Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

The Dragon's Curse

Chapter 6 - Tremor

It started in the bakery. They had just brought out a tray of freshly baked chocolate chip and banana bread. It smelled divine, and Kaito had already been making his way across the bakery to get a slice when the boy right in front of him placed the last four loaves onto his tray and walked off.

Such greed.

"Hey," Kaito called after him. "Can I have one of those?"

"First come, first serve, Loser," the stranger sneered, looking far too pleased with himself.

Insolent brat.

Kaito dyed the boy's hair pink and turned away, leaving the stranger to wonder why everyone around him was laughing and pointing at his hair. Kaito snickered too, but, on the inside, he scowled.

Dying the guy's hair wasn't what he'd wanted to do. For a fleeting moment, what he'd wanted to do was to teach that greedy little twit some manners.

It was unsettling.

Sure, the guy had been a jerk, but he was just some idiot with an inflated opinion of himself. And the guy's transgression was really just an annoying inconvenience. So why had Kaito felt so angry?

"Kaito?"

He looked up to find Aoko standing in front of him, her face pinched with worry.

"Why are you just standing there?" she asked. "Did you not see anything you liked?"

"Not yet. Why don't you go look for a table first? I'll join you in a minute."

Aoko hesitated then nodded. "All right. Don't take too long."

"I would've thought you'd rather I take a good long while. You know, seeing as it'll give you more time alone with your little blond hanger on."

Aoko blushed then glared. "Honestly, I don't know why I ever waste time worrying about you. Just go pick your food." That said, she stalked past him, muttering under her breath about stupid magicians who never grew up.

Kaito picked a few pastries on autopilot as he mulled over what Aoko had said. She was worried about him. That meant she too had begun to notice that something was wrong. Then again, he shouldn't be surprised. Whatever had happened at the park that other day had clearly shaken her. But she was doing her best not to show while she tried to figure out how to help.

She really was a good friend.

He supposed he could lay off the teasing for one day.

Paying for his purchases, he turned and scanned the bakery. Master thief that he was, he found what he was looking for instantly. It took him only a matter of moments to maneuver through the crowds and plop down in one of the empty seats at Aoko's table. Both the girl and Hakuba looked up from where they had been bent over some papers together, their heads so close they were almost touching.

"Whispering sweet nothings in the middle of a crowded public place?" he quipped, unable to resist.

Both Hakuba and Aoko jerked back in their seats, blushing.

"That's not it at all, Bakaito!" Aoko shouted, face flaming. "We're looking at Keiko-chan's newest designs! Remember, we promised we'd help her and the rest of the fashion club plan their newcomers' debut show! We have to know what they're going to be showing if we want to do it right, especially since we're in charge of making promotional materials."

"Okay, okay, jeez." He flapped a placating hand at her. "Carry on."

The girl shoved a different stack of papers at him. "Here's the information on the venue they'll be using. You're in charge of setting up the stage and arranging the lighting."

"Sure. Piece of cake."

"They want to really amaze people."

He grinned. "Excellent."

"But don't over do it," Hakuba warned. "You don't want to take attention away from the actual stars of the show."

Kaito snorted. "Who do you think you're talking to? I'm not some amateur. Why isn't anyone from the fashion club at this little meeting anyway? It's their show. They should be helping."

"They're out trying to recruit models today," Aoko replied. "And apparently they've set up auditions for any student bands who might want to provide mood music for the show. It's pretty hectic all round."

An hour of working later, Kaito got up to get himself a soda. The moment he was out of earshot, Aoko turned to Hakuba with questioning eyes.

"He seems normal to me," the blond said, frowning slightly. "Was there something in particular you were worried about?"

"I…can't really explain it," the brunette admitted, looking down. "I mean, he does seem normal now, but lately… There are just some times when he gets this weird look in his eyes. And he's been zoning out a lot too."

"Like earlier at the bread shelves."

"Yeah. And did you see his expression?"

"Well, no, I could only see his back."

"He looked…angry. It was kind of scary," she added in a small voice. "I've never seen him like that before."

A warm handed lay itself over hers where it rested on the table. She looked up to meet the blond detective's reassuring gaze.

"I will look into it, I promise. But remember, Kuroba is human too, whatever he'd like the rest of us to believe. And everyone gets angry sometimes."

"I know. But it just didn't look normal."

Hakuba wasn't sure what to say to that since he hadn't actually seen what Aoko had. Fortunately, Kaito chose that moment to return, so they couldn't continue the discussion. But he made a mental note to investigate the issue. He hated seeing Aoko so worried (especially when it was because of that idiotic thief who had lied—was still lying—to her. Taking advantage of her trust in him. Seriously, had he no shame?).

-0-

Humming to herself, Ran made her way through the university bookstore. She had come in search of a study guide for one of her classes, but she wasn't sure where the study guides were in the bookstore yet and the person at the desk had been busy helping other students. So she had decided to just wander around and familiarize herself with the layout for future reference.

Rounding a corner, she spotted a familiar cowlick and smiled. She was about to call out as she approached, but her gaze landed on the book in Shinichi's hands, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"A cookbook for fancy confectionaries?" she blurted out, surprised. Shinichi with a book was commonplace. Shinichi with a cookbook wasn't that strange either. He'd had to learn when his parents left him to fend for himself, and he could cook just fine when he bothered to. But Shinichi with a book about fancy cakes and other desserts? Shinichi had never been a sweets fan, and he already knew how to bake lemon pies, the only sweet he actively yearned for. She couldn't imagine him wanting to put in the time and effort it would take to make extra fancy cakes.

Shinichi jerked around at the sound of his name and instantly blushed pink. That made Ran's eyebrows rise even higher. Sure, it was unexpected, but what was there to be embarrassed about in wanting to learn new cake recipes?

"Ran!" Shinichi reflexively hid the cookbook behind his back, realized the futility, and brought it back out again with a sheepish smile. "How are you?"

"I'm good," she replied. "I was looking for the study guides."

"Oh, they just moved that section. Here, I'll show you where it is."

"Thanks." Ran laughed a little. Trust Shinichi to know where every section was even after the bookstore rearranged things. She fell into step beside him, noting that he had tucked the cookbook under his arm. "So what's with the cookbook?"

"I'm just thinking about learning a few more cake recipes," he said vaguely.

Ran rolled her eyes. "Obviously. But why? You can't expect me to believe you've suddenly developed a sweet tooth."

"Well, no," he admitted. "But a lot of people like sweets."

"Did you have someone particular in mind?"

Shinichi's blush returned. "It's not—I mean, there's just a friend who's been a bit down lately. I was hoping to cheer him up"

Ran blinked then smiled. "That's sweet. I'm glad to hear you're making new friends. Is he a classmate?"

"Someone I met at a case."

Ah. Well, considering the kinds of cases Shinichi usually helped out at, it was no wonder he'd meet lots of upset people.

"Good luck with that," she murmured sympathetically. "Let me know if there's anything I can do."

Shinichi gave her a funny look but nodded. "Here's the study guides."

It only took Ran a few minutes to locate the guide she wanted. Then she and Shinichi checked out and were heading out (Ran to go study and Shinichi to get ingredients from the grocery store) when a young woman in a rather frilly dress suddenly latched onto the karate champion's arm.

"Oh, oh, you!" she squealed in a way that made both Ran and Shinichi jump. "You have to model for us!"

"Wha—what?" Ran stammered.

"I'm with the fashion club. We're having a show. Won't you please model for us?"

"Uh, I'm not su—"

"Please?! I'm begging you! We're like almost completely out of time, and you'd be absolutely perfect! Please?"

Sweat tricked down the back of Ran's neck. "Um, I…guess it wouldn't hurt…"

"Oh thank you!"

And that was how Mouri Ran became one of the models for the fashion club's show. Which, quite naturally, meant Shinichi was forced to attend as well, courtesy of one Suzuki Sonoko.

"What if she's so pretty that she attracts some creep's attention?" she'd argued.

Shinichi might have pointed out that Ran didn't win those championships on some fluke, and she was probably a hell of a lot better at fighting than he was, but he'd long ago learned not to waste his energy trying to argue with Sonoko.

-0-

"Ah! Someone call an ambulance!"

Shinichi almost groaned out loud. Instead, he pushed his way into the greenroom where a crowd was gathering around a young woman collapsed on the floor. He was pleasantly surprised to see that she was still breathing, but her breaths were shallow and labored, so it was too early to rejoice.

"It's gotta be that Sleeping Sickness they've been talking about!" one of the onlookers exclaimed.

"No. It's a severe allergic reaction," Shinichi said, raising his voice to make sure everyone could hear. They didn't need more rumors floating around that would only inspire panic. The girl's face was swelling, and, judging from the sound of her breathing and her breathing was becoming more strained. That ambulance had better come quickly.

Fortunately, the ambulance arrived just in time. The girl's life was not in danger, and she would be back on her feet soon. However, with the good news came some bad news. The allergy had not been a random outbreak or mistake. It had been intentionally triggered.

Someone had applied very thin layers of peanut butter to the bread of the girl's sandwich, disguising the presence of the peanut butter with strong tasting cheeses, pickles, and salami. Because of this discovery, twenty minutes after the show had been scheduled to begin, one of the club members was escorted out of the theater in cuffs, crying about how he hadn't wanted to kill his ex girlfriend. He'd just wanted to give her a scare as payback for dumping him. Or so he kept going on and on about to anyone who would listen.

"The show is ruined!" Keiko wailed, clutching at her pigtails. "When they talk about us in the news tomorrow, it's going to be about how we poison our own members! It's a disaster!"

"Calm down," Aoko told her, trying to inject as much assurance into her voice as she could. "We can still do the show. And if it's good enough, people won't remember the, uh, unfortunate dispute between Miss Rin and Takeru."

"But she was one of our models! And so was he! That inconsiderate jerk! Just because he couldn't take being dumped, he had to go and ruin such an important event for everyone!"

"Well, we have a lot of people here. We can find new models," Aoko hastened to add. "But we'll have to hurry or the audience might leave."

That turned out to be exactly the right thing to say. Keiko was instantly up and running with all cylinders firing at maximum power. "Let's go! Grab anyone who might fit!"

-0-

Situated in the booth at the back of the theater where he could control the lighting, Kaito's jaw almost dropped when the next spotlight he brought on revealed Kudo Shinichi with kitty cat ears. Sure, he'd known that the last few entrants in the show were for the cute and funny outfits, but no one had told him that his Shin-chan would be modeling a cat suit! There was fur and satin and silver highlights—and a tail. Kaito wasn't sure if he should laugh or just stare.

Outside, he could hear some of the audience members murmuring amongst themselves.

"Isn't that Kudo Shinichi?" one boy was asking, stunned.

"You mean that famous detective?" the girl sitting with him asked. "It can't be… There's no way someone like that would wear, well, something like that in public."

"Well, maybe he's secretly into cosplay," her friend countered.

"I don't know. He looks kind of embarrassed. See? He's blushing," the girl argued. Then she giggled. "It's cute."

Kaito had to agree, though he had mixed feelings about the current situation. His eyes followed Shinichi's every move as the detective hurried up and down the catwalk, clearly eager to get the whole ordeal over with as quickly as possible. That adorable blush was growing darker with every second. Yet despite Shinichi's obvious discomfort, he still managed to move with all the poise and grace of a well-coordinated athlete. The magician couldn't tear his gaze away. Suddenly, the booth felt too small and the air a little too warm.

He was half relieved and half disappointed when Shinichi finally disappeared off the stage.

Then Hakuba was pushed out onto the stage in a caveman costume, and Kaito fell out of his chair laughing.

-To Be Continued-