Please don't expect updates daily or so soon. I normally don't update like this, but for some reason I'm on a roll with writing this. Once again, no beta for this story, so excuse any mistakes.
ZeroXYami: First of all, I think you just set a record for the fastest review I've ever gotten. Also, I"m really glad you like this story! I'm not too sure I want to kill Toichi off in this story, but who knows. Don't worry, I'll eventually get to why he doesn't want to be a detective anymore. It may not come for a while though, so be prepared to wait~ I wasn't planning on having Conan in this story, and I'm still debating on the BO. I'm having a hard enough time writing Heiji, Saguru, Kaito, and basically everyone besides Shinichi. Thanks for the review!
Guest and guest (Guest): Here is more for you, and I haven't decided on any pairings yet. Not sure I'll make any at all. I think I said last chapter though that I'm not having Ran and Shinichi together. I'm keeping them as just friends.
James Birdsong: I'm glad you found it amusing and amazing!
Thank you to those who reviewed already! Enjoy the 2nd chapter~
"I still don't see why you would invite strangers to stay the night," Shinichi grumbled into his book as his father started the car. He was glad his mother wasn't driving, or he'd not get a chance to read on the way back home.
"If you'd been listening when we introduced you earlier," his mother huffed, "You'd realize they're not strangers. They're old friends of ours. And besides, it'll do you some good to spend time with actual humans besides us or Ran-chan."
"It doesn't matter what you do in the future," his father cut in, "You need to know how to interact with people."
"I know how to interact with people," Shinichi stated, "I just choose not to." He tuned out his mother bemoaning the fact her only son was cold and attempted to get as far as he could in his book before he once more subjected to the smiling bundle of energy who refused to leave him alone known as Kuroba Kaito.
Shinichi couldn't really find much fault with the other two, other than the fact they hadn't stopped staring at him like he was one of their beloved mysteries to solve since they'd identified the murderer earlier.
"Shin-chan," Shinichi looked up and found both his parents looking back at him. His mother shook her head with a sigh. "You always get too absorbed when you read. Come on, we're stopping for dinner before we get home."
He didn't bother asking why they hadn't just eaten while at the party. His parents never made sense. Unbuckling, he got out of the car and silently followed his parents into the family restaurant, determined to finish the last five chapters before they got home. He looked away from his book long enough to slide into his seat.
As the other ten people situated themselves around the table – Kaito happily took the seat next to him while Heiji and Saguru sat across – Shinichi asked the waitress for a cup of coffee to drink before going right back to his reading. Rude or not, he'd been trying and failing to finish this book the entire day and he was determined to finish before he went to bed.
Sensing Kaito turning to him, he held up a hand in front of the magicians face without looking away from the text. "If you insist on talking to me please, please just wait until I'm finished reading." The blue eyed teen was happily surprised when his request was headed and the magician turned to the other two teens instead. Relaxing slightly, Shinichi focused all his attention back to the last few chapters of the book.
He already knew what was probably going to happen, but the teenager hated leaving books unfinished. Sure enough, the novel ended just as Shinichi had predicted, giving him a small amount of satisfaction. It had been a well written book. Maybe not as good as his beloved Sherlock Holmes, but still a decent read.
"Finished reading?"
Picking up his cup of coffee that he hadn't realized had been delivered, Shinichi glanced up at Kaito while he took a sip. "Yes. Thank you for letting me finish."
Saguru gestured towards the book. "What was it you were reading?"
"Two Little Girls In Blue," Shinichi held up the novel.
"Didn't take you for a romance fan," Heiji commented.
"It's a mystery, actually. Written by Marry Higgins Clark, a well-known American mystery author. Although depending on the author, there are some good romance novels out there." While he preferred the mystery novels, Shinichi wasn't too picky about the books he read. He'd found that while some genres weren't his first pick, that didn't mean they weren't good books.
"Mystery fan huh? Who's your favorite?"
Kaito groaned next to him. Obviously this was a frequent topic. "I prefer Sherlock Holmes," Saguru's face brightened considerably while Kaito let his head fall onto the table with a groan and Heiji shook his head.
"Just what we need," the Osakan muttered, "Another Holmes freak."
"It's a classic," Shinichi stated, not in the least fazed by the dark skinned teens muttering. "Though I understand it's not everybody's first choice. Who would you choose Hattori-san?"
"Me? I like Ellery Queen myself."
"Ah, if it's Queen, I enjoyed The Door Between." He tilted his head slightly and fixed his glasses. "You seem surprised by that."
Heiji rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I just figured all the people who like Holmes swear by him that it's the only real mystery book worth reading."
"I love Sherlock Holmes, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading other mystery novels."
Before either Saguru or Heiji could continue, Kaito suddenly cut in. "No more talk about mystery books! No more talk about cases either! That's all you two ever talk about!"
Raising an eyebrow, Shinichi sipped his coffee before nodding. "Very well, Kuroba-kun."
"You can just call me Kaito!"
"Kuroba-kun," He ignored the huff from the teen, "If you're planning on becoming a magician like your father I assume you've thought about when you'll begin performing?"
The magician brightened up while the other two teens sighed and groaned respectively. "I've already assisted in some of Oyaji's shows, but he and Kaa-san think I should wait until after high school to start holding my own. I do some tricks in a park near our house sometimes to practice, and it's like a free show for those around."
"And college?"
For a moment, Kaito looked surprised before he grinned. "I'll probably still go. It'd be good to have a backup plan if something happens. Besides, you'd be surprised how much Chemistry and Physics goes into magic."
"What about you Kudo-kun?" Saguru seemed very willing to change the subject.
Heiji instantly jumped in. "Yeah, any plans for what you're gonna do after high school?"
Shinichi looked from one to the next. Seems while Kaito was fed up with mystery talk, the other two were fed up with magic talk. "Not really. Kuroba-kun mentioned no more case talk?" He didn't like talking about himself. Too many things he didn't want to come to light.
Heiji looked smug. "Yeah, I've been helping out with cases back in Osaka. Pretty well known too."
"I've also assisted in a few cases back in London," Saguru stated, sipping his tea, "Though here in Japan I've mainly been helping with the Kaitou KID cases." His eyes flicked over to Kaito who threw his hands up in frustration.
"For the last time – I am not KID! Damnit Hakuba, I've stood right next to you – handcuffed to you – for the duration of multiple KID heists! Aoko was even with us at that party during the last heist! You know, the one all the way across Japan!"
"Your obsession with making Kuroba out to be KID is a little extreme," Heiji commented.
The blond frowned. "Even if he isn't KID, I think-"
"Oyaji isn't KID either! What do you have against us anyway? Why are you so sure that one of us is KID?"
Shinichi let their arguing over whether the Kuroba's were or were not Kaitou KID fade into the background as he turned his gaze towards the window. Once they got home he was going straight to the library to start on the rest of his new books his mother had forbidden him from bringing that night.
He was dragged back to the present when a finger tapped his ear. Frowning, he turned and swatted the hand away. He'd specifically said he didn't like being touched. "What?" Seeing everyone's eyes on him, he looked up at the polite cough and saw the waitress from earlier holding her pen over her small notepad.
"What can I get for you?"
Shinichi pointed towards his father. "Whatever he's having." He hadn't bothered to look at the menu, but figured whatever the elder Kudo male was eating would be fine. He wasn't very hungry anyway.
"You really shouldn't space out like that," Saguru commented. "She asked you that question three times before Kuroba got your attention." The blue eyed teen simply shrugged. He didn't go out very often, and when he did Ran or his parents were with him. They usually answered for him.
"Ne, Shin-chan?" Shinichi leaned away as Kaito tried to touch his ear again. The magician's hand paused midair and instead came up to tap his own ear. "What are those things?"
"What things?" Reaching up, Shinichi felt his ears and touched the modified earplugs he had in. "Ah, nothing." He almost forgot he had them in. The only time he took them out was when he was showering.
"Do you have bad hearing?" He wondered if the Osakan knew was tact was. "Don't look like any hearing aids I've ever seen."
"Not hearing aids."
"I'd say they were earplugs," the blond mused, "But you seem to be hearing us just fine."
He wondered if he could get away with saying he could read lips. Probably not, since he'd responded to his parents at the party earlier without having looked at them while they were talking. Sighing softly to himself, Shinichi turned back towards the window and muttered, "I have sensitive hearing. They keep the noise down."
What he didn't say was that the noise it kept out was that of the ghosts. Originally he'd found that regular headphones and earplugs worked fine, but headphones weren't allowed in school and earplugs just made everything more complicated. Instead, he'd asked professor Agasa to see about making earplugs that still let him hear like normal. When the man had questioned the odd request, Shinichi played it off that his hearing was extra sensitive. The end result of multiple failures were the modified earplugs he was wearing now.
They kept all noise at a constant level, so nothing was ever too loud. Seeing as how the professor always liked updating his things, Shinichi could even set them to filter out background noise or turn them to work like regular earplugs should he want or need it.
"Earplugs are probably a good idea if you're going to be around Kuroba and Hattori." Said magician stuck his tongue out at the blond while the Osakan frowned.
"And what's that supposed to mean?!"
"That you're loud."
Before the argument could continue or escalate, there was a puff of smoke that obscured the table. Shinichi coughed and attempted to wave it away. When it did disperse, he blinked at the sight of the two teens across from him. It seems in the short amount of time the smoke had been there, both Saguru's and Heiji's hair had been turned pure white and wrinkles had been drawn onto their faces in what Shinichi could only guess was marker.
"You two will still be fighting like this when you're old men," Kaito announced, rather happily. Shinichi shook his head and brought out a spare handkerchief to clean his glasses with from the smoke. Taking them off, he kept his gaze lowered as he wiped them clean. Flicking his gaze up automatically as someone brushed past their table, he watched as the young man slowly made his way to the bathroom. The shadows that surrounded him were slowly turning darker as he went. Shinichi had only seen this once before, and felt his gut twist.
Putting his fake glasses back on, he mumbled an excuse and made his way to the bathroom after the man. Pushing the door open, he watched the last stall door close and listened to the lock click shut. Quickly making his way to the stall next to it, he hesitated slightly. If he wasn't careful he could make things worse.
Clearing his throat slightly, he said, "Don't do it." He didn't get a response, though he wasn't expecting one. "I don't know what's going on, and I don't know what happened, but this isn't the way to fix it." Taking a deep breath, Shinichi took off his glasses and stashed them in his pocket before standing on the edge of the toilet and looking over the top to the occupied stall. Hoping he wouldn't terrify the man into doing something stupid, he jumped up and over the wall dividing them, dropping down in front of the startled male.
"What are you-" Shinichi stared at the man in front of him and swallowed when he noticed the small figure floating above them. She was so young and small that the blue eyed teen had missed her at first. Slowly taking out his earplugs, he leaned back against the locked door in order to give the man some room.
"What's your name?"
Hesitant, the male whispered, "S-Sakamoto Hiromi."
Shinichi's gaze wandered up to the small girl who only just seemed to notice he could see her. "Y-You can see me?" The blue eyed teen nodded. Tears welled up in the small girls' eyes. "I'm Sakamoto Y-Yui. Onii-san, H-Hiromi-nii-san is r-really sad. He-He hasn't smiled in a really long time a-and he ca-can't see me." Shinichi hated seeing children as ghosts. "H-He's been acting really f-funny and is-is scaring me."
"Sakamoto-san, what happened?" His question was directed to both man and child. Hiromi clenched his fists together and stayed silent, but the little girl was more than willing to talk.
"Hiromi-nii-san took me to Tropical Land for my birthday. I-It was really fun, and h-he let me eat lots of yummy food! M-My tummy started t-to hurt really r-really bad, s-so we went to t-the toilet. I-I'm a big girl, s-so I went on my own. W-When I came o-out Hiromi-nii-san w-was gone. I-I looked all o-over for him, b-but g-got lost. I-It got r-really dark, a-and I d-didn't know w-where I w-was. I-I started c-crying a-and there w-was a p-pain in m-my head. T-Then w-when I found H-Hiromi-n-nii-san he-he co-couldn't s-see me o-or hear me."
The little girl started crying even harder, making Shinichi's heart clench. He swallowed the lump in his throat and turned back to Hiromi. "Sakamoto-san."
Hiromi started shaking, and Shinichi could see the tears falling onto his clenched fists. "It's my fault," he whispered. "It's all my fault. I was gone one second, one second, to call our parents. I shouldn't have left her. I shouldn't have-" He cut off as his tears came faster. "I'm sorry Yui. I'm sorry."
"Sakamoto-san, do you really think you'll make Yui-chan happy by blaming yourself?"
Hiromi finally looked up at him, tears pouring from his eyes. "SHE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE IF IT WEREN'T FOR ME!" He slumped over and covered his face with his hands. "I was the one who took her there. I was the one who gave her so much junk food her stomach started to hurt. I was the one who left her. I was the reason she's dead. It's my fault. It's all my fault."
"That's not true Sakamoto-san." Hiromi looked up and started to open his mouth, but couldn't get the words out when he locked gazes with Shinichi. "Your little sister loved you very much. She would never blame you for what happened." He pulled off one glove and put a hand on Hiromi's shoulder, his thumb touching the young mans' neck.
Hiromi's eyes widened as Yui's ghost shimmered into existence behind Shinichi. She had tears in her eyes, and a big smile on her face. "I love you Hiromi-nii-san. Onii-san is right, it wasn't your fault. I should have waited for you."
"Y-Yui…"
"Hiromi-nii-san, thank you for taking me to Tropical Land. It was a lot of fun!"
"Yui…Yui, I'm so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"
"Silly Hiromi-nii-san, I never blamed you."
Shinichi let go of Hiromi's shoulder and pulled his glove back on. "Yui! Yui wait! Don't leave me!"
The blue eyed teen tapped the area over his heart. "She's always with you Sakamoto-san." He watched the dark shadows surrounding the young man start to lighten once more. "All she wants now is for her beloved big brother to be happy." Unlocking the stall, he nodded to the man and small ghost before slipping his glasses back on.
Just before he put his earplugs back in he heard Yui say, "Thank you Onii-san."
Making his way back out to the dining area, he saw the food had arrived and the others were digging in already. Sitting down, he pushed his plate away and folded his arms on top of the table, burying his face in them. He ignored everyone else's questions and Kaito's poking, not moving from his position.
He really hated dealing with children's ghosts.
Shinichi stayed like that until his mother shook his shoulder and told him they were leaving. The ride to the house was silent, and once he got inside he made his way to his bedroom and curled up under the covers. Yui's ghost reminded him of why he'd stopped wanting to become a detective. The first case he'd ever helped with wound up being the last he wanted to deal with.
Shinichi wasn't sure when he fell asleep, but by the time he woke up it was early afternoon and the rest of their guests had already left for their own homes. Trudging into the bathroom, he took a nice long, hot, shower before making his way downstairs.
His mother was in the kitchen, probably making lunch, and smiled softly at him. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Sitting down at the table, Shinichi lightly traced patterns in the wood. "He was going to kill himself," He answered quietly. "He was with his little sister at Tropical Land for her birthday when they got separated and she died."
He felt his father's hand on his head and briefly wondered when he'd gotten there. "You stopped a suicide," He said in just as quiet a voice, "That's something to be happy about."
"I couldn't tell him."
"Couldn't tell him what sweetheart?" His mother laid a plate of food in front of him, setting two more out for herself and his father.
"His sister was probably murdered. Otherwise she would have left after talking to him. I couldn't tell him."
"If he didn't already know, it wouldn't have done much good to tell him." His father was right, but Shinichi still felt the man had a right to know.
He ate in silence, pushing the food around more than actually eating it, and let the sound of his parents' conversation wash over him. He never understood what was wrong with him. Why was he cursed like this? He never asked for it. He never wanted it. So why? Why did he have to deal with it? Why him?
"Shin-chan, you've hardly eaten anything. Even if you're not hungry, you didn't eat dinner last night and slept through breakfast." Shinichi glanced up at his mother and took a few small bites to make her happy.
Putting his chopsticks down, he thanked her for making lunch and cleaned up after himself before retreating to the library. Making his way to the stack of new books he'd left by the armchair the day before, he plucked the top one off and curled up comfortably. Hopefully the books would get his mind off everything.
Well, that took a slight turn for the depressing, but hey! We're starting to learn more! Hope you all liked it, and let me know what you thought! I still have no idea where this story is going, but at least I'm writing again.