Kaito sat down, watching Hakuba carefully from his position on the settee. "So… What now, Hakuba?"

Hakuba opened his mouth, then closed it. "I guess… That we should start searching?"

Kaito did a slow clap, "No shit- I mean wow Sherlock. Great job."

Mildly affronted, the detective stood up and made his way over to the bookshelves, running his finger along spines of books. Kaito watched him curiously for a moment.

"Uh… Shouldn't we use the internet?"

"Yes, that might speed things up a little…" Hakuba hid the dusting on his cheeks, and moved over to the computer. "T-i-e-r-s-c-h-a-t-z, right?"

Kaito nodded slowly. "Yes."

Hakuba pulled a quick google search up, and scanned the kanji for results other than 'Kid steals another gem!'. Needless to say, it took longer than expected. After sifting through several "helpful" articles even Kaito seemed to become rather impatient.

"There!"

Kaito put his paw on the screen next to the article he'd spotted and Hakuba swatted him away. "You'll scratch the screen, Kuroba!" He ignored the annoyed look directed his way and clicked on the promising link.

Hakuba scanned the article ignoring all the rambling, poorly edited words of praise to Kid in favour of looking for it's next location as teased in the title.

Osaka, huh?

He leaned back in his chair, and met Kuroba's eyes. "Look's like we'll be heading to Osaka, then."

A brief expression of consternation flashed across the Kitsune's face, but was gone just as fast as it appeared. "Alright."

It was guarded, and Hakuba felt a twinge of guilt. "I guess, I'd better order us some Shinkansen tickets, then?"

Kaito's eyes narrowed. "I'll order my own, thanks."

Hakuba pulled himself out of his chair, and walked a short distance away. "Go ahead."

His classmate hopped up onto the chair, and pressed the keys slowly, checking he was actually hitting the keys correctly every so often by looking up. Hakuba felt something rise in his chest that he couldn't really identify, and knew he wanted to help Kuroba out of this situation as soon as possible. Seeing him like this… it was only pitiful.

"Oi, Brit?"

Hakuba shook himself out of his thoughts, and was cut off from any reply by Kuroba "You sure you'll be okay riding the Shinkansen? You've been spacing out a lot and I'll need-"

Kaito cut himself off with a frown. "Well, that doesn't matter."

Hakuba raised an eyebrow. "I'll be fine. I'm like this normally. More importantly- we'll need to…"

Kaito was looking away, and he could tell by the swishing flames behind him he was very uncomfortable.

"Ah, we'll need to find a way to maintain an illusion for you. How'd you feel about a hoshi no tama- star ball?"

Kaito looked up. "Those exist?"

"You're a magical fox with a tail made of fire, and you're surprised by that?"

"Point. But how would it work?"

"It takes small portions of your soul as you use it, and magnifies illusory abilities by a large amount."

Judging by Kuroba's expression, that did not win him any points. "It… Takes your soul?" Yes, there was definitely a string of horror lacing his voice.

"I mean- it sort of absorbs it a little. Most Kitsune are fine with it and use it to hide occasionally- and it returns it after a while if it's not used anyway."

Kuroba raised one eyebrow. "How safe."

Hakuba decided not to dignify that with a response.

Hopping off the chair, Kuroba walked along the bookshelves edge eyeing the books titles. Hakuba sighed, since he was in the wizard and familiar section it'd be a miracle if he found anything like what he suspected he was hunting for. A moment later, he returned with a thick leather bound journal.

"Here. Page 72."

Kaito frowned, and opened it to the indicated page. He squinted a moment. "Dear lord- the handwriting is atrocious here."

"Just read it…" Hakuba grumbled. He'd suffered enough with the book himself but it did have good knowledge. Still, why typewriters were still considered modern to the magicks was something he'd never know.


"You know, you don't have to be silent the entire ride, Kuroba."

His companion shifted to level a glare at him. "Well, not everyone hates the silence."

Hakuba winced. "Being a magician doesn't lend itself to long silences, I'd have thought."

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Surprisingly enough, I'm comfortable with sitting in silence rather than talking to someone who'd love to figure out my secrets one by one."

The blonde recoiled slightly. "You don't have to be so tight about it, you know. Travelling can be a lot of fun with someone to talk to."

"Fun." A deadpan stare was the response.

"Well, yeah. I've met a lot of strange people while travelling. I remember my first time flying, there was a magician on board…"

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Hakuba looked up to the ceiling, and smiled. "It was when I was seven. My mother and I had a huge fight after I became a Guardian, and so she decided to fly me over to my father. I wonder if it was to see if distance made it go away, or just to get some distance between me and her."

Kaito tilted his head. "Why weren't your parents together?"

"Well, my mother was a very independent woman, and prefered the company of computers to people, my father had to stay in Tokyo for his job as a superintendent, and she.. She just couldn't stand the life of a housewife so she took me and went back to England, where I grew up until that moment, and then that happened and she popped me on an aeroplane to fly…"

Here, his expression became tense, but in the way of concern rather than fear."I was really afraid of flying because I'd seen a film where the pilots were poisoned, the night before."

"Thankfully I had a seat near the back of the plane far from the pilots. However in a rush of bad luck we ran into some nasty turbulence about an hour away from our destination. An announcement was made that the plane was experiencing some minor issues and we would have to make an emergency detour for maintenance."

Kuroba's eyes seemed to flash a bit of curiosity here though his expression remained neutral. "Sounds like an interesting trip, but what does this have to do with the magician?"

Hakuba sighed. "I was getting to that. Not long after I started to have a panic attack. Given the circumstances I suppose it was only natural…" he watched Kurobas expression briefly flash something a bit more sympathetic, but it quickly passed.

Hakuba continued. "Apparently the man in front of me caught wind of my distress, and before I knew it my favorite stuffed animal appeared before my eyes. I had no idea how it got there, it was stuffed away deep in my carry on…" Kuroba's expression changed to something mildly interested. Hakuba's cheeks colored a bit in embarrassment at sharing such a personal memory. Still it seemed to be doing the trick at peaking Kurobas interest.

"Soon I sensed more than heard a presence sitting next to me. I looked up and saw a man staring back at me, a gentle smile on his face. He did all these silly card tricks, and juggled, and showed me how to roll a coin over my knuckles. I didn't keep up with it for long after, but I've never felt so at ease in all my life."

Kuroba had straightened up now, and was giving him his full attention. "Do you remember what he looked like?"

Hakuba frowned. "Well… He had a small mustache I think, and a really odd smile, like he always knew something you didn't."

Kuroba was hiding a smile now, and Hakuba was curious. "What's the smile for, Mr. Silent?"

"Nothing, just glad you can believe in magic after all your criticisms of Kid's heists."


A.N

Yes, children can fly alone apparently, on some airlines. Sorta. Look it up, and then realise that Creative License is a thing. :P

Many thanks to my great beta LadyShadow26 and also to everyone who reviewed, favourited or followed. I'm on a roll with this now that the set ups done.

Was this sort of filler? Sort of. But neccesary. And sweet.

This is Core, signing out for now.