Notes: Was inspired by the book Skellig by David Almond, although the drabble plot's been tweaked and fit into the canon so much it only barely resembles David's /breathesheavily
And also, in this AU, KID doesn't exist and Toichi still breathes, just to make things run smoother.
-.-.-
At the beginning of winter, the Kuroba household of three moved into a new two-storey house, just at the other end of their original street, during the frosty days and harsh, early nights.
"Kaito, you are never touching the stove in this new home, do you understand me?"
"Yes, mom."
Nearing the end of winter, Kuroba Chikage was found to be five months pregnant.
"We should make a name for the baby now, don't you think so too, dear?" Chikage cooed.
Kuroba Toichi slowly looked up from his Sherlock Holmes novel with raised eyebrows.
A week later, Kuroba Kaito wheezed in laughter, eyes bright with hilarity and sparkling indigo.
"What kinda name is Conan, mom?!"
Weeks before the beginning of spring, the awakening of Persephone, baby Conan was born a dangerous two and a half months premature.
During the primary health check, he was diagnosed with severe congenital heart disease.
-.-.-
"Oh, Kaito, there should be spare cardboard boxes in the basement, would you mind getting some?"
"Sure, dad."
Kaito spun his yellow torch around by the cord, and hummed as he made his way down the stairs, fingers brushing the railing, as he twisted the doorknob, to reveal darkness and a puff of dust hastily waved away.
Their family didn't use the basement much, but kept spare and left over gardening equipment and miscellaneous items stored away down here.
Kaito peered around as he switched on the torch with a small click.
Cockroaches scurried back into the remaining cracks of darkness they could find, and everywhere the brunette swept his long beam of light, dust settled and old bits and pieces could be found here and there.
Cardboard, cardboard, he reminded himself repeatedly.
So it was unexpected, when all he came down for was storage boxes, that he whipped his head around at the small cough from one of the far corners.
"Who's there?" He hissed, narrowing his eyes to peer into the gloom. He treaded a few steps forward and found a figure, curled in around itself, with dark, matted hair a pale complexion, wincing as he shielded himself from the light, covering his eyes – dark eye bags – with a bony hand. A funny cowlick stood up from his head.
"Who are you?" The standing boy growled, hairs standing on end. The boy across from him looked no older than him, but was dangerously underweight and weak.
"Get out," He whispered, "Outsider."
"Outsider?" Kaito echoed, but moved his torch to the wall behind the boy, in fear of blinding him.
"Go away," The boy glared, dusty blue eyes glaring, and rustling his black coat, and attempted to stand up, but slumped down, staggering and heaving.
"Woah, are you oka-"
"Get out."
And Kaito shivered, feeling the air around him dampen and drop to a lower temperature, and took a measly step backwards.
"Look, if you need help, I can help, are you okay?" The taller boy held his hands up in an attempt to communicate.
"You.." The cowlicked boy breathed, before clutching his chest is pain and gasping, gripping a nearby pipe.
"Hey, hey, are you really okay?" Kaito abandoned his torch, flinging it to the side, and rushed forward to catch the wavering boy.
"Don't touch me-!"
"You're damn sick!"
"If you touch m-me, you'll die," He strained out, leaving a wide-eyed Kaito before slumping to the ground out cold, breaths still ragged.
"Woah," Kaito honestly didn't know how to act at this stage. He reached for his torch and approached the boy. He was frail, weak, and looked like he hadn't touched food for ages.
Food, Kaito realised, he needs food.
-.-.-
He held two boxes of Chinese takeaway in hand, and scampered down the stairs, flinging open the door, and turned to the wall the wide-eyed blue-eyed boy sat at.
"I've got you food, eat up," Kaito stated, tone completely serious.
"Why would I trust you?" He growled back.
"Everything about you says you're unwell, unfed and neglected, eat first then we'll talk later."
The boy looked up and caught a whiff of nourishment, before eyes brightened, and nodded, but still carrying hesitation. Whenever Kaito shuffled forward, he seemed to be trying to will himself into the wall behind him, and Kaito eventually gave up and placed to boxes to the side and stepped back, and let him feed himself.
"First of all what's your name?"
He paused, half chewing a dim sim, "..Shin.."
"Shin?" Kaito cocked an eyebrow, and crossed his legs.
"..Shinichi," He huffed before breaking apart the wooden chopsticks and bringing mouthfuls of noodle to his mouth.
"Where are you from?" The brunette queried.
That was the question that obviously threw him for the loop, and he froze, before looking up and shaking his head, "You shouldn't ask, you mortals shouldn't know."
"Huh?" Kaito didn't dig into the issue any further.
"I'm done."
"Wait, what? It hasn't even been five minutes-!"
"Is there a problem?"
Kaito laughed, "Kudos to you, and your appetite. Even I can't eat that fast."
"..Kudos?" Shinichi cocked his head slightly.
"Ah, it means to applaud you for something you've done, or something like that," He ran his hand through his ruffled hair, before taking the cartons and standing up to leave.
"Thank you for the food," Shinichi whispered.
The other turned his head around, and cracked a smile, "Anytime, you can stay here for a bit more and I'll bring some more food tomorrow," He chucked his torch over, and the boy caught it with ease, inspecting it, "So you don't get frightened in the dark."
And with that, he shut the door.
-.-.-
"Hakuba, can you come here for a sec?"
The blonde turned around and stared at the asker warily, "Is this one of your tricks again?" His voice cracked.
"No, I'm actually serious, come here, I need your help," Kaito stated, voice low and glancing around at the other students in the library.
Saguru narrowed his eyes, but stepped forward anyways. Over the years, he's learnt that, you're usually better off if you act willing to Kaito than if you run.
"What would you do if a person takes refuge in your basement and is apparently sick, malnourished and paranoid?"
"..What? Kuroba, is this a loophole?" Saguru fully expected for the other teen to crack a smirk and hit him over the head with a dye bomb or something equally awful, but he didn't expect him to massage the tip of his nose and groan in desperation.
"I'm serious, I don't know what to do, and I'm afraid if I report him to the police, he might get dangerous and shit," The messy-haired teen sighed, voice laced with sincerity.
Saguru frowned, "You make him sound dangerous, is he?"
"I haven't experienced it firsthand yet, but he's got a sort of an aura hanging around him, and it's heavy, and.." He tried to consider his words, "Deathly, in a way? He doesn't act completely normal either."
Saguru furrowed his brows. Kaito actually is being dead serious right now, and his curious instincts are screaming at him to at least take a look.
"Take me to your home after school; I'll see what I can do."
-.-.-
"Shinichi."
The boy in question's head snapped upwards.
"You bought others here..?"
Kaito realised that he hadn't given his own name yet, "Kuroba Kaito, and this is Hakuba Saguru, my.. classmate," He gestured to the blonde behind him.
Shinichi gave a small wave then began to pick at the hems of his coat again.
"Ah, Shinichi-san, can I ask you a few questions?" Saguru coughed. He earned a cautious nod in response.
"Look, before you ask anything, I'm not human," He hissed, sending a wave of frost into the air, "And," He sighed, "Since I do owe Kaito for him bringing me food, I'm a …minor deity, a death god."
The latter part of the sentence was spoken so quietly the other two strained their ears to catch it.
"Come again?" Saguru couldn't believe his ears.
Shinichi's blue orbs sharpened, "I'm not repeating it, you heard me damn well."
"Okay, I'm going to trust that you won't harm us, since if you did want to, you would've killed me ages ago," Kaito proceeded rather cautiously, "What are you doing in my basement?"
The shorter boy turned his head away, "..I was banished here, because I ridiculed Sonoko, a high-ranking goddess," He almost growled.
"Woah, way to royalty," Kaito muttered, earning a pointed glare from Saguru. The brunette froze when he actually let the earlier phrases – 'death god', 'minor deity' – and he whispered, "Can you save my brother?"
Saguru looked at the boy in confusion, obviously didn't catch the sentence, but the ragged boy did, and his eyes were filled with a mixture of pity, consideration and understanding.
"I can't."
A silence lingered, the Kaito inhaled, "..Why not?! He's not dead, he's just got a heart disease-!"
"I can't touch anything with a life force, and I can't even get out of this goddamn room!" He screamed back, causing the others to flinch.
"But if I bring him to you, you can try, right?"
"I can't guarantee anything, Kaito."
"We can try."
-.-.-
"Mom, what do you mean I can't carry Conan anywhere anymore?"
"I'm sorry Kaito, his heart's getting weaker and weaker, and unfamiliar movement might speed up his heart and risk a failure."
-.-.-
"Shinichi, I can't, Conan's getting weaker," Kaito whispered, heaving a heavy sigh.
"I see," Shinichi's voice was soft with sympathy.
"He's dying, and none of us can do anything. We can't even take him to the hospital without risking a heart attack on the way there. The doctors are coming on a daily basis."
Shinichi said nothing to reply.
"You're a god, I don't care how minor you are, but isn't there something you can do?!" Kaito pleaded, voice pitching upwards near the end of the sentence.
Shinichi growled and his eyes blazed.
"Do you think I'm not doing anything on purpose?! I can't, Kaito, I can't. Sure, I can cure his disease, but I'm stationary here! Whenever I touch the door or any wall other than this one, it repels me back! I want to see the sunlight and the outside as well-!" He spat, standing up, and sending ripples of luminance and deep, rich blue throughout the room, shaking it to the core. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his eyes glowed sapphire with anger.
"S-Shinichi!" What are you doing?"
"What am I doing?!" He growled, "You-"
And his energy died down, the room fading into darkness once more, and he slumped with his back against the wall, heaving.
"Shit, I used too much ener- Kaito, you – shit, don't touch me, you'll die, like everyone else I've touched!"
But Kaito didn't even pause to consider the warning, and caught the deity in his arms without second consideration.
"Too late, I've already got you," Kaito grinned, and Shinichi scrambled out of his arms and onto the floor, and scanned Kaito's arms up and down.
"I'm fine."
"You shouldn't be, not when you've touched me," Shinichi hissed, backing away, "Get out, now."
"Shinichi-"
"Get. Out."
And he found himself repelled towards the basement door and fallen on his backside outside the blasted-open door. The door slammed by itself.
Shinichi, in the dark and all alone, started to cry.
-.-.-
"He's an extraordinary being, Kuroba, based on what he believes he can do to living things yesterday and what he's personally told me," Saguru shook his head in disbelief. Before all this, he hadn't even remotely believed in gods, goddesses and any beliefs before.
Kaito sighed for a multitude of times that day and still counting, and twirled his noodles around his chopsticks.
"I've never felt what he's feeling right now, but I can imagine it," He hummed, tune void of emotion.
"..Is your brother okay?"
Kaito turned with dull eyes, and lowered his head.
"They say he won't survive for another week."
-.-.-
In the duration of the week, Kaito delivered the death god in his basement food in silence, and was returned with silence as well. Both parties didn't say anything. There wasn't anything to say.
On the fifth day, Kaito decided to speak up first.
"My brother's going to die after tomorrow," His voice cracked.
"Ah."
"I was actually really excited for a brother, someone I could teach my pranks to, and have him follow me around, and I had always thought that he'd grow up, always younger than me, and likely die after me, but this," He croaked, "This is just all fucked up," He closed his eyes, "He still has his whole life in front of him."
There was no reply, nothing to be said, so Kaito stood up, brushed off the imaginary dust on his shirt, and left without another word.
-.-.-
On the sixth day, Shinichi wasn't there.
Kaito called Saguru with a desperate tone in his voice; Shinichi was already someone precious to him. His brother may as well be dead now, and Kaito couldn't bare to lose another precious person.
"He's not here," Saguru wheezed at the dust.
"Keep looking, he has to be somewhere."
The basement was confirmed empty, nothing but dust mites and cockroaches and dead insects. In desperation, they searched through the other parts of the house, and Kaito thanked whichever deity of luck it was that his parents were out at work.
Up above, the god Kid sneezed.
"Not the kitchen, bathrooms or lounge, check the bedrooms," Kaito barked, though more to himself than both of them.
Kaito, Chikage and Toichi's room all turned up empty and isolated.
"..Shit, Conan's room."
And they found him there, standing over the crib, eyes tender and tinged with sympathy. He glided three fingers over the baby's forehead, and then looked at his fingers.
"Shini-"
"Ah, you guys found me," Shinichi looked up and stepped away from the baby's resting area, "Should've known."
"How..?" Saguru sputtered.
Shinichi looked over the other two teens, then to Conan, who was sleeping soundly, then at himself, "Somehow."
"That's awfully vague, Shinichi," Kaito squinted, was it just his imagination or was the cowlicked boy fading?
"Ah, yes, sorry sorry, that's just a habit of mine. You won't need to know, anyways," He smiled sadly and placed his hands behind his back, "Because I'm going now."
"W-what? Wait, Shinichi-!" Kaito reached towards the slowly transparent figure, skin now alabaster, as his words were caught on his tongue, "I-"
"I love you too, Kaito," Shinichi breathed, laughing and opening his arms towards the violet-eyed teen, "See you."
"Shini-" Kaito grabbed at Shinichi's arms, but he blinked, and there was nothing.
Nothing but the dust and ashes left in the god's presence along with his ringing laughter lingering faintly in the air.
-.-.-
Two years have passed.
Kaito hummed and watched Conan fiddle with his rose, with a small pout on his face as he wrinkles his nose and tries to see how his older brother flicked it out of his hand when they were both wearing singlets.
Conan grew up in the last two long years to be a carbon copy of Shinichi. It made sense, Kaito reasoned, as Shinichi was the one who gave his life force to Conan to let him live.
But it didn't help the pain lessen.
Kaito had tried to forget the face, multiple times, even, but he couldn't, not when the said face was appearing in his daily life at least three times a day. He'd given up ever since.
So it was just a lazy autumn morning, when his cell phone rung. He peered over and scowled in distaste at the sight of the caller ID.
He picked it up nonetheless.
"Hakuba? What does a prick like you need-"
"Kuroba, get over to Ekoda police station now," Saguru's voice was tight and demanding, with a hint of disbelief.
"Woah, woah, calm down, what happened?" Kaito blinked.
The two have started to trust each other in situations like this just a bit more, ever since the boy in the basement.
"You wouldn't believe this," The blonde growled from the other end of the line, "But you have to come. He's not staying for much longer."
"'He?' Oi, Hakuba!" Kaito yelled into his cell, but Saguru already hung up. Sighing, he closed the piece of plastic and turned to his younger brother, who was staring at him with curious blue eyes, and for a second, déjà vu sent a shiver down his spine.
He brushed it off without too much thought.
"Hey, tantei-kun," Kaito began, and Conan perked up at his nickname, "I've got to go out for a bit, stay safe, 'kay?"
"Yes, nii-chan."
-.-.-
He spotted Saguru talking to another boy the same age from the moment he walked into the station. The blonde colouring is pretty hard to miss in a place like Japan.
"Oi, Hakuba, what are you-" Kaito stopped mid-sentence. The brunette boy beside the half-brit turned at regarded Kaito with curious blue eyes.
Kaito instead, saw the flames and fury, all mixed with a blinding rich blue, sending out blasting waves throughout the room, temperature distinctly dropping.
"Ah, you must be Kuroba-kun, Hakuba-kun was just mentioning you," He held out a hand and let out a twitch of his lips upwards – a smile.
Kaito, breath stopped momentarily, saw a gentle yet sorrowful upwards turn of the lips, and arms held out as if to gesture him into a hug, and the laughter echoed in his ears.
Saguru, eyeing the two, desperately motioned out to his classma– friend – and mouthed a silent, yet, to Kaito, a crashing down to earth, he doesn't remember.
So Kaito could do nothing except take the hand weakly into a shake. The suited boy looked earnestly into his eyes.
"I'm Kudou Shinichi, detective. It's our first time meeting, isn't it?"