Halloween Surprises

by Leuny

Halloween is close, and with it come some suprises that Kaito is less than prepared for... between Hakuba, Aoko and his own heist demanding his attention, what is left but to go with the flow? Warning: the first chapter is riddled with introspection! Temporary Hiatus-ed.

1. (To Go) Out On A Limb

Halloween Surprises

(To Go) Out On A Limb

Disclaimer: Nothing belonging to me excepting the plot bunny.

AN: This is an idea that just came to me in week two of this year's October; some of it might seem out of place, there will be many, many mistakes in this – I'm going to publish it regardless of it having yet to be read by a beta or not (anyone offering to be my beta for this?) 'cause my own personal beta has flown out to overseas (literally) and is veeeery busy and I'm just a tad impatient for this particular story to get "out there", so to speak. I WILL however try to correct/edit it as soon as I can get someone to proofread it for me!

Also: the events in this first installment take place on the afternoon/evening of the 28.10. (and the wee morning hours of the 29.10.)!

Seeing as I put Halloween Surprises online under the label "Crossover" Fanfictions, I can assure you that Detective Conan will appear here sometime… just a little bit later and with a far more minor role than what you are probably expecting that series' part in this fanfiction to be. *mischievous grin*

Warning: a lot of introspection and thinking. Anybody who doesn't feel comfortable reading that all the time, consider yourself warned! ;_D Also: beware of slight Spoilers for my other fanfictions Tea, Anyone? and The Tales Of Trump Kingdom in this first chapter! This whole fanfiction has been filled heavily with references to my other fanfictions (yes, even It's Colder, Regardless has an own part in a corner of one of the paragraphs somewhere), although it can be read without you having any prior knowledge of those. Consider the references "trailers" for said fanfictions, in that case. They will be pretty obvious to you, dear readers, throughout.

Hope you enjoy it irregardless: now, please get yourself some nicely steaming hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookies and a fluffy pillow, get comfortable, sit back in your chair and have fun reading!

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"Change is coming; fate will work its magic on you in unexpected ways. You will be presented with interesting opportunities in the near future. Luck is with you."

Amused, he chanced another stare at the horoscope he'd gotten at school that day. Well, he hadn't gotten it directly from any teacher or anything. Reading the newspaper as per usual, he'd gotten curious when Aoko had read hers out loud – after stealing said newspaper from him, of course – and when he'd read his own fortune, it had somehow gotten stuck in his head. Change was coming~… Really, the horoscope's text was somewhat absurd, he thought.

Putting it back into his school satchel lying right beside him, he closed his eyes in thoughtfulness. Of course change was coming – it always was, nowadays. His whole life was changing while he looked at it; what else would a horoscope say? What else would horoscope writers make their creations say than that change would be coming? It was a fairly uncreative way of putting what life was making him go through these days. Funnily enough, it was the magic part that wouldn't let go of him. And didn't this prediction describe him – his night job as well as his civilian persona – to a T? It amused him to no end, the little ways in which his life worked.

Wasn't it ironic that he was the one receiving this particular fortune? He had seen too much already (especially Koizumi had helped greatly in disillusioning him when it came to the more obscure branches that the world was still hiding from him) to do it away as a simple "funny coincidence". Concerning him, almost nothing was truly a coincidence. "Accidents" as such didn't happen, not to him. Neither did coincidences.

But over thinking this – and maybe attributing a completely wrong meaning to it in the process – wouldn't be the right way of going at it. He'd just have to wait and see in order to find out what was meant in the prediction. The amateur magician was wondering whether the change mentioned in there was a good or a bad kind of change. Sighing, he went back to watching the clouds pass by overhead. Kaito would cross that bridge when it came, he thought to himself rather more forlornly than he probably was entitled to. The thing was, there had been way too many things happening to him until then that he could truly enjoy being an optimistic person sometimes. Those times, he was rather happy with thinking of the worst that could come at him. He reckoned that this was way better than suddenly being caught off-guard and being forced to improvise while staring down at a sniper rifle or any other type of gun from close up.

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There was a light breeze playing with his hair. It wasn't uncomfortable, at all. The black of his school uniform contrasted strongly with the aquarelle colors of the vibrant green grass and the light brown earth surrounding him, ensconcing him in its warm arms as he rested on the floor. The dark brownish hue closely matched his hair, instead, making him stand out from farther away – he was very aware of the fact that anybody would be able to spot him easily from the other side of the river. Today, though, this didn't matter. The teenage-thief wasn't in his "working clothes", so to speak, so he could allow himself to relax a little at that instant, at least. Neither was he in any of his usual spots – he wasn't at home, nor at school either. Nobody would be able to successfully find out his current location if they weren't walking along his usual way to school by chance.

Eyes closed, all the brunette did was adjust his position a little, put his hands behind his head and yawn. The colors of the sun played joyously with the clouds in the sky. There, a pale grey, then on the other side of the sky there was a bright yellow. It was a lazy afternoon during the week just after school. Aoko had gone shopping – without him, seeing as he didn't have any inclination towards ending up as a pack mule any time soon.

Honestly, she was worse than his mother in some aspects. He regaled the sky with a fond look at that. She must know – something. At least. Kaito knew that, maybe unconsciously, Aoko knew that he was Kaitô Kid. Otherwise she'd never have become as considerate as to leave him to his own devices every now and then; those times had only increased in the last year. Somehow, the long-haired girl knew not to pry. The girl knew when to say what, too. He counted himself extremely lucky in that the girl of his dreams accepted the changes in his personality that he'd had to go through in order to become Kid.

He'd had to let his excellence at school take the backseat and become the class clown instead. It wouldn't do to be remarked upon because of his grades – because then the probability that people would look and figure out "Ah, he's an amateur magician, too? And his father died eight years ago, you say? And he's never home whenever Kaitô Kid appears?" would be higher than if he was the class prankster instead. They'd come uncomfortably close to the truth and his secrets just because of this. Aoko never had said a word about his steadily dropping grades. She'd only ever told him to study and hounded him to attend school regularly.

He'd kept them just above average, though, just because he didn't want her and his mother on his case, as well. Kaito was just glad that Hakuba hadn't been there for the beginning of his career as moonlighting magician. He knew that the blond would have been on his scent a lot sooner if he'd known that his scholarly accomplishments have started dropping in quality (and quantity) at the same time that Kaitô Kid had reappeared. It had been a slow, steady process – so that nobody would be overly suspicious.

Hakuba had gone home, as well, he pondered. Absentmindedly he wondered where the blond lived. A shame, really, that he – obviously – didn't live in Ekoda. Or was it a blessing in disguise, rather? Since they had come to this maybe-kind-of understanding-of-sorts, he wasn't so sure about what to label this, any more. What was the blond in relation to the Kaitô Kid nowadays, anyways? An ally? A partner? A friend, even?

Opening his eyes, he silently contemplated the detective's status. Did he feel comfortable, in the sleuth's presence? Or was it rather a kind of awkward tension that surrounded both whenever they were together? Weird. To his eyes, neither seemed a close fit to describe what was going on. This was decidedly strange. He knew he didn't exactly feel at ease in the other's company. There was still too much unsaid between them to make them friends. And yet…

Shoulders sagging slightly, Kaito counted himself lucky to even have found such a person. They were standing on shaky ground, but he was confident that – with time – the gap between both their knowledge would be closed and they could truly become – friends. Smiling a trembling smile, he admitted – to himself and in the confines of his mind only – that he really longed for another friend. One that he could tell things. Someone that would watch his back. A helper, in a way, an assistant who'd aid him to finally achieve what he'd set out to do. It would be nice, he mused, to have someone simply there. How long until he'd rely on the blond's aid and presence?

Funny. Kaito knew that – on some unconscious level – he already trusted the Hakuba heir with his life, even. He had no idea how that had worked, yet there they were. The magician-to-be couldn't shake the feeling any more than he could suddenly un-trust his … ally?

Slanting his eyes a little, he looked up into the sky in wonder. Sometimes, life had a very ironic way of putting things. Although Lady Luck would always work out in his favor, he didn't like the idea of relying on the noble Lady all too much. That was also why he'd always have so many beta-plans and schemes in his head at the same time and why he was planning ahead this far every time that he went out clad in white. A small puff of air – a not-quite sigh – escaped his lips. He supposed that he never went anywhere without plans – not even to school. Every single step of his was planned, fit in with his intentions as snugly as though it were a puzzle piece that fit into the grand picture of his life.

Of course he knew that you couldn't plan everything. Some things were bound to come out of left field or go wrong completely. But it was good to at least have a generic reaction ready for this, too. Otherwise he'd never have been able to hang on to that confidence that Kid exuded at every step of the game. Short plans, along with long term ones rested in his head side-by-side, retrievable for whenever they're needed at any given point in time.

This was why, at that moment, he'd decided to lie on the green grass of the left side riverbank of the river that flowed right beside the way that he took to go to school every day. He'd needed a break. Some time to himself where he could – privately and alone – think about the latest turns that his life had taken. He'd have preferred a rooftop, but the school was abuzz with activity; some sort of conference or something the like that was set to take place there that and the following day – which was also the reason for why all the pupils had been sent home a little earlier than usual and why he wasn't currently staring at the evening sky, but rather the afternoon version of the celestial landscape. Other than their school building there really weren't any skyscrapers of passable height in the near vicinity and he felt a little too lazy to go out of his way and look for one.

The riverbank would have to do for the moment.

It was peaceful and nobody would look for him there – least of all his mother who didn't even know about the conference at the school and who wouldn't be home that day, anyways. She had left for Hokkaido the Friday before and wouldn't come back until the next day. Yawning again, her son was wondering what she was doing there, of all places possible. Really, sometimes she was worse than him; he, at least, had the excuse of being a "teenager who didn't know any better yet" to fall back on; what was her excuse? It was just as well, he reflected.

The light breeze had stopped by then, leaving his hair in disarray as per his usual standard. The birds that he could hear chirping in the distance and the low, bass sound of the river water flowing by at a steady speed only added to that pleasant atmosphere that encompassed the area. The far-off sounds of cars passing by melded with the river's and the sun rays that were shining on him weren't too hot, either, seeing as from time to time the sun would be hidden behind a cloud. Kaito could feel the surface of the earth that he was lying on and the colors of the sun rays played behind his closed lids, seemingly just out of reach. He knew better. Even Ikarus couldn't touch the sun, who was he to try?

It was nice, to just lie there, for once, and let the world revolve around him as it wanted to. To, for once, have any and all pressure fall away from him and enjoy the fact that he was now, here and so very much alive. The teenage-thief couldn't remember a time where he'd felt more like himself than right then, right there.

Eyes closed, he didn't even notice as he slowly drifted off.

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The first thing he knew was that this was just too absurd to be true. He was in a throne room, standing right before the throne in fact. When he let his gaze swivel around he saw that there was even a crown there – hidden behind a square glass case just off to the left side. Right in front of him, behind the throne, there was a small space and two doors that went off on the left and on the right hand side of the huge tableau that hung against the wall. That tableau he found to his immense surprise showed three people, all wearing different crowns. The thing that shocked him most, however, was the fact that the third person, standing right beside the woman in the painting – his mother, he noted distractedly – was himself.

Eyes wide as saucers – Poker Face was nice and all, but some situations, such as this one, where he was alone and/or in unfamiliar surroundings, called for a different kind of mask entirely – he turned in place and regarded the rest of this … throne room, for lack of a better word.

His first assumption had been correct – in that he was indeed standing right in the middle of the aisle leading up to the throne; actually, he was standing in the middle of the third step leading up to the throne. A red carpet – clichéd, as it was – led from the massive entry doors all the way up to the throne. Everywhere, picturesque little ornaments, containing roses among other kinds of flowers, were scattered around the place. There were rows of seats to both sides of the aisle, just like he'd seen in those Christian churches when he'd visited one in Tokyo together with his mother and father long ago. Real flowers were arranged at every end of the rows facing the aisle and on every wall.

Staring down at himself, he found that he was wearing a truly magnificent midnight blue dress shirt that he couldn't remember ever owning and clean, white trousers. His feet were cloaked in sparkling white dress shoes. The familiarity with these colors on these pieces of clothing, at least, gave him a little bit of comfort. He found solace in the fact that even in his dreams he was wearing white. A light weight was resting on top of his head, too. When he brought a hand up to touch it, ornately formed metal met his fingers that was slightly cool to the touch. A crown? Somehow he didn't dare lifting it off his head to examine it.

The pleasant silence was broken as his ears picked up on the muted noise that was coming in from outside. He wondered what was going on. Slowly, Kaito ambled to the entrance doors. Stopping right in front of them, the junior thief mulled over how he could get them to open to see what was happening outside. Raw strength was out of the equation, seeing as the doors were more than thrice as big as he was. Pensively, he brought his right hand up to his chin to properly think about his next course of action. Thus, he didn't immediately notice a smaller door that was situated beside the bigger ones opening just off to his left side. Blinking once, he took in the person that entered in bemused silence.

"Hakuba…?" All he really could do was stare at the newcomer as the blond slowly made his way over to him. It really was him. He looked different, though. Kaito scrutinized him, carefully noting the differences in his mind, so that he could compare "his" Hakuba with the one that he was presented with right then. The detective was wearing a embroidered light green tunic-like shirt that accentuated his blond hair and Caucasian face nicely. On his head there was a blue-green hat, with a fancy brooch clinging to its side which did not seem out of place at all. The metal on the brooch was in the form of a Celtic knot that was weaving its way around a star with four pointy ends. The detective was also clad in long, dark blue leggings that went with the shirt and ended in gleaming, black shoes. The theme "middle ages" certainly was upheld almost religiously wherever he was and appeared in some fashion everywhere he looked.

Something was not right, though. Ah, he was limping slightly. A frown marred his face at that. What was wrong? What had happened to the detective? Worried, he regarded the other as the sleuth stopped a passable distance away and kneeled in front of him, bowing low. What was going on?

Although when Hakuba looked up, a fond, relieved smile had stretched over the blond's face that put Kaito's mind at ease once more. Whatever had happened was most likely over, then. What he said next however baffled Kaito.

"There you are, my Prince. Everybody has been looking all over for you. I am glad you are safe and sound."

… Prince? The blond went on before Kaito could insert any comment of his own, however.

"Ever since you have returned everybody's been very worried about you. Please, let us go back to the party and celebrate with the others!" With that, the detective rose from his position on the floor and stood respectfully in front of him, seemingly waiting for a cue to leave.

Kaito blinked once more, just for good measure. Well, who was he to refuse? If people thought of him as a prince here – wherever here was – it was probably better to just go with the flow and let people think of him as they wanted. A slow smile spread over his face and, nodding once, sharply, he went towards the door that the blond teenager had come from, Hakuba following hot on his heels. So he was a prince, eh? What did that make the sleuth, then?

Looking back once when he stopped, hand on the door handle and ready to open it, he gave the other a fond smile. If he didn't already have a position, Kaito knew the perfect spot for him: it was an open position, although without pay checks and holidays, a 24/7 job that came with certain benefits, such as a listening ear and company whenever he'd like some, among others. It was the kind of work that he thought the detective would find taxing at times, funny at others and outright exasperating most of the rest of the time. He'd be the perfect person for that, having already endured so many of Kaito's adventures so far. Oh, yes. In his eyes, the blond teenager would be the best for the job.

He'd be the most suitable choice for being a friend for Kaito.

Smirking, Kaito turned his head ahead again. Well, only if he didn't already have a job like that, that was.

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There was a small, narrow path made of white stones (marble?) that went from the door to a little hole in-between two of the plants making up a hedge that encircled the little garden-like space that the door led to. The hedge itself was towering above him, it was well over two meters, he mused to himself quietly as he looked up. They successfully blocked out the sun. It was a pleasantly warm day, a few clouds were floating by languidly just above his head. He couldn't stop the smile that broadened on his face. At the rate he was going, his face soon would be stuck like that. Kaito didn't think he'd mind that, in the least.

The noise was much louder once they were outside, now that he paid attention to it. There was laughter, singing and all sorts of funny noises could be made out from the cacophony of noise that reached his ears. It made him curious, to say the least.

Once he'd gone through the little hole in the hedge, Kaito finally saw what was going on. It appeared as though there was a festival of sorts that was being held. It was a market square that he was looking down on. Balloons hung on all of the lamp posts as far as he could see, colorful flags ran from one house to the other and all sorts of booths and food stalls were set up along the perimeter of the buildings.

The door they'd gone through was hidden behind some dark green hedges that were going along the side border of the staircase leading up to the huge dome-like building the throne was located in. Now that he'd gone through the hedge, he could see that there was a similar hedge running along the other side of the staircase, as well.

"Where would you like to go?" Hakuba asked him, coming through the hedge himself.

Eyes alight with what he could only call joy and resisting the urge to giggle and laugh himself – the easy-going, pleasant atmosphere down there was contagious, he had to admit – he only said "Everywhere!"

Shrugging his shoulders, the detective only followed him without a word as he bounded down the staircase excitedly to have a closer look at all the stalls and the theatre that he'd discovered from up on the staircase. He didn't know exactly where he was or what in heaven's name was going on, but as long as he was there he at least wanted to have fun along the way! The weather, the people and their good mood certainly helped in that endeavor.

The only downside was that he couldn't decipher any of the writings that were on the things that were displayed in all the booths. When he asked the blond, however, he readily gave him the answers, with a long sigh of sufferance to complement his actions. Bemused, the amateur magician had to blink at that. He probably thought that Kaito pretended he couldn't read to get a rise out of him or something the like. Hakuba most certainly looked like he was of this opinion. Shrugging nonchalantly – it worked in his favor regardless, didn't it? –, Kaito proceeded to drag Hakuba along and figure out what kinds of things were displayed in the show cases of the different stalls.

With wonder at some of the inventions that were shown there – a windscreen wiper for glasses, really? Ingenious, that one! – he absentmindedly pondered how the blond had to have felt immediately upon coming to Japan. Glancing in his direction, the magician-turned-thief reasoned that it must have been similar to what he was going through here, not being able to read anything that he was presented with. How had he survived in school? The brunette thought it must have been quite difficult, living by himself – with his housekeeper only – and that even just going shopping for a coffee must have been a rather unpleasant experience. How did you choose a coffee if all the packages looked similar and can only be distinguished by the things that are written on them – and you could not read even that? He resolutely decided to ask the blond if he could help him to master at least the most used kanji when he was back home.

It was just his luck that the people here at least spoke a language that he was able to understand.

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In the end he was immensely grateful that the blond was with him. He'd gotten a lot of information out of him about what had happened – what role he was to play and what was going on and where he was etc. – that he'd otherwise probably never have found out by himself. From the things that the detective implicitly and explicitly told him, he'd pieced together a background story that he found intriguing. Some of the character descriptions Hakuba had given him – with an indefinable mix between a worried and shrewd look like there was a screw loose in Kaito's head or something – reminded him eerily of some of the people that he knew… back home.

The Princess Orchid that he was supposed to have saved from a band of villains some time two weeks ago in the guise of the illustrious personage of the Black Knight sounded a lot like Aoko. Especially when Hakuba went on to describe her appearance it seemed more and more like his childhood friend. Prince Spade, his brother who looked just like him, reminded him very much of Kudo Shinichi, the teenage detective. But that couldn't be, right? It must be someone else. Although he'd very much like to meet this "Prince Spade", the blond sleuth had had to answer him negatively when he'd asked if they could meet up. Apparently, his "brother" had left the day before, for somewhere unknown.

Ah, it was just as well.

He was having fun and everybody was in a good mood, having a good time. Kaito didn't worry about "getting back". Somehow he knew he was somewhere that nobody could touch him and where he was safe and that he could always return home if he liked to. It was just a feeling, but the part-time thief had learned to heed his instincts' warnings just as much as he followed his feelings' directions. And if his heart told him that he could trust his surroundings and the people with him – as his senses did just then – he put trust in that. That, however wasn't the only thing that he'd noticed when he was going through the ways that lay in-between the different stalls.

The most peculiar thing that he'd noticed was the way everybody was treating him. It almost didn't seem to him as though he was a prince – like he'd been added to the normal population and was well-known and well-liked without him even lifting so much as a finger. Even though he could still feel the light weight of the crown-like thing on his head, nobody appeared to take note of this. He'd confirmed it was indeed a crown when he'd briefly glanced into one of the mirrors around a dressing room at one of the clothes stalls. The small thing was more a tiara than a real crown, though. Befitting for a prince, in his opinion. It was pearly-white, with small droplets "falling upwards", so to speak. Seven of them, to be exact. A magical number.

Concerning the people that were mingling all around him, it seemed to him as though he was a friend of theirs, one of them even. It wasn't an unwelcome feeling by far, he thought. Warmth spread in his heart at the thought that he was… accepted – by them. That he was not above them – well, not only above them, but also one of them, free to roam the streets with the anonymity and privacy of one of their own – a normal citizen, for lack of a better word. He decided he liked that feeling, liked it a lot. Even though they didn't exactly bow, they nodded to him deferentially and managed to give him a respectful berth as he walked through the "alleys" in-between the market stalls with his entourage of one.

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Not that much time had passed, to him, which was why the sun suddenly starting to disappear behind some of the far-off mountains in the west surprised him so much that he was quite literally stopped in his tracks. Hakuba, who had been close on his heels, naturally ran into him – almost, was it not for the blond's last-second swerve to the left to avoid colliding with him. First, the detective gave him a decidedly strange look, like he wanted to ask if something was wrong with his eyes only, but when he saw what Kaito's eyes were fixated on, he quickly understood. The sun slowly going down into hiding behind the mountains was a most beautiful spectacle, one that he enjoyed beholding no matter where he was. When he glanced back at the sleuth, he glimpsed a genuine smile making its way onto the other's face; which made him smile in return. He'd always liked making other people smile. It was almost like a charm itself, bringing a smile onto another person's lips. And who was to say that it didn't have any effect on the giver, as well? He knew that he would never be able not to enjoy this small, yet powerful feat, no matter how many more faces were alight with a smile in his presence. To him, all smiles were different.

The warm, yellowish-orange-red sunrays tickled his skin, wishing him a good journey back (wherever that was right then or however he was to get there; at that moment these questions were secondary) and embracing him in their residue, as the sun made more and more of them disappear behind the huge mountains that were shadowed in the far west. The two of them had – as coincidental as it may appear – found the perfect place for regarding the show that the sun put on; front seats, so to speak, even though they only stood off to the right hand side of the now-descending street part, a place where they could look right between two of the buildings and straight towards the mountains and the sunset. From where they were standing they had a broad view of all of that. Sometime after they'd stopped, other people had come and halted in their respective steps, as well, their eyes being captivated by the stunningly beautiful performance of the massive celestial body. Wasn't it magnificent, how the sun's light travelled up the mountains and fields within the valley they were overseeing? To think that this kind of show was put on daily, for their benefit only! Truly, human beings didn't usually embrace the things they were given. Little things like this, those were the things that made life this wonderful, bright and startlingly vivid! Those were the things that life ought to consist of more often, really!

This moment was one that he took meticulous care to engrave in his heart and soul. To be honest, watching the sun setting with the detective hadn't even made it close to the top twenty of his priority list. It didn't even come close to his top 100. The sleuth barely was ranking among the things-to-do with his friends, and that only because of their by-then-still-rather-tentative kind of weird sort-of friendship that they practiced nowadays. Tea. An ironic snort escaped him before he could think about it. Glancing to his left, he made sure that the blond hadn't picked it as a sign or interpreted it badly – as he was wont to do at times. Really, Kaito didn't think Hakuba even knew that sometimes people made noises that had nothing at all to do with other people but instead with something they thought in their minds. Well, he didn't think him this unpracticed when it came to human behavior, but it was always better to be on the safer side when these kinds of things were included. Phew. He hadn't noticed. In spite of the snort having been rather loud (at least to Kaito's ears it was), he hadn't even heard it. That was… odd. A tad, at least.

Sighing a little, Kaito went back to sun-staring, taking it as a given that trying to find out more on that matter wouldn't really be doing him any good at that moment. And the sun would only be going down for about five minutes, after all. Best to enjoy the show, then. Everything else could come later.

The sun wound its way downwards more and more, until only the very tip of it was visible among the mountain tops' diverse forms and shapes. He was mesmerized. Breathless wouldn't have been the only word to describe what he felt when he took in the wonder of nature that he was a humble witness to this fine evening. Speechless, his eyes filled with more and more amazement at what he was seeing the longer he watched it. Slowly and without noticing, he forgot the ground that his feet stood on, the people that stood behind and to the side of him, the shadow's ascent on his body and that Hakuba, the detective – in this world apparently his friend and helper (he couldn't bring himself to think of the other as being beneath him in any way) –, had been standing right beside him, a comforting presence that provided him with a peaceful calm and quietude which he hadn't been able to find neither in his childhood friend's, nor in his own family yet. Absent-mindedly Kaito mused to himself that maybe that was something that he'd needed all along. A friend, a "buddy" of sorts. A comrade in arms, someone whom he could rely on.

Almost drunkenly, he drifted sideways, his mind going on a journey without telling him, leaving his body to follow in its wake. Hakuba, the people around them and his surroundings grew blurry, the last sunrays he could pick up with his eyes providing his vision with a speck of light, still. Then the mountain range ahead of him grew hazy around the edges as well, until there was only a blurry shape left where just moments before the sun had gone down. The feeling in his legs, arms and in general in his body left him – while it wasn't an uncomfortable feeling at all, it did feel kind of… weird. As though is body was forced to fall asleep on its own when it was still awake. Well, he supposed, this wasn't any worse than coming there had been. Wherever there was. Mayhap one time, when he felt up to doing this again, he'd like to visit once more. One thing that Kaito had learned from this… dream… was that though this may have been a dream, who was to tell him that it hadn't also been real, in the first place? After all, his perspectives on magic had been completely cast aside and changed when he'd encountered the witch that haunted his classroom, of all things possible. They'd been exchanged for others, more flexible and formable ones which would be able to endure and brave anything that might still come.

Well, one thing was for sure: to experience the sun going down together with his friends was something he'd make sure to repeat, although next time he'd include Aoko in it, too.

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When he woke up and opened his eyes, the moon and some brightly-shining stars had already stolen the sun's place in the sky. Additionally, a few more clouds had gathered to be illuminated by the few stars' and moon's beams. His school bag lay forgotten beside him as he stretched his arms out in front of him and yawned. That had been… an interesting dream, to say the least. Why he'd dream about himself being a prince, of all things possible, he couldn't fathom. Nevertheless it had been a peaceful dream. The change of scenery had been nice, too. The river's sound reached his ears once more. The birds had to have stopped chirping long ago, he thought.

It was a pity that he didn't have a watch on him. At times like these he found Hakuba's fondness for time and his insistence of knowing the time down to the second quite useful, as rare as those moments were. Ah, but he did have his mobile with him, didn't he? Going through the bag, he managed to unearth it after a few more moments of search. If his mobile's screen was telling the truth – as it did more often than he sometimes wanted it to – it was well past ten o'clock in the evening. Grimacing a little, he wondered what he'd find if he'd raided the kitchen's fridge tonight and slipped the mobile into his pants pocket. Would it be better if he made a small detour and bought some takeout from a sushi takeaway that he knew or would there still be enough in the fridge for him to create something that passed as a meal and did not warrant that nightly hunt for food?

In the end he decided not to leave it to chance and get some takeout. His walk home would take a little longer – the takeout place was located a little off his normal route, but seeing as his stomach rumbled loudly at the mere thought of food, he found it worthwhile to get something already-done into him than to have to start from scratch with a questionable amount of ingredients that he'd find at home.

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Opening the door, he managed to successfully juggle around all the items in his hands without dropping anything. Carefully, he walked in and switched on the lights, with his hands still full of a) his school satchel and b) a comfortably warm Takoyaki takeout box. Silenced welcomed him in, bidding him to take his time. "Tada ima!" the words "I'm home" almost appeared to echo off the walls and greet him mockingly, taunting him with the fact that he was once more by himself, late and hungry. Unfortunately, nobody was ever home these days to reply with the corresponding phrase.

The soothing weight of the Takoyaki bag bounced heartily against his legs, mollifying him for the moment. The door fell shut noisily in the oppressing silence that reigned over the house every time that he came back from school nowadays. The hallway's lamp illuminated practically everything in his near vicinity, snaking into the living room and barely touching the edges of the kitchen floor that were lying in the lazy light beams' path. Shoulders sagging, he carelessly slung the school satchel that he'd been carrying over his right shoulder into one corner of the hallway, close to the staircase, as he himself was making a beeline for the kitchen where he promptly switched on the lights, as well.

He propped the plastic bag holding the Takoyaki box onto the kitchen counter, a delicious scent already wafting out of it, ensnaring him with its aroma and the prospect of getting some long-awaited food into his system sometime soon.

But first he had to gather all the utensils that he'd still need – like napkins. The growing teenager also pulled out a glass from one of the overhead cupboards, filled it with water and switched on the radio that was sitting right beside the sink. The long-since familiar sound of the radio host's voice provided more comfort to him than he'd at first thought. Having gotten used to being by himself, being independent and caring for himself long ago, he nonetheless basked in the false sense of company the radio gave him from time to time. It was amazing how much even this – incorporeal – type of human contact could help him then.

Then he opened the bag and took out the pair of chopsticks that always came with a takeout box; he ripped apart the plastic they'd been wrapped in and gingerly separated them from one another. The smell was mouth-watering. He opened the plastic around the Takoyaki box, musing to himself that he really needed to buy some groceries the next day. He'd need to get some other things, too, like toiletries and some things out of the first aid kit that he'd need to restock some time soon. Putting it onto his mental to-do-list, he set it aside for some further contemplation later on.

Glancing briefly at the white clock hanging to the right of the door at eye-level, he paused in his activity of preparing his dinner to blink, confused for an instant. It couldn't be that late already, could it? The clock-hands – it being an old-fashioned, analog clock – must have gotten stuck again. It happened from time to time, but it certainly was a bother to have happened at that particular time, and that it was in the middle of the night and no clock shop was open any more. No way was it past midnight already! Nevertheless, when he checked the display of his mobile phone after whipping it out of his pants pocket, he had to concede defeat. The 00:38 shining back at him couldn't be refuted as easily as the analog clock's display could be. Laying it on the kitchen counter to the left of the glass of water, he regaled it with a slight glare for proving him wrong.

Closing his eyes, the teenager looked away after a few more moments of glaring. Right. Kaito hadn't thought it had taken him this long to make that detour and get home. The amateur magician supposed it was a good thing that his house was located in a fairly quiet, uneventful neighborhood and that his daily way to and from school couldn't be considered unsafe, either. Now, he didn't have any problems dealing with trouble if it came his way, but that day he definitely preferred not having to handle any of that. He had to cope with enough annoying people at school already, Koizumi – and kinda-maybe also sort of Hakuba – falling into that category; he really could do without any more nuisances on his way home.

Quirking an amused eyebrow at the still only partially opened Takoyaki box, he thought that – his mother notwithstanding – he probably was the worst criminal to be found in this particular area; Koizumi and Hakuba, after all, lived in different wards altogether. Well, at least the most professional one, he acknowledged not-so-humbly. And it didn't help that the one police inspector who was assigned to his case lived just side-by-side with him, either. Wasn't it ironic how life worked sometimes?

The delightfully innocent smell of his dinner quickly brought him back to earth and made his stomach rumble loudly in its desperate, latest demand for the meal to be brought to his mouth already. With the radio as a blurring-together background noise, he finally tucked in. "Itadakimasu!" – the obligatory "thank-you-for-the-meal", said in as fast a fashion as it could ever be spoken, preceded the unscrupulous attack on the defenseless Takoyaki lying in the box by mere seconds.

Less than fifteen minutes later he was done eating and already putting away the remnants of his veritably devoured "midnight snack". Dropping the used chopsticks together with the box back into the plastic bag, he put that into the bin and made made to get his satchel from the entryway, switching off both the radio and the lights in the kitchen on his way out. Bowing down in front of his school bag, he contemplated the wisdom of doing his homework now versus doing it in the morning, right before school… which would in turn mean he'd have to get up in less than six hours from then.

He had no illusions about not being able to do it then – he'd pulled it off more times than he could count if he added the nights he gallivanted around as Kaitô Kid to the equation – the trouble was that he would most probably mind doing it then because it would mean waking up earlier than usual rather than going to sleep later. It was a matter of principle, to be exact. And his mind wasn't exactly in mint condition at the moment, either, holding actual decision-making up longer than was normal for him. In comparable situations, with the question being about more important matters he'd be able to think about it and find a solution in no time. Nevertheless, if it did not consist of any life-threatening or life-changing problems and it had to be decided in the middle of the night, then however much sleep he might have gotten beforehand – and this time he actually had taken a long nap in the afternoon at that riverbank –, his mind didn't do more but respond sluggishly to his commands.

Phew. Sighing aloud, he gave an extremely tired look to the school satchel lying innocently on the floor close to the staircase. It would probably be better if he put it off until the morning – then he at least might feel up to doing more than smearing a few pages and falling asleep on top of the open school book once more like he'd done that other time that he'd had this dilemma already. Surely it went without saying that back then he'd gone with the "sooner rather than later" approach. It hadn't worked out like he'd thought it would at all.

But honestly, this was ridiculous! They'd not even had school that afternoon and he still hadn't managed to do the homework until the next day?! He could hit himself over the head for sleeping all of the afternoon away. Mentally, he was already doing so. Physically, he didn't think he'd be able to do more than carry his school satchel up the stairs to his room. So he took the satchel's straps into his right hand and, dragging it behind him in a listless fashion he proceeded to go upstairs. Exhausted, the first thing that he did once he was in his room was to chuck the school bag – together with his school uniform's jacket – into the corner farthest from his bed. This way, he'd have to get up to get his phone in order to switch off the alarm… which reminded him: where had his mobile disappeared off to? No. Rewind, stop and play: better question. Where had he seen it last?

The kitchen. The thought came unbidden to his head, not even needing any more prompting for his fabulous memory to spur into action. Great. Then he'd have to go downstairs once more, just to get it. About twenty more steps that he could have saved himself if he'd thought to bring it with him upstairs before he'd exited the kitchen. At that time of night – and with his body acting as exhausted as it was (Why ever was that the case? Hadn't he slept in the afternoon?) – every single step felt like a milestone that he had to somehow overcome in order to aim for the next. To his bleary, tired eyes, there simply didn't seem an end in sight of the things that bothered him. Letting his head fall down dejectedly, he turned around and continued to drag his body out the door and in the direction of the stairs to, once more, head downwards and retrieve the wayward mobile.

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It wasn't thirty seconds later that he crossed his own kitchen's threshold for the nth time that day. Sometimes the days just seemed to become longer and longer with every step he made. Grabbing the mobile from the counter rather angrily, he turned around, only to frown once more. It was as though the analog clock wanted to put up a fight with him. Why was it that time was working against him these days? The big hand on the clock was almost on twelve – only about ten seconds left or so –, so far so good, but the smaller one was on the wrong side of the twelve, in his opinion. No way was it one o'clock already! Just as he was pondering what was wrong with the time nowadays, something weird happened. The doorbell rung. What the hell…?

Blinking in confused befuddlement, he at first thought that his ears had been playing tricks on him, it being one o'clock in the morning already (he'd thrown a glance at the analog clock for confirmation of the truth to what he'd just read off the display of his mobile) and him being none the more awake for it. Then again, he was currently standing in the door way of the kitchen, more or less with the entrance door in his sight diagonally opposite of him and – there it was again. His ears weren't deceiving him, then. He quickly crossed the distance to the entrance door and peered through the peephole to determine who it was that thought it funny to go and ring other people's doorbells in the middle of the night. Darkness met his eyes. Of course.

Even with the peephole, because the closest street lamp just had to be broken he wouldn't really be able to see much. Although he had to wonder. Hadn't there been a full moon just the day before? Looking through the small hole once more, he determined that the moonlight that came in from above apparently wasn't enough to render him able to discern anything or anyone that might be standing on the front porch of his house at that time. Which in itself was strange enough already. Coupled with the weird shadowy thing in front of the peephole, he didn't want to take any chances and palmed one of the things he always kept in his pockets for just such an occasion.

With the little silent light bomb resting in his left hand now, he felt reasonably safe to take on whatever came his way at this time of night. His tiredness having blown away like a tornado had come over him all of a sudden once he'd ascertained the suspiciousness of the few things that he had in his hands, he was acutely aware of something else that felt absurdly wrong to him about this situation. Try as he might, though, he couldn't say for sure just what had irked him about all this.

The only thing still left for him to do was to open the door – which he did, and fast; in order to possibly have the element of surprise on his side and catch anyone lurking outside off guard, regardless of who it may turn out to be.

Nobody.

He stepped out briefly, all the while on his guard in case he was accosted all of a sudden. It was good that he hadn't emptied his pockets yet. Putting his left hand close to his side and hiding the small round ball of the light bomb between his hand and his trousers, he showed off a relaxed, careless attitude to anyone who was interested. Ever so slowly, he ventured further outside, turning in place and scanning the area as best as he could. He'd been correct: a decreasing full moon was shining brightly in the night sky, a fact to which he hadn't paid much attention before, when he'd been going to the Takoyaki place and subsequently arrived at home a little less than half an hour ago. Nothing seemed or felt out of place – anymore.

What was the meaning of this? His instincts – and in extension his feelings – hadn't proven wrong yet. Something had been… "off", so to speak, although it apparently wasn't any more. What had changed? Something was different now compared to about two minutes ago before he'd opened the door. Slowly, he walked backwards, towards the door again, watching out for anything that might catch his eye in the nightly scenery before him. This situation got increasingly stranger the more he stood outside, he felt. And he didn't like the feeling. Nothing happened, though.

Well, until the back of his foot hit something, that was. His gaze traveled downwards in painful slowness, almost dreading what he might find there. Which was simply ridiculous; the worst thing that there could be was a dead rat or something that the neighbor's cat had brought to his house's entrance door once more. It didn't normally occur all that rarely, he thought to himself, though he hadn't lost any of his initial disgust towards this particular habit of the rather spoiled, well-known cat.

Instead, when he moved a little ways away from whatever was dropped on his doorstep at this time of night, he saw that it was very different from what a rat looked like. It wasn't anything that he recognized as a kind of animal, either. "This is something else entirely, isn't it?" Kaito thought to himself quietly. What it was, though, he couldn't even begin to guess at, seeing as it was caked in shadow because he was blocking the light of the moon from shining onto it with his own body. Moving aside, he was quickly reduced to simply staring speechlessly and with an open mouth at what had been deposited in front of his door.

Now, this – this – he hadn't expected, at all.

A hand, five fingers and nails and everything, was lying innocently right in front of him on the floor leading up to the front door of his home. The only thing this hand was missing – which was the trigger that rendered the whole situation so very morbid and all the more eerie for it – was an attached arm and body.

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AN: A CLIFFHANGER! Yay! I've already established that I'm good at those, right? Hope you liked it despite the introspection and please do leave me a review! It will be appreciated, I promise!

Ah, rofl? I can hear the groans from here… "Oh no, she's started yet another fanfiction! She'll NEVER finish her other ones…!"… nope. I actually finished this one – wrote it during the whole month of October, just for your information. And am only now posting it because, well, these are the days when the events in it take place!

In addition to that I would like to THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR READING!

Next chapter comes online Tomorrow!