A/N: Ah, I couldn't wait for 5 reviews to post the second chapter, so here it is! And thank you, ziraulo and Rose Blood Cat, for reviewing! Enjoy this longer chapter! *evil chuckle* The plot thickens...
Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan or Fushigi Yuugi. In this universe. ;)
Conan balanced the soccer ball on his head before bouncing it off to come rest on his foot. He sighed in frustration at the ever-present nagging feeling at the back of his head. It was like he'd forgotten something, something very important that he needed to know.
"So what are we going to do today?" Genta asked of no one in particular. The other three shrugged, while Haibara merely sat in silence, offering no opinion on that matter whatsoever.
Ayumi sighed. "I'm so bored; there's nothing to doooo!" she complained. Mitsuhiko sat up straight, his eyes bright.
"I have an idea! We could go to the library!" The others looked at him with you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me expressions. Yeah, they were bored. However, they were merely bored, not crazy, and Genta said so. Ayumi placed a hand against the freckled boy's forehead, checking to see if he was warm. "I'm just a bookworm, not mentally ill," Mitsuhiko muttered under his breath.
'Chiriko.' The name suddenly came to the shrunken teen. "Who?" asked Ai. Conan started. He hadn't even realized he'd said it aloud.
"Nothing," he told the blonde. "It just came to me all of a sudden." He turned away quickly to avoid her piercing gaze, only to feel a prickly feeling at the back of his neck that warned him he was being watched. Mitsuhiko was staring at the not-boy in a way that reminded him of Ran when she'd suspected Conan was actually Shinichi. Needless to say, it made him extremely nervous.
Suddenly, a shriek echoed throughout the park. "He's dead!" a woman screamed. The Shonen Tantei leapt into action, Conan at the forefront of the group. Being several steps ahead of the others, he saw the grisly scene first, his eyes widening in horror.
Pinned to a tree with a sword was a man, though it was hard to tell, since his body was covered with so much blood that it was hardly recognizable as a human being. The victim's right arm was severed off to one side. Holding up an arm, Shinichi tired to force the others back.
"What are you doing, Conan?" Genta demanded.
"You don't want to see," the shrunken tantei said in a low, intense tone. However, the others could see past him since he was shorter.
Ayumi shrunk back, whimpering, while Ai's expression remained unchanged, save for an angry glint in her eyes as her jaw clenched. The other two boys looked rather green around the gills. Ice cold fury rushed through Shinichi. 'Children shouldn't be exposed to something like this.'
Inspector Megure said nearly the exact same thing when he and his team arrived on the scene. The woman who'd initially found the body was being comforted by Sato until she calmed down. Megure noticed the normally noisy children were staying away from the body; well, aside from Conan, that is.
'He's an odd child. Smart for his age and nearly fearless…that's a dangerous combination,' the mustached police chief thought. "Did you find anything?" he asked Takagi, who was examining the wallet of the victim.
"A small amount of money, a library card belonging to Daiko Kanekaza, and a driver's license addressed to the same," Takagi listed.
"How about that sword?" Megure motioned to what appeared to be the murder weapon.
"Nothing too distinguishing about it," Takagi informed his superior. "There, is, however, an engraving on the hilt." A fierce-looking dragon glared out from amid the splatters of dried blood.
"A gang symbol?" Sato, who'd finished comforting the other witness as best she could, wondered. Takagi shrugged.
"Possibly. It's Seiryuu, one of the four gods of Chinese astrology." The others looked at him curiously. The tanned officer ducked his head, embarrassed at the attention. "I took a couple mythology courses in college."
"Do you know the story of The Universe of the Four Gods, then?" The officers looked down to see the source of the question. Surprisingly, it was not Conan, but Mitsuhiko who asked.
"Yes, I do," Takagi told the freckled boy, smiling.
"My favorite character is Chiriko," Mitsuhiko told Wataru cheerfully.
"Really?" Takagi mused. "My favorite character is Mitsukake."
"'Tama, Tama, here's some fish!'" Mitsuhiko quoted, laughing.
Conan was half-listening to the conversation, a smile tugging at his lips. Their banter was so familiar, as if the two were old friends. It was rather nostalgic, really. He frowned as he examined the body a little closer. On the left palm was a symbol. An image crossed his mind:
…a tall, foreboding man, dressed in orange. A cat perched on his shoulder, his ever-constant companion. Despite his tough appearance, the healer smiled kindly as he tended to his wounds. A voice said to him: "You're finally back among us-"
"Conan-kun!" The not-boy started at the sound of Sato's tone. "Honestly, poking around a dead body like this!" she admonished. Picking him up, she ignored his sounds of protest and set him down a short distance away from the body. "Leave things like this to the police," the female officer stated, hands on hips in a don't-even-try-to-push-me stance.
"But I-" Sato cut him off with a glare. Thwarted, Conan trudged back to his pint-sized companions as Mitsuhiko and Takagi continued to discuss the story they both knew of.
The chibi tantei frowned. What was it about that symbol that seemed so familiar? Shaking his head, Shinichi tried to focus on the issue at hand. There was a mystery here, and as a detective, it was his job to solve it.