Hello, this is a place for me to put stories that may or may not be continued. I have too many ideas, and I find it difficult to finish all of them. If you have any suggestions concerning certain stories, prompts, ideas for the plot to continue, etc. feel free to leave a comment! Your ideas may inspire me to write another scene.

This chapter is a rework of the original piece. The basics didn't change, just a couple of fancier words and easier sentences.

Hope you enjoy!

Warning: AU, Conan and Shinichi are brothers, animal cruelty(?).

Genre: Fantasy, adventure, romance (later on)

Rated: T

Words: 4780

Raven'verse - Prologue: meeting the Ravens.

Kaito wasn't a poacher. Or at least he didn't think of himself as a poacher. After all, poachers only took the most valuable parts of their spoil, like the feathers of a silver bird. Poachers would kill the magnificent creatures, and pluck them until nothing was left but a featherless body. And that featherless body... Poachers would leave it to rot in the jungle in which it used to fly.

Kaito was different. Yes, he did lay the same traps as those poachers, and yes, should he ever come across a silver bird he wouldn't hesitate to kill it. But unlike other poachers he wouldn't just take off with the feathers.

To show his remorse and gratefulness towards the creatures, he tried to use as much of their body as possible. To stay with the example of the silver birds, according to his mother their meat, if prepared well, had an amazing taste. Shamefully he'd never been able to see if she was correct, since he'd never caught or even seen a silver bird before.

But as he'd said he tried to use as much as possible, creating toys and decorations with their bones or organs - seriously, you could make excellent soccer balls with a chimera's bladder! He'd then give these items to his mother who sold them in the little shop she owned.

Sadly not many people were interested in a highly aggressive, and therefore hated, water warthog's skull - they tend to cause fishermen a lot of trouble. So yeah, business wasn't going so well and it was only because Kaito also caught rarer creatures from time to time that were more profitable, that they could still keep the shop and feed themselves. Though it was getting more difficult lately as summer was around the corner and the animals had to hide from the extreme weather conditions.

Their world certainly wasn't easy to live in. The weather was always extreme and could change drastically from one area to the next. One moment you could be walking through a desert and the next you'd be freezing your backside off in a blizzard.

Luckily Mother Earth had decided to give them some freebies, namely low-lying areas in which the weather was always calm. Temperatures in these areas would shift between 15 and 25 Celsius degrees, depending on the season.

These areas were called valleys, because of their geographic position, and were naturally completely packed with buildings as they were the safest places people could trade and live. Eventually the valleys were completely full and that's when people started building upwards, creating a maze of bridges, stairways and houses.

With the richest people wanting to be as far on top of the cities as possible - you had the best view at the top of course – a new need arose. Going up all those stairways and roads cost too much effort so the need for elevators and vehicles, that could easily ascend the valleys, came to be, but was quickly remedied with the discovery of certain crystals.

These crystals held so much energy that they could easily feed their machinery. And the best thing was that these crystals were as easy to breed as plants, creating an infinite energy source for all their needs. Thus it didn't take long for hovercrafts to fly through the cities.

Kaito, on the other hand, had a thing for the simple, white pick-up truck he'd bought right after he'd learned how to drive. Though the vehicle was old and rattled from time to time, it was a lot easier to use for his poaching than a hovercraft. The latter made way too much noise in the woods just outside Ekoda valley, the valley he and his mother lived in. His pick-up truck wasn't exactly silent either, but at least it didn't drive off the animals like the hovercrafts did.

He reminisced on this fact as he drove down the old and long-since abandoned road through the woods to his hunting place. Summer was just around the corner and that meant the weather would reach its peak. Changing every quarter of an hour at worst, it was only due to the specially crafted jacket that Kaito could continue to hunt.

The jacket's material was another necessary tool mankind invented to survive in these circumstances. Made from the weather chameleon, it adapted to the current weather circumstances, providing coolness during heat storms and warmth during sudden snowfall. The jacket also came with a nifty hood he could put on his head to protect it.

His heavy army boots and his dark pants, made from water warthog skin, protected his lower body, but he'd been close enough to losing a leg or foot to the weather to know he needed pants and boots made from the same kind of material as his jacket if he wanted to poach further away from the city and come back whole.

The weather chameleon on the other hand was again a rare animal and so chameleon clothes, as they are called, were expensive. His mother, though, hadn't wanted to lose another loved one to Mother Nature and therefore had forced him to buy it with what little money they had left.

After three years of fighting their poverty problems due to the death of his father, twelve year old Kaito had had enough and so he'd decided to poach in the woods to earn at least some money. In the beginning it had been tough. He hadn't known how to catch specific animals and had no idea what animal was worth the most.

But after eight years of being in the business, learning from his mistakes, he could say he was a decent poacher and an excellent seller. As a kid it had often happened that buyers had deceived him into selling goods cheaper than they were actually worth. Nowadays he kept an eye on the rates, keeping in mind which animal was worth how much and what part of them would sell best.

A bump in the road brought his attention back to the present. Right, he was heading for the traps he'd placed three days ago, he should focus on that rather than on the past. In three days' time he and his mother had to pay the rent for the store and the small apartment above it. The problem was that they were still twenty thousand cithras short and to get that much money in just three days was going to be hard.

Kaito just hoped that he'd caught something valuable in his traps today. Another water warthog or sunbird wasn't going to cut the deal this time. Grimacing he tried to remember the last time he'd caught something valuable - which had been a long, long time ago...

If he really wanted to catch something valuable he would have to go further into the woods or even beyond. But that was far too dangerous with his current equipment.

Sighing he decided to just check the traps and if he didn't get anything of worth he'd try to hunt further tomorrow. They couldn't lose the store or their apartment, so he had to risk it.

Kaito pulled the car over, the vehicle protesting as he drove into the bumpy verge. After a few hundred meter he stopped, looking around for the tree he'd marked so he knew where his traps lay. Finding it he locked the car and retraced his steps.

The first trap was empty. Not that he had expected anything else seeing as it was the easiest trap he'd laid out. The second and third trap held two small blue-beaked owls; a nice catch. Their beaks were worth about 2500 cithras.

He touched the birds carefully, trying to see if they were already dead and to his relief felt that they were. He disliked it when a trap failed to immediately kill an animal. It usually caused them quite the suffering, which always left Kaito with a guilty feeling in his stomach. He couldn't afford to buy other equipment to make better traps though.

Loosening the iron noose around the birds' neck he put the animals in his leather shoulder-bag. After that he reset the traps and moved on to the next ones. The bag was soon filled with a young sunbird which made him happy - their young meat was rather popular - but did nothing to ease his worries. At some point he even had to carry another water warthog and a horned hyena back to his truck, but it wasn't nearly enough.

He'd almost given up hope when he walked towards the last couple of traps and heard the rustling of leaves. 'Jolly, another failed trap...' He thought, faltering slightly. But as he walked around the rock formation behind which his trap lay, he got the shock of his life.

What he saw was a boy, around ten years of age, whose leg was stuck in the iron noose of his trap. Now the fact that a boy was caught in his trap should've made him dart forward and help the poor child. But something about him made Kaito freeze in his position.

Wings. The boy had wings. Beautiful, black feathered wings, with which he was frantically flapping around, trying to escape the trap.

Shaking his head Kaito tried to get his brain to reboot. He'd heard of creatures that were half human or at least looked half human, but he'd never actually seen one. What kind of creature would this boy be? Half human and half… crow perhaps? The little black birds weren't an uncommon sight since they roamed the valleys digging through trash in order to survive. However something inside of him didn't believe the boy was related to crows.

He was reminded of a legend his father told him a long time ago. Of humans Mother Nature loved so much that she couldn't bear to let them live in the world as it were. So she gave them the ability to live elsewhere. To live in a place that was safe from the weather. She'd given them wings so they could fly high above the weather's grasp to a land in the sky.

"Are you a Raven?" Kaito asked stunned. The boy finally seemed to notice him. Sitting on the ground he looked at Kaito sullenly, hiding the wings behind his back. Or at least trying to; the wings were almost as big as his own body.

He didn't answer the poacher for minute. Before he looked down slightly embarrassed. "Can you help me out of this thing?" he asked.

Kaito had to think for a minute. The boy would run away as soon as he did and whether or not he really was a Raven didn't matter. A child with wings? People would pay millions to get this boy from him! That solved not only this month's rent, but their whole poverty problem to the boot! No more worrying about rent or how to get enough food for his mother and him, and perhaps no more poaching?

He couldn't let this boy escape! Even if a part in the back of his mind was gnawing at him. The boy looked human enough to actually be one. He could even talk. It was almost like selling another human, albeit a human with two appendages.

Shaking his head he tried to focus. There were more animals out there that could talk and could be compared to humans. He just had to bite his tongue and take the boy with him. He just didn't have the luxury to think about morality. He knew this when he began poaching, he'd never forgotten it and he wouldn't start forgetting it now.

All the time the boy had stared at him with growing anxiety, but Kaito merely ignored this. "Sorry, little boy," he said, getting up and moving closer to the boy, "I can't let you go. Selling you is going to ease my worries for a long, long time."

The boy's fear had grown exponentially as he'd said that, his eyes widening in despair. "No," he said, his voice breaking, "please, you have to listen to me! You have to let me go! Please!"

"I can get millions for a creature like you," Kaito began, taking out a syringe filled with a sedative of his own design from his pocket and hiding it from the boy, "give me one good reason why I should let you go?"

He hated having to act the bad guy like this, but he didn't have a choice, so he forced all his emotions to the back of his mind. The boy was still staring at him with wide eyes as he tried to come up with a reason that would convince the poacher. "I- I," he stuttered, but nothing more came out.

And before something did, Kaito had reached him, looking down at the frightened boy. Gritting his teeth, Kaito jammed the syringe in his neck. The boy let out a startled sound before his eyes slowly shut and he fell to the ground, fast asleep. Sighing, Kaito took the needle out and looked at him.

Lying there in between the leaves the boy seemed almost peaceful if there wasn't an iron noose digging in the soft flesh of his ankle. His hair was pitch-black, much like his wings, and sat neatly on top of his head, excluding a little cowlick on the back. Kaito remembered that his eyes had been a beautiful azure colour, but that colour had been slightly obscured by the large glasses that sat on his nose. He wore a simple, navy blue shirt and army green pants with a pair of red and white sneakers beneath that, and Kaito had to wonder how he could survive in those clothes outside the valleys.

Shaking his head, Kaito kneeled down and freed the boy. He then threw the limp body over his shoulder before he walked away. A quick glance showed the other traps were empty and he decided to reset or clear them some other time. Right now he had to make sure the boy was safely secured before he could wake up.

"You were absolutely right, Kuroba-kun!" Fukushima exclaimed as he looked at the sleeping boy inside the cage. "This really seems to be a Raven and a young one too!" Excited the business man clapped his hands together, studying the winged boy from top to bottom.

Kaito watched from beside the cage. He'd treated the boy's ankle carefully, making sure it wouldn't get infected, then shackled his arms and the uninjured leg, before putting him in the cage. The shackles were made by yours truly with horned hyena fur on the inside so they wouldn't chafe the animals' limbs.

Afterwards he'd searched everywhere to see what exactly people were willing to pay for a Raven and contacted a businessman, Fukushima Rei, who was willing to pay two million for it. It had taken him a day, but it had definitely been worth it.

A groan and movement from inside the cage caught both their attention. They watched as the boy began to stir, before sitting up and putting a hand on his head. "Now you can also see that he's alive. Happy?" Kaito said emotionlessly. He just wanted to get this over with. Now that the boy was awake, he would most likely start begging, and Kaito was not sure if he could handle that.

"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!" Fukushima said, "I'll take it!"

At this exclamation the boy in the cage became fully aware of the situation. He looked skittishly around him, eyes wide as he saw strange faces and unfamiliar surroundings. Finding Kaito's face the boy turned towards him, grabbing the iron bars of the cage. "Please, don't do this! I'll do anything, just please let me go!" he begged, but Kaito turned his head away, ignoring his pleas.

Looking at Fukushima, he said, "About the money..."

But couldn't finish his sentence as the man cut him off. "Ah yes, of course, of course! I'll write you a check with which you can go to the bank!"

"Actually," Kaito began before the man could write the check, "I want twice the money."

He watched the man widen his eyes, before the latter straightened and the business-side of him came out. "And for what reason would I give you twice as much as I originally offered?" the man asked calmly. He was used to these types of tricks, people trying to get more money than he'd originally offered wasn't uncommon.

"Well, you see, this morning I had another visitor by the name of Nanase Ryou," Kaito began and immediately Fukushima cursed, knowing said Nanase quite well, rivalling companies and all. "He offered me four million for the Raven. Naturally since I still had an appointment with you, I wanted to wait to see what offer you would come up with," Kaito continued, putting on his seller's attitude.

They were both silent for a while, the poacher waiting for the man to make a decision and the businessman weighing down the pros and cons. When it took a bit too long for Kaito's liking he added, "Of course, I could always see what others are willing to offer me. Perhaps the price will rise even further if I tell more people about it." He spoke the last sentence as if he'd been talking to himself rather than to Fukushima.

The man, seeing where that would lead to, immediately took the bait and agreed. "Alright, I'll give you four million, but nothing more!"

"A wise choice, Fukushima-san," Kaito said, smiling to the man and ignoring the horrified cries of the little Raven.

"No!" another voice interrupted them. The two trading men turned towards the door to see an adolescent leaning against the frame, panting and looking as if he was ready to pass out. The passing out part was probably due to a large wound in his side that drenched his shirt a crimson red. "I'll pay you five million!" he said in between pants.

Kaito studied the man. He looked strikingly similar to the boy, the poacher realized. Pitch-black hair that sat a similar fashion as the boy's with the same azure eyes, and olive coloured skin. He also wore a simple t-shirt, except his was white - excluding the red stain in his side of course – and army-green cargo pants with black army boots beneath.

Looking at the boy in the cage, he saw the boy look at the newcomer with a small smile on his face that spoke of recognition and hope. There was also worry in his eyes. So those two knew each other. Did that mean that the newcomer was also a Raven? The boy's father perhaps?

Interesting. Kaito thought and looked back to see the slightly larger cage in the corner behind him. If he could just lure the young man out, maybe he would show his true nature, that of a Raven.

"Hahahaha, do you even have that kind of money, boy?" Fukushima laughed as he only saw an injured, young man in simple clothes. Surely he didn't look like someone who could pay that large amount of money.

"If I say that I can pay, then I can!" the adolescent growled before returning his attention back to Kaito. "Six! I'll pay you six!" he said quickly when he saw Kaito's indifferent face, sounding more desperate by the moment.

"Sorry buddy, I already sold him. Should've been here earlier," Kaito said, shrugging and moving towards a stack of ropes he had lying in front of the larger cage. He acted as if he was doing something useful, but in his mind he was trying hard to come up with a way to get the young man to come after him.

Eventually that was a wasted effort as the elder Raven showed his true nature as a last resort. Wings sprouted from his back and he used them to come at Kaito with such a high speed the poacher barely had time to grab the door to the cage and open it as he jumped to the side.

The Raven tried to redirect his path, but the wound thwarted this action. Clutching his side the Raven fell into the cage, and Kaito immediately shut and locked the door behind him.

"I thought as much," he muttered. "You'd have been better off staying away from this place and forgetting all about the young one." The elder Raven glared up at him from his position on the floor of the cage.

"Let him go, he's done nothing wrong," he growled.

"Can't do that, buddy, I've got a rent to pay," he said, raising the left corner of his mouth in a smile that didn't reach his eyes, then turned away from the cage.

"Nii-san!" the young Raven shouted, throwing himself against the side of the cage. Nii-san, eh? So they were brothers, not father and son. Not that it mattered much to Kaito. "Please, leave my nii-san be! He's injured and needs a doctor! Please, show some humanity!"

Kaito grit his teeth and kicked the smaller one's cage in annoyance. "Shut up!" he growled, effectively reducing the boy to mere whimpering as he looked at his brother with worry and fright. "Well, Fukushima-san, are you interested in another, full-grown Raven?" he asked.

The man eagerly shook his head, still somewhat flabbergasted by the whole experience. "If I'm interested? Of course, I'm interested! I'll pay you eight million for the two of them," he said, but Kaito shook his head.

"The boy was already four million, the other one is a full-grown Raven, and injured or not he's worth at least six. I want ten million for the both of them," Kaito said. He'd had enough of this situation. He wanted the two Ravens gone before he'd change his mind.

Fukushima saw the determination in the poacher's eyes and knew that the young man would not budge, so he sighed. Ten million was nothing to him after all. "Fine, ten million for the both of them," he said and wrote the check. After that was done Fukushima handed it to him and smiled happily.

"Thank you very much for this, Kuroba-kun. The young one is going to be excellent to display on my next birthday party! People are going to be so jealous!" he said, excitement filled his voice at the thought alone of all those green faces.

Kaito shrugged, he could care less about the workings of the rich. "Hmmm, the elder one's wings are beautiful. I think I'll hang those up in my living room. Oh! And he himself would be a lovely servant to show off!"

"You're going to cut off his wings?!" the smaller Raven roared. "Do you have any idea what kind of disgrace that is, you filthy monster! Where is your humanity? I thought humans were compassionate beings that took care of one another!"

Fukushima shot the boy a glare. "Oh shush, stupid, little animal."

Kaito clenched his hand into a fist. Just get out, he thought.

"No! I won't listen to the likes of you!" the boy roared again.

"Enough, Conan," the elder Raven said. Kaito looked at him as did the boy, Conan. But upon seeing his brother continued to roar with tears in his eyes. Kaito stopped listening to him. He was still looking at the elder Raven.

The young man had seated himself with his back against the side of the cage, holding onto his wound and staring into nothingness with resignation. His wings had shrunk in size and hung droopingly from his back.

Kaito found that he didn't like that expression on the Raven's face. Resigned to a life of serving and humiliation. The sound of the young Raven's voice echoing inside his brain did nothing to help him. "If this is what it takes to be human, then I don't want to be one. I don't want to know one or even see one! Disgusting, you are all disgusting!"

"Ow, you're just an animal, what would you know of disgusting things?" Fukushima said, waving the boy off.

"Get out!" Kaito ground out, catching everyone's attention. He ignored the Ravens and instead focused on Fukushima. "The deal is off, take your money and get out," he continued and ripped the check he'd been given with little pain in his heart. He needed the money, yes. But if he had to lose his morality to get it, he decided he'd rather live in poverty.

Fukushima didn't seem to have expected this turn of events. Looking at the poacher with wide eyes he gaped like a fish on the dry land. "B-but… You need the money! You have a loan to pay, don't you? Are you seriously going to let what that little thing says get to you?"

"That's my problem, not yours," Kaito merely stated. "We didn't shake hands, so the deal hasn't been completed yet. I still have the right to deny your offer. Now get out of my sight, before I make you leave!" Taking his father's old gun from the storage box beside him, Kaito took a threatening stance.

Fukushima hesitated for only a minute more. Gritting his teeth, he turned around and headed for the back door. Before disappearing however he turned around and spoke one last time, "You're going to regret this decision." After that he left the building.

"Like I didn't know that already," Kaito muttered to himself. He sighed and sat down against one of the boxes in the storage room behind the shop, putting his elbows and hands crossed on his knees and dropping his head on his arms as he tried to calm down.

"Thank you," a soft voice spoke up. He felt a vein pop on his head.

"Don't get cocky!" he shouted without looking at the small boy that had spoken up from inside the cage. "Just because I didn't sell you to this bastard, doesn't mean I won't sell you at all!" It stayed quiet after his outburst.

It took Kaito a minute or so to calm down and recollect his thoughts. When he had, he felt a gaze on him that didn't belong to the boy. Turning his head to the right, he met the elder Raven's gaze.

Still sitting against the side of the cage the azure-eyed man merely regarded him, waiting for what was to happen. He looked rather pale compared to when he'd stormed inside the storage room. Sweat spiralled down his forehead and pain was visible inside his eyes.

But even so, said eyes weren't glazed over. The Raven, even after losing so much blood and energy, looked as aware of his surroundings as any healthy human was. Or rather, he looked even more aware of his surrounding than a healthy human, even in this state.

Kaito blamed it on the animal genes that must be roaming through said adolescent's body.

After a while of silently staring at each other, the Raven finally decided to speak up. "I wasn't lying, you know?" he began. "When I said that I could pay for my little brother, I meant it." When Kaito didn't answer he continued. "I'd be more than willing to help you pay the bills. Even for the next couple of times."

The poacher turned his head back to the front, chin resting on his crossed arms. "I don't take pity money. I pay the bills with money I have worked for and nothing else." Poaching might not be work according to many. But the amount of energy and thought he put into it, made it work in his eyes. Besides he wasn't like all the other poachers.

"Then work for me."

Raising his head and turning it to the elder Raven again, Kaito looked at him with a frown. "You're a Raven, an animal," he said. "What kind of job could an animal have?"

Smiling a little – Kaito would've thought he'd offended the Raven rather than making him amused – the Raven shrunk his wings further and made them disappear. "Now I look human, don't I?" he said, shrugging. "You'd be surprised how many Ravens actually live side by side with humans."

Kaito thought a little about the offer. It didn't sound bad. If he agreed he would solve the bill problem for this month and maybe get himself another job to the boot. But there was one thing he wanted to know before he simply agreed. "What kind of work do you do?" he asked.

Smirking the elder Raven answered. "We're hunters."

If you're interested, cithras is something I made up as a currency. I liked the way it sounded and you can compare it with yen if you want to know how the prices relate.