-Love of Four-
Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.
Warning: KaiShin relationship.
A/N: In this chapter, I present to you an overly adorable Conan, a rather wishy-washy and quite unconfident Shinichi, and a rather maternal figure of Shiina.
10: Doubt
Shinichi was holding back the nervousness as he strode into the kitchen. Shiina was careful to have kept herself hidden behind the counter.
"Is he still here?" She asked from her seated position. She was nursing a cup of tea between her hands with a rather bored expression.
"Yea." Walking around the kitchen island, he reached up for plates and cups. Shiina stood up to help gather the fork and another pot from the cupboard.
They worked in silence, fetching the tea and plating up the tarts. Shinichi set up four plates, pushing one over to Shiina, before putting the box with the remaining two tarts in the fridge.
"You're shaking." Shiina took hold of his wrist. The tremble was just enough to be noticeable but not enough to dislodge the tart from the plate he was holding. "What's the matter?"
"He's here, that's why." Shinichi slowly moved the plate onto the serving tray before holding his hand before his chest like it was fragile.
"Isn't it time you actually said something to him then?" Shiina was quick to pull Shinichi into a hug, carefully patting his hair as a mother would to a child in the hopes of soothing aches and worries. "He deserves to know what is happening."
"But what if...what if…" Shinichi's stuttering was indicative of his fear towards Kaito's rejection. "If he found out, if he had a choice. Would he still…"
"Shinichi, we, that is Conan and I, have no outward feelings towards Kuroba-kun. To us, he is family, just as you are dear to us. Neither of us will take him away from you."
"I know that." Fear turned to frustration. "That's why I still think I shouldn't be the one to deserve him. Both you and Conan have a history with him. Me? I'm just...just...me. He's shown himself, his real self, to you and his other self to Conan. But I'm just...there...as though a spectator."
"Kuroba-kun loves you." Shiina had to stress, poking Shinichi in the chest to make it a point. "He confessed to you, he took you out on dates, he cares for you. Not Conan, and certainly not me." She wondered why it was that Shinichi was so blinded to the magician's affection.
"He took you out on a date as well." The soft muttering returned with the lowered confidence. "The pair of you went out together."
"He thought I was you." Shiina had to resist smacking her original self in the head. "Shinichi, why couldn't you get it through that thick head of your's that Kuroba-kun feels strongly for you because of who you truly are and not what you look like." She sighed, taking the plate from the counter before resuming her previous sitting position behind the counter.
"Shiina…"
"Go," she waved him off, "you two are long overdue for a talk anyways. You might want to send Conan out to play or something so that the pair of you can have some alone time. Better yet, go lock yourselves in a cupboard or something. I remember us reading an article saying enclosed space can help unresolved tensions." The connotation was not lost on Shinichi, who immediately went into a bright shade of red.
Picking up the tray, he realized his previous nervousness was gone and in its place was the strange embarrassment. He hoped that by the time he returned, the blush would have subsided.
The scene he returned to was a strange one. Kaito was covered in silly strings and Conan was dancing around the library with a wide grin on his face.
"I'm afraid to ask." Shinichi settled the tray on a confetti littered tabletop. "I hope you'll be cleaning up." He directed a stern gaze towards Conan.
"He was the one that started it." Conan pointed at Kaito. "He pulled the smoke and silly string out of nowhere with the intention of distracting me so he could re-colour me. I only retaliated as you would Shinichi-niichan." Conan latched onto Shinichi's legs. "It's nothing he doesn't deserve."
Raising an eyebrow, he looked at Kaito who was in the middle of sticking out a tongue like a child. Shinichi could not help but let out a small giggle. He quickly covered his mouth to smother out the sound but it was noticed by the magician.
"Oh? Laughing at my plight now are you?" Kaito stalked over with a clear intention of pranking. Shinichi took a small step back, hoping for a bit of distance but it was quickly closed with several steps. It did not help that Conan had remained attached to his legs and hindered his movement. "Say Conan-kun, should we punish your Shinichi-niichan for being mean to your Kaito-niichan?"
Wide eyes glance between the two and Shinichi only hoped that Conan had some amount of compassion to spare him of Kaito's pranks. Unfortunately, the twinkle in his eyes says otherwise.
"Hm...Shinichi-niichan was being mean to Kaito-niichan but it was only because Shinichi-niichan was only trying to protect me from Kaito-niichan. But being mean is something bad and could not go unpunished so...only if Kaito-niichan is punished as well." Shinichi looked questioningly at Conan's logic. He wondered whether it was an act of childishness or if it were truly his character.
'Since when have I even considered Conan as a person?' He asked himself with a shake of his head, ignoring the negotiation happening between Conan and Kaito. Looking at how they interact, it really does seem the pair were close brothers. 'Of course he is a person, Conan was once me. It's not a facade or a persona now that Conan has become real.' Even though they were real, both Shiina and Conan had voiced their opinion of wanting to right things as it stands. They were not beings that should exist and yet, they have yet to find anything to help them return to where they should belong. Shinichi had tried to look into the issue but between schoolwork and crime scenes, he did not have much time.
"Ok," Kaito declared after several moments of heated debate, "we have come to the consensus that the punishment should be spending a day together, alone, just the pair of us. And that I couldn't do any magic or tricks on the day and you can't solve mysteries."
It strangely sounded like Kaito was asking him on a date, one should hopefully involve no crime by the wording of things.
"So how's tomorrow for you?" Without input from Shinichi, Kaito quickly decided on the time he would come pick Shinichi up. Before Shinichi comes back to his senses, Kaito was already declaring he has much to prepare and would be leaving. Shinichi followed Kaito towards the door, waving idiotically as the magician passed the threshold. With the closing of the door, Shinichi looked down at Conan.
"What just happened?" His mind could not process anything for the moment.
"Well," Shiina appeared from the kitchen with a plate in hand as she leisurely took a small chunk of the tart into her mouth, "it sounds to me that Kuroba-kun wanted to spend time with you. Like a date I'd presume."
"Yes, I gathered that much but...how did it come to this?"
"Really Shinichi-niichan, you should pay more attention to your surroundings if you want to be a good detective." The chiding tone of Conan's voice contrasted with the playful face. He skipped (skipped!) back towards the library, with Shiina's off tune humming in the background as she too headed in the same direction, and Shinichi was left to stand by his lonesome.
-TBC-