you know how to play chess, please let me know, cuz this story involves chess greatly and I'm not that good. And Kaito knows that Conan is Shinichi, and just so happened to be taking advantage of this merry little dinner party, cuz Conan can't start a chase no can he?
Conan: WHAT?!