H'ok so I guess I'm going to post the next set now since I'm gonna be going away for two weeks on vacation which means no access to my beloved stories so posting these for you to enjoy instead of having to wait three weeks or more.

1. Summer and winter

Shinichi stared out his front door, shook his head, went back in and promptly decided another cup of coffee was in order. Obviously the early hours had muddled his brain more than he had thought.

Coffee finished, cup washed and neatly placed back, he returned to his front door and opened it yet again.

The same mounds of smooth pearly white snow still met his eyes.

Unable to keep it in, he burst out. "Kaito!"

"Yes?"

Shinichi swiveled towards Kaito, who had suddenly appeared standing casually beside him, and pointed at the snow.

"What is this?" he hissed.

"It's snow."

"Yes. It is indeed snow. But why, pray tell, is there snow covering the neighborhood in the middle of July?"

Kaito blinked at him as though confused as to why Shinichi even needed to ask. "Because it was hot."

Shinichi stared a moment longer in incredulity before shaking himself. Why the hell was he even acting out? Kaito would do something like bringing winter to summer.

"Should I wear a scarf or something?" he muttered, shuffling back inside his house.

"Yeah and put on some gloves too and a light coat," Kaito added cheerfully as he followed behind him.

"Right..."

2. Spring and autumn

To many, spring symbolized new beginnings of a fresh start. Therefore, it was a very appropriate season for a first meeting. It was the time when flowers budded and bloomed, when the weather grew warmer, and the days grew longer. It simply buzzed with new promises.

To many, autumn represented the beginning of the end, when the weather became cooler and the air was calmer, the period of time when things winded down after the hubbub of summer. It was when autumn leaves blossomed into fiery reds and oranges, and yellows, the last burst of life before they shriveled and died, beautiful until the end, just like the sakura, just like their love.

It was a fitting season to be forced to part.

3. Wet and dry

Kaito tried to contain his guffaws enough so that he was still able run from a wet and angry Shinichi at his heels. Tripping now because he was laughing too hard was as good as death (and a sad one at that) and he couldn't have that now could he?

When Shinichi had first transferred to Ekoda High School, he had internally groaned at the thought of another detective harping over his shoulder about his identity as KID. Not that they would be wrong but after a while, it tended to get pretty annoying pretty fast especially when Hakuba practically stalked him for any evidence he could get, which was the absolute last straw in his books.

Surprisingly, however, Shinichi hadn't immediately gotten on his case about his alter ego. In fact, as long as he kept to his business, Shinichi kept to his own, a blessed respite from the constant glares and antics of his fellow detective.

However, the downside to all this was that Shinichi was also surprisingly apathetic to his classroom-wide and school-wide pranks. He withstood it, maybe make an exasperated gesture while he was at it, and then he moved on. It irked him to no end. Not that he had the same hostility towards him as he had with Hakuba but it just made him target Shinichi individually more to try to get a rise out of him.

He flew through the hallway choking on giggles before stopping in front of one of the windows, climbing through it and nimbly maneuvering down through the open window the floor below, earning startled cries from students.

He slid into one of the empty classrooms and shut the door before sliding onto the floor and covering his face to muffle his laughter.

He supposed now he knew Shinichi's tolerance didn't hold up against a consecutive barrage of pranks directed solely at him. But he also noticed that not all of his pranks irritated him the same way. Some annoyed him more than others and Kaito was giddy with glee at the discoveries. He actually had to work for his rise and he so loved challenges.

He peeked out the window panel set in the door and saw a relatively dry Shinichi as he grumpily asked students if they had seen him.

Kaito grinned and slipped out the room while the detective's back was turned before bombarding the newly dried detective with another volley of water balloons.

Shinichi wasted no time in spinning around and kicking an errant tennis ball at the back of his head which he dodged on reflex.

Oh yes, it felt good to be able to rile him up and truthfully, the attention focused solely on him wasn't nearly half bad…

4. Storm and drought

He dreamt of scorching deserts and thundering oceans, of faraway plains ravished by storm and lush green forests eaten by fire. He saw angry black skies and bloody red moons; never-ending winters and ravaged fields.

He watched the visions flicker past with a detached gaze, simply observing and watching and touching upon the landscapes with only a fleeting feathery touch of his consciousness but no more.

His dreams weren't always like this. He was sure once upon a time that they were peaceful, full of sunshine and blue skies with puffy white clouds above gentle greens but at some point, they seemed to have darkened over almost like a nightmare.

And when he opened his bleary eyes, it was to the most curious pair of violet eyes which instantly morphed into an expression of intense relief.

The young man's mouth was moving rapidly to form words but it was as though he was submerged deep underwater and he could hear nothing.

His eyes closed again to slumber but he found himself jolted away from his dreamscape home by a quick jerk.

"Oh no you don't. We've found you and finally managed to awaken you. You're not closing in on us again," the young man mumbled to him, sounding as remote as the echo of a memory.

But he still felt so drowsy and everything was still so distant. He didn't think he could stay awake for long.

The young man was talking to someone behind him but he was too busy fighting the wave of sleepiness assaulting him to have the strength to discern the words until he became vaguely aware of something being pushed towards his lips.

"Drink."

He did as directed, his mind too incorrigibly hazy to think to do otherwise.

The drink was bitter to the taste and the unpleasant assault to his tongue made him cringe but almost immediately, he felt the fog of sleep lift and his senses suddenly seemed to sharpen like never before to a needlepoint of crystal clarity.

His dazed eyes wandered about the stone ceiling above him, examining the intricate patterns but not really seeing them, too disoriented by the sudden lucidity he had not experienced for… for… He wasn't sure. Many, many moons maybe.

He was aware of a dry coldness in the air and a hard flat surface beneath his back on which he lay and he wondered what this was all about.

"Hello."

He shifted his attention from the ceiling to the same pair of violet eyes he had awoken to, looking at him curiously.

"Do you understand me?"

The language sounded strange, the accent and dialect different from what he was used to, but he could still understand it all the same. He could only nod vaguely for an answer, however, his throat too disused to chance speaking coherently.

"That's good. Can you… sit up?"

He hesitated. He felt too weak to lift himself up and he indicated so with a shake of his head.

"Okay then I'll help lift you up. Is that alright?" his awakener asked.

When he gave him his permission, the violet-eyed young man carefully eased him up into a sitting position and helped prop him upward with an arm.

He blinked at the grey wall in front of him before looking about his surroundings.

He was in an octagonal room of some kind with stone walls spaced between intermittent pillars. To his left was a tall window high above the ground from which golden light entered and to the northwest was a rounded wooden door with iron hinges. He became aware that what he was laying on previously was a large rectangular stone block raised atop several small stairs leading up to it.

He was also aware of several other people in the room besides his awakener.

There were two young women and two other young men, one of whom shifted a bit when his gaze fell on him. They all looked wearied but every one of them had a look of joy on their faces as they watched him, their attention making him vaguely uncomfortable.

"They are friends," his awakener suddenly said, returning his gaze on him. "They won't hurt you and we're all just so relieved to have been able to wake you."

One of the young men with brownish-blond hair that curled slightly about his head stepped up and, in what seemed to be in an entirely different language, asked a question too quick for him to decipher to which his awakener responded in an equal fashion. He didn't catch all that was exchanged but he still caught snatches and he knew the word Farseer enough to know that they were discussing him.

He caught words such as "storms" and "drought" and "suffer" and something about the start of a journey.

It made him uneasy not knowing what they were saying, to have his fate decided by these complete strangers, friends or not. He almost wished he was back asleep. At least his visions were familiar and he would be too entranced to fear unknowns such as this.

They seemed to have finished their conversation for the violet-eyed man was looking towards him again and said, "Sorry about that. I'm Kaito," then proceeded to point out and name his companions.

The pretty girl with the long brown hair was named Ran. The one with the messy, shorter hair was Aoko. The man with the dark skin and dark brown hair was Heiji and the blonde was Hakuba.

He nodded to each in turn as they each gave him his greetings, slightly nervous at meeting people after being isolated for so long. Ran, Aoko, and Kaito looked friendly enough but he felt a bit intimidated by Hakuba and Heiji, who was quite loud.

He didn't need to introduce himself though because if they found him, they obviously already knew his name. And he didn't feel he was quite ready to speak yet.

"We need you to come with us. Will you?"

Shinichi shifted uneasily. This room was all he knew in the brief moments he was awake and to suddenly leave it so soon after waking…

Kaito's face seemed to soften with understanding. "I know it's scary to find strangers in your room asking you to leave all that you've known after years asleep but please, we need you. I promise, no matter where we go, I'll be right beside you, always. I'll protect you, no matter what."

Shinichi glanced uncertainly at his awakener. He seemed to be holding his breath, eyes shining with earnestness and hope and he found that he couldn't quash it by saying no. Besides, if they had needed him so urgently as to come to his haven to awaken him, then it must be important. All he could do was trust his awakener to his word.

Haltingly he nodded his assent and the smile that he was rewarded with almost took his breath away.

"Thank you," Kaito breathed then he turned to the other four and said something along the lines of, "He agreed!" to which cheers sounded around the room, bouncing off the stone walls.

Turning back to him, Kaito said, "We'll help you outside and then I'll explain everything, okay?"

Shinichi nodded again and prepared himself for the journey.

5. Sunny and rainy

Some days were rainy. Some days were not. Some days were rainier than other rainy days and sometimes it just drizzled.

Today, it was a rainstorm.

Shinichi had come home drenched to the bone, dripping buckets on the floor and looking worst for wear.

When Kaito spotted him standing despondently at the front door, he had immediately begun to fuss over the motionless detective.

Towels were piled onto him and his hair scrubbed dry before the magician ushered him into the bathroom with a clean change of clothes.

Shinichi went about showering mechanically after which Kaito guided him to the couch and sat him down so that his head rested on his shoulders.

Shinichi's expression was still blank and Kaito waited with his arm around the detective as he patiently waited for him to speak.

Minutes ticked by and yet neither budged. There was not a sound but for the heavy pattering of rainfall on the window pane with the occasional rumble and sharp crack of thunder.

At last, Kaito's patience was rewarded as Shinichi finally whispered, "He was five years old living with his grandfather. I couldn't get to them fast enough, couldn't piece it together fast enough."

He paused and the silence seemed to stretch to infinity as the world howled angrily outside.

Kaito's arm tightened around Shinichi and he twisted so that he could fully hold him as a rainstorm brewed behind his eyes.

"Don't lose hope," he whispered, holding him lovingly. "There's always a tomorrow and if you can't see tomorrow, then wait and I'll wait with you."

Some days were rainy. Some days were not. Some days were rainier than other rainy days and sometimes it just drizzled.

But no matter what, it would always be sunny afterwards.

1. I thought this was pretty funny not sure bout everyone else but then again I usually laugh at my own humor even if it's not really all that funny ._.

2. No comment.

3. No comment.

4. Ah this one was pretty interesting. It has a continuation but after that I dunno because I haven't really laid out the plot (if it had a plot it wouldn't be here.) Maybe I'll post a random snippet somewhere later. Somehow I feel as though if I did think up a complete plot, it'd resemble the storyline style from the Tales game series hahaha.

5. For this, the reason why Kaito isn't doing more to comfort Shinichi is because it's something he has to get over by himself. Anything else he says like "it's not your fault" or "you'll do better next time" just won't cut it and it'll sound a bit insincere because Shinichi really does think it's his fault and better next time didn't save the lives of those two victims. All Kaito can do is show him support and help him in any way he can.