Windfall
By Ysabet
YSABET'S NOTES: It has occurred to me that I have done a dreadful omission for this entire fic (and others)—I haven't issued a disclaimer! Ahem: "Detective Conan and its characters belong to the massively talented Gosho Aoyamo, before whom I bow down and chant 'I am not worthy! I am not worthy!' on a daily basis. Practically." There!
Chapter 3: Learning Experiences
Keep it quiet (go slow);
Circulate-- Need To Know…
Stamp the date upon your file ---
Masquerade, but well worth while.
Wrapped in the warmth of you --- wrapped up in your smile…
Wrapped in the folds of your attention…
(Jethro Tull, "Under Wraps")
The week had been rather difficult for Ayumi, all told. It's hard to keep a secret inside when you're only eight, and it's even more difficult when the secret concerns the people you see every day.
She needed to talk to Hei-san…..
Time crept by, day following day at a snail's pace; she waited and wondered and went to school, played with her friends….. and watched Conan and Rin like a small, fledgling hawk. Ayumi was a worrier by nature—she had seen things that few children of her age had seen (oddly enough, the criminals were more frightening to her than the occasional corpse) and tended to think about matters in a fashion that was a little more in-depth than most of her contemporaries were capable of. She had learned by trial and error over the past year to deal with what she had seen and experienced and had become remarkably good at coping.
But… she was still only eight, and it was hard.
So as the days slipped by from Monday towards Friday, she gathered her questions and her courage, keeping both locked inside; it was enough to give an adult an ulcer, much less a child. And if occasionally her eyes held a wistfulness when she watched her friends, no-one seemed to pay much attention. Conan-kun had been watching her a little oddly lately—she had seen that; his eyes seemed a little sharper, a little more like they got when he was being a detective….. But no-one else seemed to notice.
(Except, perhaps, Haibara Ai. The diminutive blonde had been eying her schoolmate speculatively during occasional moments; something was going on behind those blue-grey eyes that made Ayumi just a little nervous. But she acted the same, if a little gentler and more patient than usual. Now and then, though, that thoughtful gaze would switch from Ayumi to Conan and Rin… and she would become even more silent than before).
But at last the week was over; she slipped away from school with a promise to meet her friends in the usual place (they were planning to stop by the arcade on the way there, so they'd be a little late) and hotfooted it as quickly as possible towards the park.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"'Yumi-chan? Are you sure you can do this?" The brown-haired young man tilted his head to one side, eyes dancing as he regarded the little girl sitting on the other branch a foot or so away.
She nodded her head firmly, swinging her feet. "Mmhmm….. I've been practicing LOTS. Here, pick one." She held out a small, slightly grimy handful of five-yen pieces. Silently the teenager selected one from the pile and held it up. With extreme solemness the girl marked the coin with a rather bedraggled drawing of a smiley-face, using a black marker she had pulled from her pocket. "Okay? Now I need it back….."
Grinning internally, Hei-san dropped the coin into his apprentice's left hand on top of the pile of change; she displayed it proudly for a moment, then picked it from her palm with her right hand's fingers, shoving the small heap of five-yens back into her left pocket; she carefully placed her closed right fist on top of the pocket and looked up to make sure her friend was watching. "Now I'm gonna make it go and join its friends…" she told her teacher seriously; "See? It wants back inside….." Giggling a little, she danced her fist back and forth on across the cloth of her denim shorts-pocket, then tapped it a few times. "Now it's mysteriously vanishing….. see? Taaaa-daaaaaaaaaah!!!" Ayumi held her empty hands up, palm out; the coin had indeed disappeared.
She beamed at Hei-san, dark eyes gleeful. "Well? Where is it??"
He scratched at his head, feigning puzzlement. "Huhhhh….. I dunno--- did you drop it?" Craning his head, he peered past the child towards the grass ten feet below. "No, I didn't see it fall—I know, you've got it between your fingers!" His eyes widened theatrically as his student splayed her hands out, showing a distinct lack of coinage. "Not there—well……… you did say you were sending it to join its friends, but it beats me how you could do that….. It can't be in your pocket, can it?"
Giggling, Ayumi pulled the five-yen pieces back out; the smiley-face-marked coin lay grinning lopsidedly on top of the pile. Hei-san applauded loudly, whistling. "Magic! Very cool, 'Yumi-chan." He grinned at her. "Take a bow now, like I showed you; a good magician always acknowledges his audience."
Nodding seriously, the child carefully rose to her feet; she balanced on her respective branch and bowed with great gravity at her friend, then sat back down. "Did I do good?"
The teenager nodded appreciatively. "Very good; just right." He cocked his head to one side. "Did you ever get that 'floating chopstick' trick to work for you?"
Ayumi pulled a face. "Allllllllmost…… I still can't do it as good as you can, though; your fingers are bigger." A leaf fell past her nose, drifting downwards towards the ground; she leaned over a little to watch it land, fidgeting a little. "I'll keep practicing….. can you show me a new trick today, Hei-san?" She raised large, hopeful brown eyes to his face and he chuckled.
"Well……"
"Pleeeeeeeeeeease?? Pretty please???"
Hei-san ran one hand through his hair, making it stand on end even more than usual. As if he needed to be asked twice to do magic….. "Hold your hand out, palms down— Now, close your eyes and think really hard about… peacocks." He placed his hands palm-up a few inches below hers.
The child's eyes nearly popped out. "PEACOCKS?!? You're gonna make a PEACOCK appear???"
Her teacher nodded calmly, poker-face well in place; only the gleam of humor in his dark blue eyes gave him away. "Think really *hard* about them, now….." His apprentice blinked at him dubiously, then closed her eyes and concentrated. Once she had shut her eyes he grinned in approval and shifted slightly on his branch; now, where was it--? *Oh, right….. Back of the jacket. Damn feathers always tickle when I let 'em hide in the front….. wake up, bird, it's showtime! C'mon, down the sleeve you go…..*
A second or two later Ayumi's eyes flew back open at the feeling of wings fluttering against her palms. "IT'S A…… awwwww--- it's NOT a peacock!" The white dove perched on Hei-san's fingers and cooed soothingly at the child; it tilted its head to one side much like its master had a moment before.
The magician shrugged; "You weren't concentrating hard enough….. all I could manage was a dove. Oh well; peacocks are too noisy, anyway. Doves are quieter and a lot brighter too, y'know." At his gentle prompting the bird pigeon-toed its way up Ayumi's arm to perch among her brown hair on top of her head; she wriggled as it pecked at her hairband.
Hei-san watched in satisfaction as his young student reached up a finger for the dove to hop onto; the kid didn't seem to be the least bit afraid of birds, which was good. A magician who was afraid of doves might as well be afraid of pulling rabbits from hats— hmm; sooner or later he'd have to see about giving her one or two doves of her own, if her mom would allow it. The teenager reached across one finger to stroke the bird's neck; it cooed, tugging at the frayed cuff of his somewhat scruffy shirt with its beak.
He'd come to the conclusion lately that it really *was* fun, having a little sister; he'd been missing out.
As she stroked the bird's soft breast-feathers Hei-san glanced at her sideways while seeming to look out over the park. It hadn't escaped his notice that she seemed more than a little downcast when they met that day—the whole "show me what you've learned this week" bit had been specifically to cheer her up. To a certain extent it had worked; Ayumi-chan had displayed her new trick (one of a half-dozen or so he had managed to teach her over the past few months) with alacrity….. but he could still see shadows under her brown eyes and a faint pallor to her cheeks. Something was bugging the kid—
"Ayumi?" he asked; she was still petting the dove, who had nestled itself comfortably down into her lap. "Is something wrong? You're awfully quiet today….."
The little girl hesitated; all the smiles that her new accomplishment and the appearance of the "peacock" had produced seeped away, leaving her looking a little lost. "I….. sort of." Her chin dropped, and she stared back down at the dove again; it cooed blissfully as she scratched one small finger in the good place behind its head. "There's something I want to ask you about--- but…." Her words crawled to a halt and she bit her lip.
Hei-san blinked out at the park, still watching her from the corner of his eye. "But what? C'mon, 'Yumi-chan--- ask away. What's the problem?"
"Ummmmm….."
He waited; hurrying this kid was a BAD idea, he had found. She was stubborn as a mule—as no doubt The Shrimp and her other friends could tell anyone. Speaking of which….. he suddenly had a feeling….. "Ahhh, 'Yumi-chan? Does this have anything to do with Conan?"
The girl's jaw dropped; "H-how---?? Hei-san, how did you know?!?"
The magician laughed wryly, cracking his knuckles as he stretched. "Conan-kun… is, well, a rather unusual kid; if anything strange or problematic is going on, it probably has to do with him. Just a guess—but I'm right, aren't I?"
She nodded gloomily, considering what he had just said. "Prob-lem-atic….. that's a good word. It means full of problems, right?" Ayumi stared down at the ground below her feet; one tennishoe drooped a little, half off her foot. She kicked experimentally and the shoe fell off, dropping to land with the softest of thuds on the grass.
Hei-san could recognize evasion when he saw it; he was pretty damned good at it himself, after all. Contemplating the child's action, he shrugged and kicked one of his own shoes off—it made a rather larger thud as it landed next to hers. "Suppose you start by telling me what's bothering you, hm? Don't worry if it doesn't seem to make sense….. There's a lot of things about The Shri—I mean, about Conan-kun that *don't* seem to make sense when you really look at them close-up."
*….. and MAN is that putting it mildly…..*
The girl still stared at the ground, face troubled.
Her teacher sighed, trying to think back to how his father had gotten him to talk about things that bothered him. Oddly enough, though, it was the image of his mother kneeling before the gradeschooler he had once been and talking soothingly that came to mind. He cleared his throat gently, remembering. "'Yumi? I promise I won't laugh at you, no matter what you say; I won't just pretend it's not real because you're a kid—hey, I listen to you, don't I? If I didn't, you wouldn't be trying to tell me this, right?"
Still there was only silence. Hei-san sighed internally; having a little sister was fun, but it took a helluva lot more patience than he had expected as well….. maybe this was too hard for the kid. "If you don't want to talk about it, then… we won't. But if you want to, I'm here, y'know?"
Mumble, mumble….. "What?" Her words had been, apparently, in Ayumi-Speak or something like that—he hadn't understood a bit of it.
"….. Idon'twanttogetthemintrouble….."
*--Oh.*
"Ayumi-chan, I can honestly swear to you that I'm the last person to go playing tattletail." He snorted internally at the idea. *Glass houses, throwing stones and all that tripe….. Once you decide to be a 'villain' (even if you're not an Official Bad Guy), you sort of lose the right to rat on anybody else—unless it's something REALLY wrong, like that Ojiwa bastard a while back. Union Rules or something like that, probably.*
"But….."
Hei-san decided to let the subject drop; if his little apprentice felt that uncomfortable about it, then-- "Never mind. If you feel like talking, I'm right here, though. Wanna climb down and work on some two-person juggling? I told you we'd start on it today if you wanted to—"
Her words came in a rush, half tripping one over the other in their hurry. "No! No, I *want* to talk about it, I just don't want to—I mean, I'm not sure if—See, it's not really Conan-kun I need to ask you about, except for sort of, mostly it's Rin-kun and I'm not really absolutely positively SURE about her, butshegotcalledRANinsteadofRIN… andIthinkthatjustmaybe… she's….. exceptthat'sSILLY andIknowIshouldaskher ButIdon'twanttoaskheraboutitand—"
"Whoa, whoa!! Slow down, kid….." Hei-san stared down at the girl, his eyebrows climbing towards his hairline. *Uh oh..... crap. Now, the question is, do I pull Kudo and his girlfriend's fat out of the fire for them or let Ayumi-chan ask questions they don't want to hear?* "Go a little slower, okay? Tell me what's bothering you—"
And it all came pouring out then: Her newest friend Rin, the strangeness in her eyes, Mouri Ran's disappearance, the likeness between the two, the suspicions and the questions and the mistakes people had made-- "…and I *know* people don't—they aren't really *supposed* to be able to change from adults to little kids, but….. but Hei-san? Conan-kun said there's only one truth, and I—I think I know what it is. I don't know HOW it could be true….. but I think it is. I really, really do. Hei-san? What would *you* do??"
She was staring up at him with wide, pleading eyes; dammit, she trusted him, she wasn't an idiot (people tended to forget that young did *not* mean stupid), she was just a little kid…..
….. unlike a certain pair who really (all things considered) should be capable of looking out for their own Vertically-Challenged selves…..
The magician sighed, wondering how the hell he had ended up in this position. "'Yumi-chan? WHY don't you want to ask Rin-kun about it? Are you afraid she'll laugh at you, or maybe stop being friends with you? Is that it?"
Nod, nod; the tearful brown eyes never left his… and not once, not even for a second did she seem to have the faintest doubt that he believed her. That kind of faith was a little staggering.
"Hmmmmm……." Hei-san edged out a little further along his branch; without really thinking about it he lay back in his favorite position, hands behind his head, stretched out like an upside-down, sunning iguana. "Y'know, Ayumi-chan, I remember my dad telling me something when I was nearly your age—I didn't really understand it at the time, but it makes sense to me now. 'Trust your friends—but deal the cards yourself.'" He blinked up at the sunlight filtering through the leaves. "D'you know what that means?"
Solemnly the child shook her head; "Noooooo…..?" She frowned a little at his position, then gingerly leaned back on her own (fortunately broader) branch. After wriggling for a minute or two she decided that she was comfortable and relaxed; the magician watched her from the corner of his eye, marveling at the flexibility of kids.
"It means that it's a good thing to trust the people you care for and believe in them—be good to them, and they'll probably be good to you, all that sort of stuff—but it also means that there's nothing wrong with making sure things go *your* way as well. I mean, it's like this—" and he pulled one hand from behind his head. Suddenly there was a deck of cards in the hand; Hei-san fanned them out and held them towards his apprentice. "Pick a card….. Queen of Hearts, right? Right. Now, THAT was a magic trick—since it was a trick, it's *okay* for me to make the cards come out like I want them to. If I was playing poker with my friends, that'd be cheating, because they'd be betting money or whatever, and winning just for myself wouldn't be fair. But in a trick, the magician wins and the audience wins too when the trick goes right. You understand?"
"Welll……" Ayumi blinked a little, eyes crinkled in thought as she stared at the card in her hand. "You mean….. if I'm doing stuff *just* for me, it's not fair to cheat—but if I'm doing it for more than just me, it's okay? I thought cheating was bad---" She shifted a little, regaining the balance that her reach for the card had slightly thrown off.
The magician squirmed a little internally; the word 'cheating' was a sore spot with him. "Umm, I wouldn't exactly call it cheating, not so long as nobody gets hurt….. it's more like arranging the circumstances to suit yourself. Like……" He thought hard; the deck of cards disappeared into somewhere or other as he absently scratched at his head. "Well….. what if I were going to have to do something really, really difficult, like…. I dunno, what's your hardest subject at school, 'Yumi-chan?"
The child made a face. "Math. I *hate* math! Yuck!!" She handed the card back.
"Okay, what if I was gonna have to take a really hard math-test? I could just go in there without studying, or not listen in class when the teacher tries to tell us about what we need to know, or do my homework….. or I could study and listen and do my homework and get ready for the test, so that I'd get a better grade. The *test* wouldn't be any different—but how I reacted to it would. That's not the same as cheating—it's just good preparation. You understand now?"
Ayumi's face cleared; she turned a little, unconsciously propping herself on one elbow as she turned to her friend. "Uh huh; that makes sense. But how will that make it easier for me to… to talk to Rin-kun?"
Still lying stretched out, Hei-san shrugged; a piece of bark crumbled beneath his movement and dropped into the grass below. "You can wait until somebody goofs and calls her Ran again, or you can stay worried and afraid to talk about it with her and Conan-kun….. or you can set things up yourself, get ready, and ask her point-blank if she's really Ran or not. Isn't that better than stewing over it and getting upset all over the place?"
He sighed. "When I was a kid, one of the things I liked best about learning magic tricks was that you're sort of in control over something—every trick belongs to *you*; you make the right card appear, or the rabbit pop out of the hat, or the chopstick float in the air. Kids don't have much chance for control….. they don't need to, usually. But 'Yumi-chan, if this is really bothering you, I'd go for it and ask Rin-kun. After all, she's your friend, right?"
The child's eyes dropped to the shadows of the trees, ten feet or so below. "… 'Trust your friends…..'" she quoted softly, biting her lip.
"'… but deal the cards yourself.' Right. There's nothing wrong with helping yourself, especially if it helps somebody else. Maybe Rin would feel better about talking to you? Maybe she's worried about you figuring things out too? You never can tell. And—as for Conan….." Mentally he gritted his teeth; *Dammit, Kudo--* "You're just going to have to ask him too, right? If you're worried about something, the best thing you can do is change it from a worry into something you understand."
He chuckled to himself silently and perhaps a little unkindly, propping one ankle across the other. *I'll bet The Runt is worrying, too… there's no way he'd miss something like this. Ayumi-chan, you're coming along really well, but you still can't hide a thing you're thinking—your face gives it all away. If it wasn't bothering you so much (and when the hell did I get so damned protective?) I'd suggest you let 'em worry—but I don't like you feeling bad about this any more than I would Aoko. Oh yeah, speaking of which….*
He half-frowned a little, a slight heat beginning to make itself felt around his ears and cheekbones. "Hey, Ayumi? Ummmm… you've heard me talk about Aoko a couple of times, right?"
His student blinked. "Uh huh—she's that girl in your class, the one that hits you with a mop sometimes."
"Chases me with a mop, chases me with a mop---" said Hei-san hurriedly (and a tad huffily); Ayumi giggled in response. "Yeah, that one. She—well, she's got a birthday coming up… next week, in fact. Whatcha think… would she like this as a present?" He held one hand out; from apparent nothingness something appeared on his palm to lie gleaming in the afternoon sunlight: a thin silver chain with a tiny, delicate floral pendant hanging from it. The gleaming leaves and stems formed a wreath, perfect and exquisite; Ayumi's exclamation of delight (and near departure from her branch, save for a steadying hand) was all the answer he needed.
Of course, if you looked at the design *carefully*, you'd notice that the wreath was made up of infinitely miniscule four-leaf-clovers….. He smiled to himself as he made it disappear again, tucking the present securely away. *THAT ought to bring about an interesting reaction….. I wonder what she'll do? I've never given Aoko anything even remotely like this before.*
Truth to tell, he couldn't quite bring himself to define the reason that had made him pick such an item, besides the inherent joke in the four-leaf clovers (though somehow he just *loved* the idea of her wearing the Kid's own personal trademark; it made something deep inside him do absolute backflips). Maybe… maybe it was because he had never given her a gift of this sort; maybe it was just… time.
Maybe he was overanalyzing it; yeah. Sometimes you just had to play your cards by instinct and do what felt right. *And isn't that essentially what you just told 'Yumi-chan? Practice what you preach, Thief Boy--*
He glanced across at his apprentice; she had leaned back again on her branch, mirroring her teacher in pose, hands clasped behind her head. It was really very funny— he had caught her mimicking him more and more often as the last few months had progressed. Just one more thing he had to get used to—the Kid was accustomed to a certain acclaim (well, notoriety might be a better word); but Kuroba Kaito, currently Hei-san, wasn't.
Movement off across the park caught his eye: small figures, five of them. *Looks like they've got that little blonde with 'em today; something about that kid gives me the creeps just a bit. Wonder why? Oh well….. back to the main topic before I leave.* "Uh, Ayumi? Here comes your friends…. I gotta go." He took a deep breath as the girl's face fell a little—their talk was over for the day. "Well, 'Yumi-chan? D'you think you can do it? Ask Rin-kun about the truth, I mean?
The girl bit her lip unhappily, a determined look settling on her young face; she carefully sat up and swung her legs around to dangle in front of her, attention apparently fixed on her toes. After a long minute she spoke: "I—think so, Hei-san. It won't be easy, but….. I guess you're right. You and Conan-kun, you both say good stuff—I'm gonna listen to both of you."
He blinked, also sitting up. Of all the odd things to hear….. "BOTH of us?"
She nodded firmly, her small jaw set. "Uh huh. You said 'Trust your friends' and he said 'There's only one truth.' So… I'm going to ask Rin-kun, and I'm going to trust her to tell me the truth."
That simple statement set him aback a little, and he stared in amazement at the little girl. *Ayumi-chan, you're pretty damned smart, you know that? Pretty damned smart….. and now I'm beginning to wonder: What will *I* say to you someday if you ask ME questions and trust ME to tell you the truth?*
But….. she was doing what he had suggested—going on instinct, doing the right thing. He sighed, allowing a smile to cross his face. "You know what, Ayumi? I think you've made a good choice. Now….. Now you've got to figure out how you're gonna play your magic act—time to pick the stage and figure out the *how* and *when* for the whole thing." He scratched at his head, eyeing the determined child in front of him with a small grin. "Wish I could be there for the show, Ayumi-chan… I'll bet you'll do it just right."
He rose to his feet, stretching a little as he began the quick climb down. *Good luck on pulling this rabbit out of its hat, imoutochan; I think you'll need it. And so will I, when Conan-kun figures out that somebody else knows about him…..*
* * * * * * * * * * * *
It was only two days later when the *how* and the *when* came together to present the proper opportunity; Ayumi had kept watching, just as Hei-san had said—watching for the right opportunity, the right stage.
'Trust your friends… but deal the cards yourself.'
They were all upstairs at Mouri-tantei's place, sprawled across his couch and his floor, reading. Genta and Mitsuhiko still had a surprisingly large stockpile of manga left over from the library book sale that hadn't yet been read by the others (although Ai-kun didn't seem too interested; she was busy going through a huge stack of some American magazines called (she had told them) Popular Science). So the lazy Sunday after Ayumi's talk had them all in one place, faces stuck in books.
Rin and Conan had commandeered the couch; the girl sat cross-legged at one end with a manga volume in her lap while the boy lay stretched lengthwise, chin propped on his elbows beside her. He had grumbled slightly at her choice ("Fruits Basket is a shoujo manga....") but seemed disinclined to put up much of a fuss or pick out one of his own. Genta and Mitsuhiko were plowing steadily through old tankoubon of Inu Yasha, and Ayumi had settled down with her own pile of Ushio to Tora.
She turned a page, concentrating; Ushio had just fought some sort of huge youkai with one horn and a body made out of snakes—she shivered, glad things like that didn't happen in the real world. Things were going bad for the bakemono-slayer, but she knew it would turn out all right; Tora would show up and help!!! Ayumi really liked Tora, as big and scary as he was…..
(Her mind winced, remembering Ojiwa-sensei from months past; there were scarier things than monsters in the world.)
Footsteps and the clink-clink of ice in a glass made everybody look up; Eri-san was standing in the doorway, purse over her shoulder and a tray full of glasses in her hands. "We're about to go out, so I thought I'd bring you all a little something to drink before we go—reading is thirsty work." The woman's eyes flashed in amusement as Conan hastily sat upright and scooted a few inches away from her niece. "Rin-chan, will you do the honors?"
Ayumi's sempai slid off of the couch, accepting the heavy tray and steadying it against the table. "Thanks, Obaasan… will you and Ojisan be back soon?"
Her aunt shrugged, straightening her glasses. "Who knows? He—" and she indicated Mouri-tantei behind her, hunting for his shoes— "wants to go to some sort of brand new car preview; I think that Suzuki girl's family is holding it—"
Rin rolled her eyes. "They are, and it's being held down by that new shopping center they built last month. *I* heard from Sonoko-kun that all the new cars were being showcased by girls in bikinis….." The sound of Mouri's foot impacting a chair-leg as he hastily straightened acted as odd punctuation to the girl's sentence. Sputtering sounds of pained denial followed, but Eri-san simply rolled *her* eyes and sighed, looking very much like her niece in that moment.
Very much like her indeed….. Ayumi watched, feeling unsettled as the woman gently ruffled Rin's hair with one hand. "We'll be back sometime this evening. Be good." That was interesting; she had directed her last words at Conan, not Rin-kun.
As the door closed at the bottom of the stairs, there was a flurry of hands reaching for glasses; then everyone went back to their reading without a word. Conan-kun yawned, set his soda on the floor and returned to his original position; Ayumi watched them both over the top of her manga, a small frown-line furrowing between her eyes.
Time passed; pages turned, the day waned into late afternoon, and young eyes that had been lulled into laziness closed and drowsed, books or magazines falling into laps. Time passed, punctuated by the ticking of the clock on the wall behind the couch. Time passed.
…tick, tick, tick, tick…..
Ayumi slowly came back to herself, blinking sleepily from under the volume of Ushio to Tora that had fallen forward to land against the bridge of her nose. The room was quite silent, save for Genta's rather thunderous snores and a soft, surprising whistle that seemed to be coming from Ai, who lay curled in a chair in the corner. The blonde had her arms around a sheaf of her American magazines in the same fashion that another might have clutched a teddy-bear; Ayumi almost giggled aloud at the sight—would have giggled except—
-- for the soft sound of a turning page, coming from Rin-kun. The brown-haired girl had not yet noticed that her friend was awake, apparently; she was deeply engrossed in her book. It was something she had bought at the sale, Ayumi remembered—a novel, not manga; at the time she had commented nonchalantly that it was a gift for her cousin Ran-neechan.
And maybe it had been, in a way.
Ayumi kept quite still, peeking from under her book; everyone was asleep, even Conan-kun—she could hear his soft exhalations of breath, see the relaxed face that was now bare of glasses; Rin must have slid them off, as they lay folded shut on the cushion beside him. It was very quiet….. no-one was listening…..
…tick, tick, tick, tick…..
She slid the book very slowly, very soundlessly away from her face; Rin-kun paid no attention. Hesitating, the girl swallowed hard. She had thought about what to ask, but not really HOW to ask it—
*NOW??*
*Yes, now, just like Hei-san said; be brave, just like Ushio was in the manga. 'Deal the cards yourself….. and trust your friends.'*
That hadn't been *quite* how he had put it, but it would work. It sounded better, somehow.
"Ran-kun?" she said very, very softly, her voice barely audible in the still room.
The other little girl turned a page, still concentrating. "Hmm, Ayumi-chan? What is it?" She looked up absently…..
….. and then froze, the book sliding from her nerveless fingers onto the couch. Rin's jaw dropped in shock, and Ayumi could see the dismay and the struggle to recover that passed across her face like a wave, brushing all traces of absentmindedness utterly away. "Uhhhh…. I, I'm not—I mean— W-why did you… why did you call me— that name? W-why—"
Ayumi stared unblinking at her friend, heart pounding painfully; she bit her lip. "Because… because you are Ran, aren't you? Aren't you??"
"A-Ayumi-kun….. Don't—"
"Aren't you??" She couldn't keep the trepidation out of her voice.
Silence in the room, only broken by the ticking of the clock and Rin's rapid breathing; even Genta's snores seemed muted. Rin picked up her novel, clutching it tightly enough to make her nails bite into the paper cover. "I….. Ayumi-kun, I can't……" Her eyes were huge.
The moment stretched out, seeming to gather silence in the way that snow gathers on a windowsill, piling deeper and deeper by the second. "If—if you don't want to tell me… how you got to be a kid again….." Ayumi fidgeted with the manga volume in her hands, running one nail along the pages at the top over and over; it made a faint zzipp! sound, loud in the stillness. "…if you can't tell me— but, but I can keep secrets too, Rin-kun… R-Ran-neechan… and I won't ever, ever, EVER tell anybody—"
"—but I just need to know—"
…tick, tick, tick, tick…..
Silence, deep as the gulf of time between childhood and adulthood.
…tick, tick, tick, tick…..
"Tell her." Conan's low voice broke the quiet into pieces, shattered it like a mirror.
Both girls stared at him—he hadn't moved, he was still lying stretched out and relaxed across the couch; only his eyes had changed. The shadows there were bleak and full of some sort of pain unfamiliar to Ayumi, but very steady. "Tell her, Rin….. Ran. If she managed to figure it out, she deserves to know."
His eyes flickered to Genta, Mitsuhiko, who continued to sleep the sleep of the innocent. "Tell her….. but not here." Genta's snores continued steadily, although the blonde girl's soft breath-whistles had rather suddenly stopped; she shifted slightly, pillowing her head on her arm.
Ayumi stared, open-mouthed. Conan-kun? He sounded so….. All the while she had tried to think mostly about Rin, not Conan, even though she realized that *both* of them were—
-- were--
-- were different. Weren't really kids, maybe. *Conan-kun…..* Ayumi felt her heart turn over in her chest; it hurt. She was his Best Friend, he had said, but if he was really a grownup then was that the truth? What *was* the truth? She bit her lip again, trying hard to keep tears back; they kept trying to leak out.
She hadn't wanted to think about Conan being different.
Rin-kun was staring at the boy's face now, looking all upset and scared… what did she have to be scared of? Ayumi? The girl's young mind refused to accept that possibility; she gulped. Maybe Hei-san was wrong—maybe she had been better off never saying anything, maybe she should just tell them 'never mind' and 'forget about it', maybe she should just—
('Trust your friends… but deal the cards yourself'…..')
('There's only one truth.')
Deal the cards yourself… and trust your friends.
Trust your friends.
*Hei-san, I really really wish you were here!* Ayumi felt something warm and wet run down one cheek; she sniffled a little, wiping her face with the back of one hand. Very quietly she slid down from her chair, the volume of manga dropping to lie unnoticed on the floor as she crossed the room to stand timidly before her friends. "R-Rin-kun? Can you tell me?" She wiped at her face again, whispering. "I'm sorry….. I didn't mean to get you upset….. I just want to know."
Another tear ran down the angle of her jaw, splashing onto the cushion not six inches from Conan-kun's shoulder. His eyes flickered to the spot of dampness, then back up to the little girl's face again; at Rin's agitated intake of breath he shook his head. "Tell her, Ran. It's okay. Just… I'm sorry, Ayumi-kun. I really am."
He looked so sad. Why was he sorry? She was the one who had gotten them all upset and everything…..
Ran sighed, then silently slid down from the couch and tiptoed past the sleeping boys towards the stairs, motioning for Ayumi to come with her. Looking back at Conan-kun apprehensively, the child gulped once and followed, wondering.
And as the two slipped out the front door, toeing on their shoes as they went, Ayumi could swear she heard Ai-kun speaking behind her in the quietest voice possible: "Well. I hope you know what you're doing, Kudo-kun….."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Many, many years later, when Yoshida Ayumi was a grown woman with children of her own, she would sometimes tell her little ones a particular fairy tale when she put them to bed. The story became a family favorite, long since polished by time and repetition; decades later it would be passed down from generation to generation as the Tale of Prince Ichi…..
"Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there lived a powerful and noble Prince. He was tall and handsome and intelligent, and he spent much of his time helping his subjects by solving difficult riddles and fighting the evil robbers and murderers that plague even the fairest of lands. Prince Ichi was well-known by kings and emperors far and wide, and his wisdom was sought after in many countries."
"One day Prince Ichi was out visiting a friend's castle far from his home in the company of Princess Orchid, who loved him and would someday become his bride. Princess Orchid was tall and beautiful with kind eyes and a was a powerful sorceress and warrior in her own right; she was loved by the people of her country, and everyone looked forward to the day when the Prince and Princess would marry. Everyone, that is, except for the Black Knights."
"The Black Knights were evil—they sought to rule all countries, and that which they could not conquer they destroyed. They fought the powers of goodness by killing its champions, by capturing its warriors, by attacking its citadels. And this day the Black Knights had decided that Prince Ichi was a danger to their schemes and cunning, and they would stop at nothing to end his life."
"So as Prince Ichi strolled across the grounds of his friend's castle, an attack was being plotted. A noise caught the noble Prince's attention, and the sight of two fearful monsters in the Forest of Secrets which divided their lands drew him from the Princess' side. He left, telling her that he would return soon….."
"But he did not return. The day grew long—the sun set—and still Prince Ichi did not return. At last, worried and grieving, Princess Orchid called upon her ministers and assistants to search for her beloved Prince: the Wise Scientist Agasan; the Captain of the Guards, Takasan; and the Royal Fool (who had always been like a father to the Princess), Tanteisan. They each searched in their own way for a fortnight, until at last they all returned to the Princess, weary and heartsore; Prince Ichi had well and truly vanished into thin air, and there was no finding him."
"Princess Orchid vowed that she would not rest until she had found her beloved Prince; from day to day she searched, wandering through the land accompanied by her three most loyal knights, Yumisan, Gensan and Hikosan. They protected her while she searched, kept her safe while she slept, and had many, many terrible and wonderful adventures in doing so. But neither she nor they could find any trace of Prince Ichi."
"At last they returned to the Princess' castle in her own country; and there they found a visitor—a young boy from a far and distant land (or so he claimed), with wise eyes and a strangely piercing gaze. He had arrived with nothing more than the ill-fitting clothing upon his back, but he had speedily risen in the interest of the Court by his quiet observations and obvious intelligence. He had come, he said, because the Princess would need him; and he met her at the gate when she rode in from her fruitless searchings."
"When he held her horse for her to dismount, she was curious; when he brought her cool wine to drink and fruit to soothe her hunger, she was puzzled; and when he quietly went about the business of acting as her page, she became determined to know more of the boy."
""Who are you?" she asked, wondering."
"He shook his head. "No-one—I have no father and no mother, no home, no country; all I have is the place I stand in and the sights and sounds my senses give me. I have no past, and I don't know what future may lie before me." The boy smiled at her then, a smile as sad as it was sweet; "If you want to call me anything, then just call me your Page.""
"Princess Orchid was puzzled, but chose to accept his answer; in truth, she was so lonely by now from missing her Prince that the child's company was very welcome. "Very well then, Page—come, sit and talk with me for a while." And they sat together for a number of hours, talking together about everything and nothing. She found that his words were mostly those of a young boy, but that also they carried a strange wisdom and insight that was most unchildlike."
"And she thought of how like her Page was to Prince Ichi, and she wondered….."
"So the Princess returned to her rulership of her home, accompanied by her Page; time passed, and she began to become accustomed to the loss of her Prince, although she never gave up hope that he would return to her. As the days became weeks and the weeks became months, the boy Page became her close friend and confident, although his lack of years sometimes made her sad—he seemed to know too much and to have seen too much sorrow for such a young child. Her Page stayed beside her throughout the day, serving; often he seemed to know her wishes before she spoke them aloud. He listened to court matters, gave advice when asked, and made her laugh with his jokes and occasional (and often clumsy) attempts to cheer her up. His observations were useful to her, as were the questions that he asked when a matter of import came up before her; and it became apparent to all there that the Princess had found a friend in her Page."
"As the months passed and Prince Ichi did not return, the Princess was often observed looking out her window towards the Forest of Secrets into which he had disappeared, sighing sadly. At last one day her Page asked her: "Why are you sad, Orchid-Himitsu?""
""Because there is one who went away, who I miss very much. I don't know where he is, or even if he's still alive—he promised to return to me, but….." and she fell silent, troubled."
"The boy looked up at her, and his eyes were kind. "If you miss him, don't you think he misses you too, wherever he is? And if he promised to come back to you, don't you think he'll keep his promise, no matter how difficult it is?" He sighed, turning to stare out towards the distant trees. "Sometimes we have to make the best of a difficult thing; problems can be like pieces of glass broken from a window. They can turn in the hand if clutched too tightly, cutting the skin. But… you can use a piece of glass for other things, too—to look through for a different view of things, to focus a ray from the sun…..""
"The Princess took comfort from his words, and believed."
"And she thought again of how like her Page was to Prince Ichi, and again she wondered….."
"One day a wonderful thing happened: A message arrived from Prince Ichi, carried in the talons of a trained hawk who landed on Princess Orchid's windowsill. The message told that he was far, far away, in a land that was very strange to him—he had visited it once before in the company of his parents, but that had been many years past. He promised that he would always be with the Princess in spirit, and that he would return to her when it was possible; but he was needed where he was, and his return would endanger her, for he was always pursued by enemies whenever his face was seen. He asked her to wait, as she had been waiting, to trust him and believe; and the writing on the parchment was blurred as if by tears at this point."
"She folded the message and smiled at her Page, who sat by the window and stared out at the forest. "He has promised, and he always tells the truth; I will trust him." Her Page said nothing, but seemed comforted by her happiness."
"Time passed; the Page served Princess Orchid well, accompanying her and her loyal Guardsmen about her duties across the land. He became close friends with the three Guards—indeed, Yumisan became his closest friend save for the Princess herself. Many hours were passed laughing and traveling with the Guards, and many fine adventures were had."
"Dangers abounded in these days for the Princess and her people; the evil Black Knights were everywhere, it seemed, and many times their terrors and plots were thwarted by the actions of the Guards and Orchid-Himitsu's Page. He seemed to know them well—the Princess could not help but wonder what he had seen in his short life to make him regard them with such fear and resolute defiance."
"Many long hours were spent seeking out the evil seeds planted by the Black Knights; they excelled in subverting the good to evil purposes, and they had a positive talent for finding those who were weak enough to be swayed into their service by payment in gold. For every traitor which was discovered, the Guards feared that two more existed; for every plot uncovered, her advisors kept watch thricefold against the ones which they knew still went unseen. These were fearful times indeed."
"Always, always her Page kept on guard against the Black Knights, being wounded more than once as he intervened between their danger and the safety of the innocent. Several times the Princess' life was saved by the actions of the Royal Guards and the cunning advice and stratagems of her Page; but never did they ask for a reward, not even once."
"At last the Princess took the Guardsmen aside to speak with them; they had served her well, she said. Was there *nothing* that they might wish for a reward? And what of her Page—did they know of anything he might want?"
"Yumisan spoke up first: Being the Princess' guard, she said, was a reward in itself. But it was true that she loved flowers, and of all things she would love to be given a rose-garden the most of all. And so it was done, and the loyal Guardsman worked in her garden when she was not on duty, raising the finest white roses ever seen."
"Hikosan spoke next: the Princess' guard, he said, was a delight in itself. But he did indeed have a fondness for artisanship and the wonders of science, and he wished to learn as much in that arcane field as he might. And so it was done, and the loyal Guardsman was put into the care of the Princess' Wise Scientist Agasan, to be taught and trained as his successor."
"Gensan spoke up last: the Princess' guard, he said, was an adventure in itself. But he admitted that of all things he loved good food the best, and wished that he might not only eat the things he loved whenever he chose… but would like to know how to *make* them as well. And so it was done, and the loyal Guardsman was placed under the tutelage of the finest cooks in the land, to keep them safe and to learn their secrets."
"At last she asked them again—what of her Page? Was there *nothing* he desired? The three Guardsmen conferred together and came up with an answer."
"He desired a home, and a family. Sometimes he had seemed sad when he had seen the three Guardsmen visiting their mothers and fathers and siblings, for he had none and it seemed that he regretted their loss. And the Princess recalled his words: 'I have no father and no mother, no home, no country; all I have is the place I stand in and the sights and sounds my senses give me. I have no past, and I don't know what future may lie before me.'"
"Once more the Princess thought of how like her Page was to Prince Ichi, and once more she wondered….."
"And so, on the day which marked the one-year anniversary of her meeting with her Page, Princess Orchid brought him before the Court and declared that he was now and forevermore her adopted brother, to be one of the Royal Family from that moment forward. He was no longer her Page, but would now become a Prince in his own right. And she turned to him and asked him to give her a name, for 'Page' would not do for a Prince."
"In astonishment he stared at her, opening his mouth to answer—and catastrophe happened. Into the Court burst a contingent of the Black Knights, swords upraised and terrible! The traitors in the Princess' country had told them how to find the secret passageways through the castle, and they had traveled thus unseen to the very heart of the Throneroom. Many of the lesser Guards fell, and the Princess cried out for Gensan and Hikosan to protect her advisors and ministers as she was taken away by her Page and the guard Yumisan to safety. Together the three fled towards the forest as fast as they could go, although the Princess would have stayed behind to help her people if she had been allowed."
"At last they stopped in their flight, deep within the shadows of the trees; the Page seemed to know which paths to take, and Princess Orchid and her guard followed him trustingly. "We must find help for our people and land," she cried out; "Else these Black Knights will enslave us all, leaving ruin behind them when they are finished.""
"Her Page nodded. "I know—and there may be help to be found here, in the Forest of Secrets. Once before I found a refuge here, and aid in a time of trouble; perhaps she who helped me will do so again." He smiled at the Princess. "Trust me, and believe.""
"For many hours they traveled, deeper and deeper into the wood, until they came to the entrance of a certain cave; by now it was darker than the darkest of shadows there below the endless trees, and the cave was noticeable only because a brilliant light shone from its opening, all red and golden. Warmth, too, emitted from the cleft in the rocks, and as the three drew nearer they saw that within the cave was a bird, burning; and the bird was a Phoenix, bound in chains."
"The Princess and her Guard approached with fear and trepidation, but the Page stepped up to the Phoenix without any signs of alarm. "Phoenix? Once before you helped me when I fled to you here, though I did not understand that I was being helped at the time. Now we are pursued by the same evil creatures that wounded me before; will you help us, and the land as well?""
"The Phoenix flickered, her fires swirling about her chains like grasping hands. She answered in the voice of a young girl: "Gladly will I help you, but my aid always comes with a price. When you came to me before, I saved your life at the cost of your identity and adulthood; you traded your years for youth and your name for that of No-one in order to be healed and to return to your Princess' side. *What* will you give me now, that I might aid you yet again?""
"The Princess stared at the boy, her Page who had served her so faithfully; and she wondered, as she had so many times before—and this time she asked what she had only asked but once. "Who are you?""
"He bowed his head, unanswering; but in his place the Phoenix spoke. "He cannot tell you, for I have locked his secrets within his tongue and they cannot come out. But *I* can speak, and I will. He is your Prince Ichi, who fought a year past with the Black Knights and was wounded near to death; fleeing within the forest he found me here and implored my help. But my aid, as I have said, comes with a price—and the price of his healing was that he must never speak of me or of what had passed, lest he die and be foresworn; did he not promise to return to you? He did, and has kept his promise.""
"The Page was silent, but when he looked up into Princess Orchid's face she saw Prince Ichi behind the sorrow in his eyes. And she wept, knowing that her Prince had been with her all along. "But what can be done now? Can you aid us again—destroy the Black Knights, help my people, or bring my Prince back to himself?""
"The Phoenix shook her head. "I can do none of those things—do you not see my chains? The Black Knights bound me here long ago, and only when I break my chains myself can I act on my own. Until then I can only aid those who come to me directly and then only one time each… and they, too, must pay a price. Tell me now, Princess Orchid: What price will *you* pay for the help you wish?""
"The Princess brushed the tears from her eyes and stood strong and determined before the Phoenix; "Whatever is needed, that I will pay." And beside her the boy who had been Prince Ichi covered his face with his hands in sorrow while the Guardsman Yumisan looked on….."
"Hours passed within the forest, moving from midnight to dawn. And as the sun rose….."
"….. as the sun rose, a strange thing happened to the Forest of Secrets, and this is what it was this--"
"Every tree, every pine and ash and maple there: each one was transformed into an armored warrior, tall and terrible and bearing the emblem of Princess Orchid upon their breasts. They thundered towards the castle, slaying every Black Knight that tried to face them down, destroying the evil that had so taken over the land as they moved forward in an unstoppable tide. Some of them paused to help the populace, putting out the fires that ravaged the land and bandaging the wounds of those who had fallen before the Black Knight's swords. Not a word was spoken by these warriors, but the anger in their eyes was a fearful thing indeed."
"At last the tide of warriors reached the castle, which had been taken entirely by the Black Knights; a fierce battle was fought between the tree-warriors and the evil invaders, and by sunset every Black Knight save for two lay dead at their hands. But when the sun began to set the warriors vanished, and the Forest of Secrets stood once again where it had been, as dark and silent as ever. But from its shadows three small figures emerged, traveling swiftly and silently towards the castle, accompanied by a fourth, taller form."
"The two remaining Black Knights took refuge in the Throne Room, holding off the guardsmen who had survived their attack with steel and sorcerous bolts of lightning; many more valiant subjects of Princess Orchid died against them, falling in battle. And as darkest night came down across the land, three small figures were seen entering the broken walls of the palace. One was a boy, well-known among the populace (who rejoiced to see their new Prince, he who had been called the Page); the other was a girl as young as he, brown of hair and with the most beautiful eyes anyone had ever seen. The third figure was another girl, golden-haired and calm of demeanor; the fourth figure, who walked behind them with wary eyes and a silent tongue was that of the Royal Guardsman, Yumisan."
"Together they entered the ruined courtyard, three children together and one adult, moving with great caution and determination among the broken walls. When at last they came to the Throne Room a great throng of the people had gathered behind them, and they began to call out to the Black Knights to come out and face them rather than hide like the cowards they were. After a little of this, the two Black Knights launched great and terrible blasts of fire from where they were bastioned, separating the four who stood foremost from the rest of the crowd and driving the others away; and the evil beings laughed to see that their opponents were nothing more than three small children and one weary Guard."
""Do not laugh," warned the boy, staring grimly at his enemies. "You live now only because I could not reach you before—because of you I have lost *everything* that I ever loved, my home, my family, my very self—" But in that moment the small brown-haired girl beside him took his hand, and he smiled for a moment; "Well," he said, "That's wrong; not *everything.*""
"He turned back to the Black Knights then and his face grew stern and most unchildlike once again. "And there is another reason why you still live: because the two here beside me have a greater claim upon your lives than I." He stepped aside then, giving place to the two young girls."
"The brown-haired girl spoke then, and her voice was strong and fierce. "For my people's sake I have given up my place among them—now I am no-one, as homeless and nameless as the Page was when he came among us. And as he has now become a Prince of this land, I gave up this price for *him* as well. Will you yield to us? I will only ask you once.""
"And through it all, Yumisan the Royal Guardsman stood silent and unspeaking, watching, her hand on her swordhilt."
"The evil Black Knights howled with laughter, cold and dark as thunder and winter rain. Whyever would they yield to children? "Where are the weapons you would threaten us with?" they asked mockingly. "What will you do if we refuse? To be sure, you've killed our armies, but your warriors are gone—you have nothing left to strike us down with!""
"At this, the last of the three children stepped forward, and her eyes were as cold as a frozen lake and as hot as the heart of the sun. Within her hand she held a feather, glowing brilliant red in the gloom of the ruined castle. "I am their weapon," she told them softly in her small girl's voice. "I am the sword at your throats, the noose around your necks, the spear at your hearts. I am the fire that burns back the darkness!" And suddenly there was no longer a girl-child there but a Phoenix, blazing with flames hotter than sunlight through a burning-glass."
"The Black Knights screamed in torment as her firey talons grasped them; the more they screamed and struggled, the more they were engulfed by flames, until at last the screaming stopped and they were no more."
"Then, with a terrible blast of light and fury, the Phoenix dwindled to become the small golden-haired girl; she slumped to the ground, exhausted with this last great magic of hers which had gained her revenge for countless years of slavery in the Black Knight's servitude. For it was as she had told the three within her cave: Long, long ago she had been taken prison by the evil ones, the daughter of a family of wise magicians and scientists. Bewitched into the shape of a Phoenix by the blood and lives of her slaughtered family, she had been bound within the Forest of Secrets as the hidden servant of the Black Knights, there to do their bidding at their bequests. For every wish of power that they tortured out of her they would threaten to kill an innocent, against which she could not fight; therefore she had remained bound in chains for uncounted centuries, a slave in the dark."
"But even the greatest pain ends. When the Princess Orchid had offered up her woman's body and princess' name in exchange for an army of secrets to help her people, the Phoenix-child at last found the courage to slip free of her chains; even the Phoenix had to pay the Phoenix' price, and she too gave up her form for that of innocence and helplessness, which proved not to be so helpless after all. The chains could no longer bind her—they were too large, and she was too small—and so she was free. With the last of her magic (bound in the single remaining Phoenix-feather) she had taken her revenge for every grief that she and so many others had suffered at the hands of the Black Knights."
"And through this all, Yumisan had watched and kept silent—for that silence was *her* price, the price which would purchase the end of the Black Knights and their evil influence. Even as the last of them burned into ashes, terrible screams rang out among the remaining populace—and traitors who had hidden themselves safely among the innocent, those who had sold the country's secret weaknesses and passages among the castle for gold—they each and every one of them turned into solid black pillars of stone."
"In the end, when all was quiet and still and the people who had been driven away came back at sunrise, they found the three children resting in a sound sleep, guarded by Yumisan. The Royal Guardsman informed them that their Princess had been sent away to a far distant land to be with her Prince Ichi, for he had great need of her there; and so she would remain, for her new young adopted brother (he who had been her Page) had won the right of rulership by his deeds… and her heart cried out for her Prince."
"This grieved them greatly, for they loved their Princess Orchid; but her word was law, and the new young Prince (though only a boy) had indeed been recognized as part of the ruling line before them all the day before—and if she gave up her crown to him, what were they to say about it?"
""But who is this?" they wondered, seeing the brown-haired young girl who had just awakened from where she lay curled at the new Prince's side. He turned to her, smiling sadly, and said "This is a maiden from my country far away who my father has sent to keep me company." And all there wondered at the strange happiness in his face."
""And this? Who is this?" they said, pointing to the golden-haired child who still slept. "She also came from my country, a cunning and well-taught artificer who will work well beside Agasan and Hikosan to guard our borders with her inventions and spells." At this the girl awoke, blinking at the rays of the rising sun; for the Phoenix had been bound too deeply inside the cave to see any light save for her own, and she had not viewed the sun for many, many years."
""Prince? How will you call yourself, by what name shall you reign over us? You never said," asked Agasan respectfully; as he was a wise man he had viewed the Page's likeness to Prince Ichi with a curious eye, but he had kept silent regarding his speculations. But now he waited for the new Prince's answer, as did all the rest of those watching.
"At that question he who had once been the Page smiled a little, considering; at last he turned to the brown-haired girl and shook his head. "I have been only a Page for so long; let another name me.""
"The girl though a while, then looked up with laughter in her eyes which many found strangely familiar. "As our Princess has gone to join her Prince Ichi, whose name means 'one', then I name you Prince Ni, whose name means 'two'." He blinked at her and looked doubtful (who had ever heard of a land ruled by someone named 'Ni'?), but accepted the name. In return she asked him for a name for herself, for she had chosen (she said) to leave her old name behind. What did he wish to call her?"
"The young Prince Ni thought to himself for a moment, then smiled down at his friend. "I think," he said softly, "that you must be named San, for as two follows one, three must certainly follow two."
"She laughed at him; "And I have followed *you*, have I not?""
"At this, the golden-haired girl frowned at the two beside her, crossing her arms severely. "I refuse to be called either 'Shi' or 'Yon'", she announced."
"The other two children laughed. "No, your name should be of your own choosing… but I admit that I cannot see you deciding upon any other name than Phoenix," said the young Prince, at which she conceded that he was right; after all, she had been a captive for so very many years that she had long since forgotten the name that had once been hers."
"And so the land returned to peace, ruled over by the hand of Prince Ni, whose unusual intelligence and good sense kept it safe throughout his lifetime and many generations to follow. When he came at last to adulthood, he married the beautiful Lady San (which surprised no-one at all), and—well advised by their Advisors and well guarded by their Guards—the royal couple lived long, fruitful lives, enriched by the joys of their children (whom they seemed to understand surprisingly well) and by the happiness of their people."
"And as for the Guardsman Yumisan? What she saw that night in the Forest of Secrets stayed locked forever in her heart of hearts; for that, indeed, is what a secret is—a treasure, bound in a box made all of silence. And when she saw her fellow subjects wondering about a decision that the Prince and Princess had made, or whether or not they were truly wise enough to rule, she would laugh and touch her finger to her lips, signifying silence; and then she would nod and say simply, "Trust them… and believe.""
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Rin-kun?..... um, R-Ran-neechan?" ventured Ayumi, eyes very wide.
They were outside on the tiny scrap of grass that was hid behind the Mouri's building; the branches of one of the somewhat bedraggled ash trees edging the so-called lawn arched overhead, and a single leaf drifted down slowly to land near the two girls where they sat cross-legged on the ground.
Rin sighed. "You can still call me Rin, you know…. I'm getting pretty used to it by now." She raised one hand to rub at her aching temples; telling the truth about herself and Conan in terms that an eight-year-old could handle had been—difficult.
*If I talk much more about this, I think I'm going to fall over. Can eight-year-olds have nervous breakdowns?*
It wasn't that Ayumi-chan was stupid—God, no; that was the problem, when you got right down to it. She was bright, too bright for comfort; there had been moments in the last few months when Rin had seen her watching them and thinking about….. Well; now they knew what she had been thinking about, didn't they?
Had they really been *that* clumsy?
Somehow she didn't think so….. Part of the problem, really, was that Ayumi-chan had learned to see things a little differently; children could be perceptive enough, but for a year now she (and the others, of course) had been under the tutelage of someone with very exceptional insight and detective abilities—and that sort of thing tended to rub off. In fact, Shinichi had been actively teaching the kids how to *see*….. and now, in an ironic sort of way, those lessons were paying off.
"R-Rin-kun?" the small voice ventured again, making her look up. "Rin? A-are you mad at me for finding out?" Ayumi's eyes were huge; she fidgeted a little, huddled there on the grass with her hands in her lap.
*Ohhhh….. so that's the problem.* "No—no, Ayumi-chan. No, listen to me now, okay?—" Rin reached out and caught her friend by the shoulder as the child tried to draw in on herself a little. "No, I'm not mad at all… surprised, yes, but not mad."
She gave the other girl a small shake. "You're really smart, you know," she said, allowing a little playfulness and approval to slip into her voice; "Nobody else figured it out—well, almost nobody; there's Heiji-kun… you saw him at the park. But he's the only one so far—Conan had to tell me, even. Every time I thought he was really Shinichi he managed to change my mind one way or the other. So you did pretty good, didn't you, Ayumi-chan?" Rin smiled into her young friend's face, who wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and returned a somewhat watery grin.
The child drew her knees up, clasping them with her arms and resting her chin on her hands. "You… still call him Conan-kun? Even though you know he's really—"
Rin nodded firmly. "But he's Conan-kun now, Ayumi. No matter who he was before, that's who he is now—just like I'm now Himitsu Rin. And even though you know the truth now… you're going to have to think of us as Rin and Conan, not—not Ran and Shinichi."
She sighed a little, a distant look in her eyes as she reached for the maple leaf that had fallen moments before. Twirling it in her fingers she traced the edge gently; Fall was well underway—the leaves were turning; things changed all the time, everywhere—when you got so caught up noticing the changes in yourself, sometimes your forgot that. "What we were… well, that doesn't matter that much anymore; who we are now is what's important. Everybody grows and changes, Ayumi-chan—I guess we just did it a little more than most people." Rin chuckled softly to herself.
*Who knows? Maybe we needed this second childhood—or maybe the world needed us to have it. Shinichi, anyway—how many of these Conan-cases could he have solved if he hadn't been kid-sized? How many of them would he have missed?* She glanced at the little girl sitting a few feet away; the child's face was still a little troubled, and no wonder—a lot had happened to Ayumi in the last hour or so. *Poor kid; from what she said, she's been worrying about this at least a little for months now, even if it really only came to a head over the past week or so. I wonder who this 'friend' of hers is that gave her such good advice?..... and…. How did he…..*
*-----AAAACK-----*
Her own eyes grew huge suddenly and her breath choked in her throat as she realized: Ayumi's friend *KNEW* about them.
*Oh no….. Shinichi's going to have fits. I think I'll have a few as well, just to keep him company.*
"Rin-kun? What's wrong?" She must have made some sort of sound at the moment of realization; it took her a moment or two before she could make her frozen vocal chords work again. *Too many shocks in one day,* Rin thought hazily, rubbing at her temples again; she needed a child-sized dose of aspirin and a nap. *Much more of this and my head's going to explode. How on earth did Shinichi STAND worrying like this about my finding out for a whole year??*
Ayumi's concerned face peered at hers; a child-small hand was placed on her forehead. "Are you getting sick? You're awfully pale….. Do, ummmm, grownup kids get sick like regular kids do?"
The former teenager shook her head a little, hard. "N-no….. no, I'm alright. Errrrr… Ayumi-chan….. that friend of yours, the one who suggested you talk to us….. Who is he?" *Please, please, please be somebody trustworthy, please, please, PLEASE be somebody trustworthy-----*
The child's worried countenance cleared. "Oh, that's H—" and she stopped mid-word, an arrested look on her face. "Ummmmm… IsortofpromisedhimIwouldn'ttell."
*AAAAAARGH!! Don't panic—if you panic, SHE'LL panic… little kids can smell fear, I swear.* "Ayumi-chan….. I really, REALLY need to know," she said, trying to keep her voice calm. "He knows about us—and from what you said, it sounds as if he knew about us even *before* you said anything. We need to talk to him. If he tells the wrong person….. Ayumi? Remember what I said about—about the, umm, bad guys?"
The child scowled at her a little, tightening her clasp again on her knees. "You don't need to act like I'm a baby, you know—you mean the ones who turned Shinichi into… Conan-kun. You said they were sort of like—like gangsters in those American movies, or maybe yakuza in scary cop-shows on TV, right? And they have mad scientists, like on the late movies too….. You said they wear black clothes most of the time, and they hurt people they don't like—they shoot people and poison people and blow up buildings and set them on fire and—" Ayumi ticked off the salient points of their earlier conversation on her fingers, far calmer regarding the whole matter than the former adult who sat staring at her, mouth open.
"Rin-kun? Will they come after me because I know? I mean, if they find out I know? And if they find out I know, will they come after Mitsuhiko-kun and Genta-kun and—oh! And Haibara-san too, because you said that she's the one who made the-- the medicine, right? And if they find out I know, will they—"
"Ayumi-chan—"
"—will they chase us and will we have to hide and—"
"Ayumi-chan! No, no, no, calm down now—" (although really it seemed that Ran was the one getting upset here…..) "Ayumi, this isn't a TV show—if they find out, they will do all those terrible things. But… if you're very, very careful and you don't tell anybody, they won't find out, will they?"
This was the crux of the whole matter; Rin felt her palms sweating. *Shinichi, I wish you were down here and not up there with the boys--* "Ayumi-chan? CAN you keep this a secret? Not just for now, or even for a year—forever and ever? Our lives depend on it, and—and now, so does yours. Can you??"
*You trusted me for the truth, Ayumi-chan….. can we trust you to keep our secret? You're only eight years old….. no eight-year-old should have to keep silent about something like this, but it's way too late for recriminations. Can you keep our secret, Ayumi?*
The little girl was silent, sitting still in the grass. Her small face was solemn and a little troubled as the gravity of Rin's words sank in. In that moment, staring at her from so close by, the young woman inside Himitsu Rin's diminutive form saw something she had not expected and could only barely recognize: the woman that her young friend would one day become, not yet there, not yet real….. but a possibility, a probability. And when the child raised her eyes to those of her friend's, the voice she used as she slowly answered seemed older than her years.
"I… can keep it. I can—mostly because you and Conan need me to." She took a deep breath then, letting it out in a sigh. "I… don't really understand everything you told me, but I don't want anybody to get hurt—so that's what I'll think about when I want to talk about it, okay? Not letting anybody know—that's what'll keep people from getting hurt, right, Ran-neechan? Rin-kun?"
And Rin believed her. What's more… so did Ran, for reasons that she couldn't really put into words. "That's… that's right, Ayumi-kun. Thank you…" and as she suddenly found herself being hugged, she also found herself (somewhat to her surprise) leaking tears.
*Sometimes I guess you just have to go with faith.* She hugged her friend back, hard.
*…..and now….. if I can get her to tell me about her friend and how in the world he knows about us…..*
Behind them both, from a window one story up the face of a young, bespectacled boy drew back from where he had been listening; as he pulled the curtains gently closed behind him, he breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief. *Alright, Ayumi-kun; alright. You've trusted us… now we'll just have to trust you.*
************************************************************************************
To Be Continued………
YSABET'S NOTES: Heh heh; bet you thought I was going to derail her suspicions, hmmmm? Nope. I've always liked Ayumi—she's a bright if somewhat bratty kid, and I rather think she hero-worshiped Ran a good bit. Sato too, for that matter… Please pardon the Major WAFF in this one, it just seemed necessary. And do you know, I've learned something interesting: Writing fairytales is *hard* work! I hope this one worked out—let me know, okay? Drama, drama, drama… you have to ooze drama all over the place! Now, as for next chapter… (Evil Grin)… Lots and LOTS of Kaito Kid next time; poor 'Yumi-chan's going to end up between a rock and a hard place. Also, birthday parties, magic tricks (I'm actually having to *learn* how to do some of them for this story—DC fics make me do the strangest research! Good thing I can already juggle somewhat, even if badly), and maybe a peacock or two. Please review—I'm not at all sure if this fic has plumbed the depths of Waffiness-depravity or if I'm still floating on top or not; is it too sappy? Oh, and mucho thankees to Hauntress, Icka, Tina, Becky, Magik, Loqui and Morgan for being beta-readers for this!! ESPECIALLY the fairytale part!