Once upon a time, in the prestigious kingdom of Ekoda ruled by the Kuroba family. The king and queen of the country were extremely close friends with the baron and baroness who were out of the kingdom most of the time. The baron family soon gave birth to a young boy, they named him: Shinichi. Some months later, the whole kingdom celebrated the birth of a new prince, Prince Kaito. Despite the difference in ranks, the two boys were raised like brothers and lived without a care in the world. However, when Shinichi turned 12 his parents set out for the world and they took him along. Of course, the farewell party was a disaster, the mischievously clever prince would not let go of his beloved friend and had built a fortress of pillows and traps to prevent anyone from taking Shinichi away. After some effort of King Toichi and the Baron, they managed to drag the two boys out and all ended up in a big bawling session between the two families.

And thus, four years later arriving at Kuroba Kaito's 16th birthday ball was Kudo Shinichi. His slender frame was hugged by his light blue suit with his hair professionally pulled back on one side and in long strides, he sped towards the huge castle door decorated with clover, sparkles and colourful things that are too bright for Shinichi's eyes to comprehend.

"Woah, slow down there, Shinichi. The ball is not going anywhere!" Kudo Yusaku said briefly as Yukiko dragged him at immeasurable speed towards the ball.

"Oh Kudo, you came back for his birthday this year huh?" Heiji grinned as he caught up to his friend. The man himself was dressed in a dull green suit with a proud sword at his waist.

Instead of opening his mouth to speak, Shinichi directed Heiji's attention to his hands.

"We'll…talk…later…?" Heiji said brokenly as he tries to decipher Shinichi's hand's gestures "Sign language? Kudo, what happened?"

Annoyingly Shinichi repeated the same gestures.

"Oh…sure. But you sure you're okay at this party? It's a ball, they're gonna try talkin' to ya."

From his inner pocket, Shinichi pulled out a thin envelope addressed to the royal prince.

"Ah…" Heiji nodded in a knowing manner "I see…You gonna need help getting out afterwards yea? I'll tell the guards to let you through."

[Thanks.] Shinichi gestured and the two entered the ball.

Classical music played in the background, dukes and duchess filled the room with chatter, danced spectacularly across the glittering floor. The royal prince was among a huge circle of ladies who adorn themselves in gleamingly magnificent dresses, he frequently spared a glance towards the huge door, waiting for a certain son of a baron to enter.

"Greetings," a blond head approached Shinichi who stationed himself in a far corner of the room to avoid attention "I'm called Hakuba Saguru from the Hakuba family. Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Kudo Shinichi-san, I assume."

Shinichi politely bowed to the new gentleman "Ah…sorry ta interrupt but my friend here-"Heiji appeared and nudged Shinichi "-have some important business ta attend to."

The son of the Baron spared Hakuba another polite bow before politely excusing himself.

"Ah, Kudo-san-"

Heiji took a step to be a blockade between Hakuba and Shinichi "Ya got some business with him?"

The blond spared a glare "I merely wanted to discuss a certain case with the gentleman."

"Oh ya? Why not tell me about it?" Heiji crossed his arms.

"I much rather keep it to myself than confront a brainless officer."

"Watcha say?!"

Shinichi left the two to their own bickering as he left to search for Kaito. Without much difficulty, Shinichi found the circle of women eloping his childhood friend. With a sigh, Shinichi took out a pen in his pocket and scribbled onto his palm then left to find the nearest butler. Lightly, Shinichi tapped the butler's shoulder.

The butler turned around "Ah yes, how may I help?" Shinichi showed the butler his palm and pulled out the letter "Yes, I understand." The servant politely bowed before delivering the letter.

With his objective completed Shinichi strolled leisurely out of the ballroom.

"Your highness," a butler approached the prince "A letter had been asked to be delivered to you."

"Thank you!" Kaito smirked and grabbed the letter. After a second of silence, Kaito whipped around and yelled "Secure the doors! Do not let anyone leave!" causing a ruckus amongst the guests.

Heiji quickly caught on and ditched Hakuba in search for his friend.

"I'm sorry sir, but the prince's order. You may not leave." The guard firmly blocked Shinichi's exit.

"Let 'im through." Heiji arrived at the same gate.

"But sir-"

"Let the gentleman through." A voice quietly approached behind them.

"Hakuba-sama! But-"

"Commander Hattori and I will take full responsibility."

Reluctantly, the gate slitly opened up and Shinichi silently slipped through after a bow of gratitude to the guard.

"Kudo, after my duties are done. I'll come over." Heiji whispered to his friend before turning back to the party.

"If the prince asks, you saw nothing," Hakuba warned the guards.

"Hakuba! Tantei-han!" the royal prince ran towards the two with a group of women behind him "Have you guys seen Shinichi around?"

Heiji mustered up his acting skills "Nah, was he supposed to be in the kingdom?"

Kaito pulled out a letter "Look! A butler gave this to me! It has Shinichi's handwriting and the butler said a man that looked like me gave it to him! It has to be Shinichi!"

"If Kudo Shinichi was truly here, then wouldn't he attract much attention just for looking like you?" Hakuba crossed his arms.

"His parents are here-"

"Doesn't necessarily mean that he's here with them."

"Argh, why must you argue with me on my birthday, Hakuba!"

The mentioned duke snorted "I don't see a reason why I shouldn't."

"Chill, chill. If I happened ta find Kudo, I'll tell ya," Heiji bowed slightly "For now, just enjoy yerself."

The royal prince returned to reassure the guests, unsatisfied with the result Heiji had given him. The night went to pass as Kaito spend his time flirting with daughters of dukes and princesses of kings from all over the land. His parents disappeared the moment the Kudo family appeared, they're probably somewhere having a really long catch up session. The ball was scheduled to end at midnight, very close from now, and the prime of the party had already ended. Dukes and duchess were saying their farewells before leaving one by one and soon the party was over. The prince bid goodnight to the servants who rushed in to clean up the ballroom and retreated to his own chamber.

Plopping down head first on his bed Kaito took out Shinichi's letter.

Dear your highness,

Happy Birthday.

It was accompanied by a beautiful emerald gem radiating brightly in the candle's flickering fire. Kaito remembered the first year after Shinichi left, a letter arrived on his birthday. It had the same message but the letter was accompanied by an amethyst. Of course being so young, he didn't know who would send him such a gift so after bothering his father for 3 consecutive days, the king finally gave in and inspected the handwriting of the sender to be Shinichi. From then, every year a letter would arrive to congratulate his birthday with a gemstone as a gift. The first year was an amethyst, the second was tanzanite, last year was a moonstone and this year Shinichi had given him an emerald. Kaito stood up and placed the letter gently into a drawer in his bedside table and the gem into a pouch that contains the other three gems that he carries at his side at all time. The prince heaved a heavy sigh and flopped down to bed.

Further away from the castle, the moonlight shone through the cracks of the window in Shinichi's manor. The boy was seated comfortably on his reading chair with a book in front of him as he waited for his dark-skinned friend to finish his duty. Reading was much better than anything in the world for Shinichi right now, at least it didn't require his voice. The detective put the book aside and picked up a file from a pile next to his desk. The file contained suspect profiles, evidence and test results of a recent kidnapping case that he was deemed to look at some point, he sighed and began to read through the documents. Even though his father ranked as a baron, Yusaku's reputation rivalled that of a duke and the only reason why he retained the title of a baron was so he can leave the kingdom whenever he wants. The intellectual bureau relied on the baron whenever they hit a wall so no wonder why there were files neatly sorted and stacked next to the desk in the library even after the Kudo family left the kingdom.

'Come to think of it, that blond fellow from the ball was from the Hakuba family…ah, so that's why he approached me.'

Shinichi flipped another page over and was unsurprisingly met with Hakuba's name as the inspector in charge of the case. Of course, he would be, the Hakuba family was the first to found the kingdom' first and only Intellectual Bureau and they have been serving the royal family for generations. Maybe a few hundred years after the Hattori family pledge their loyalty to the king after the Great War.

The grandfather clock stroke midnight, snapping Shinichi out of his little history lesson. The door of the library creaked open and Heiji strode in.

"Sorry bout that, duty dragged on a lil' longer than I thought," the commander plopped down on the couch in front of Shinichi "Ready when you are."

Shinichi set aside the file and gave Heiji a solemn look. He began to tell his tale but unlike the fairy tales his mother had drilled into his head as his bedtime stories as a child, his will never have a happily ever after.