Chapter Nine
Magical Revelations
To anyone paying the slightest bit of attention, Kuroba's recovery was unusually rapid. In only two weeks, he was able to use his shoulder to near full capacity, and a week after that it was if he had never been shot. The only sign of the incident after that was a tendency to protect his abdomen, as if it still pained him slightly, but that faded rapidly.
Hakuba was particularly suspicious of the magician. The only other person in the world known to recover from bullet wounds so quickly, and actually quicker, was the infamous Kid. The thief was known to heal from such injuries at incredible speed, a bullet in the thigh healed in only a week for instance.
More suspicious was Kuroba's peculiar behavior regarding his interactions with his so called cousin, Kudou Shinichi. He had caught the pair of them talking once, about ghosts of all things. They weren't debating their existence, but whether or not Kudou had tracked down the spirit of victim from a fifteen year old cold case yet.
Hakuba knew that Kudou did not believe in the supernatural, but he seemed to be buying into Kuroba's new fascination with the arcane, the two of them trading research notes whenever they believed no one was watching. More so, he caught sight of both of them carrying similar, old style leather bound tomes, talking or writing in a strange language that sounded and looked oddly like J.R.R. Tolkin's elvish, but somewhat more tonal and had a distinctly Japanese twist and a more complicated script. Any of his attempts to get a sample of this writing to study was foiled either by Kuroba or pure chance. Kudou appeared to write his case notes in this language, and Kuroba often doodled these symbols in the margins of his notebooks, but for some reason none of these samples ever came within his reach.
He had tried consulting Aoko-kun on the matter, but she had no knowledge of what exactly was in those black leather books, only that Kaito's had a pretty white dragon on the front and Shinichi's a white owl, both with ornate locks. And as for the language, her only comment was that Kaito seemed to like singing in it, soft lyrical songs just above a whisper.
Frustrated, he asked if she could acquire a sample of this written language for him, and was infinitely grateful when she agreed. She wasn't going to pry in to her boyfriend's private business, but if she came across anything she would make a photocopy of it.
Two days later she approached him with a photocopy as promised, giggling. When Hakuba asked, she said that Kaito had just left it in her textbook, as if the magician knew what the detective was after and felt a bit of pity to his frustration.
Well, while he was happy to have the writing, any of his efforts to decode it ended in even more frustration. The language visually resembled Tolkin's elvish, but the character structure was more complex and fiddly and there was next to no discernible spacing between words. The linguistics department of his grandfather's labs were almost to the point of tears trying to work on this impossible puzzle, the code simply did not translate to any known language.
And Kuroba simply kept on smiling in that infuriatingly charming way of his, his little white cat on his shoulder and pulling magic tricks out of nowhere as usual.
That cat was also a puzzle. Shiro-chan, as Aoko-kun called it, was abnormally intelligent. Kuroba could ask it a direct question or send it to fetch a named item and the animal would respond accurately. The cat seemed to smuggle itself to school in it's master's pockets or schoolbag, appear once the bell had rung, and remain with Kuroba all day either on the magician's shoulders or on his lap. It also avoided anyone outside of Kuroba and Aoko-kun like the plague, always escaping the touch of an unwanted person by disappearing in to Kuroba's jacket or Aoko-kun's arms. It seemed to hate Koizumi-san in particular, actually hissing or biting at the redhead on occasion.
So many puzzles surrounded Kuroba, so many more than before when he merely assumed the teen was Kaitou Kid. Incredible healing, talk of seances, ancient books, secret codes, and abnormally intelligent animals.
Hakuba had had enough. He was going to get answers, no matter what he had to do to get them.
-xXx
Fully healed, Kaito could finally to get back to work. Aoko had hardly left his side while he had been recovering, so he hadn't had any time alone to actually study. He loved his girlfriend dearly, but it was a bit frustrating not being able to do his work with her constantly hanging around.
Honestly, he was considering telling her the truth about his real magic. He was getting tired of lying to her, of ditching her for his night job, of keeping so many secrets, not to mention that witch, Akako, had recently stepped up her efforts to bewitch him, following the old rules of courtship for magical practitioners.
Magic users had a very particular set of traditions regarding relationships. A magician had to lay full claim to their partner and vice-versa, meaning a fully physical relationship beyond just kissing, but said relationship had to be founded on trust and magic, of complete mutual consent. However, other schools of magic did not share the same sentiments of equal partnership, meaning Witches and Warlocks, by their magic, could bind a person by force.
As much as he wanted to go farther with Aoko, he couldn't without giving her all of his secrets, about his powers, his alter ego, his job...he had no idea how to break all of this to her, so his dilemma only deepened.
Akako knew this, and was taking advantage of it. If it wasn't for Kaito's natural resistance to illusion and lower level charms she'd have already trapped him while he and his magic were recovering from his wounds. The attacks slowed his healing significantly, giving the witch even more time to weave her magic.
He was getting frustrated, both mentally and physically, as the assaults were made to raise a victim's libido and draw them to the caster for relief. For now he could negate it by being physically close to Aoko, even if it wasn't intimately, but it was only a matter of time before a stronger witch would attack with far stronger tactics. Akako simply wanted him out of spite, but anyone else would bind him to leech his powers after she'd conceived her heir off him, eventually killing him.
He could only hope that his wards would hold, he did not want to be forced away from the only mate he could ever see himself spending the rest of his life with.
-xXx
Aoko herself was noticing a change in her boyfriend's behavior. For a good while he was substantially subdued, and for a time she believed it was from his injuries, but he usually perked up when they left school.
He was also increasingly hostile to Akako, going beyond his normal coolness to outright cold-shoulder and biting comments. At odd times he would stiffen, then twist in his seat to glare at the redhead, a look in his eyes that made Aoko rather uncomfortable.
On the other hand, he was more affectionate with his girlfriend on a personal level, little kisses in public and cuddling when they were alone, singing those whisper songs and sweet nothings in her ear. Aoko definitely enjoyed the attention, of how he made her feel wanted, but something was nagging at her senses whenever they were close, an energy tingling just under his skin that made her feel so...alive.
It was that touch that made her want to be so close, despite her lack of confidence. He never touched or grabbed her inappropriately, only at less sensitive spots like her waist, back, or her arms, but the way he did it just made it feel so sensual. Every deep kiss made her heart quicken, his caresses sending shivers across her skin, and his voice, oh don't get her started on his low, husky voice.
Sometimes his voice reminded her of her encounter with Kid, and subsequently started another round of dreams, only this time involving Kaito in his Kid costume, and sometimes removal of said costume. After one particularly vivid dream Aoko could never look at white silk the same way again.
One of these days she was going to figure out what exactly Kaito was hiding from her, but for now she was happy with having his friendship.
-xXx
One evening Kaito decided to take Aoko out to a nice restaurant in Beika, meeting up with Shinichi and Ran for a double date. The magician had money to spare, having been paid quite handsomely for his performances as a Kid impersonator, and he bought his girlfriend a very nice necklace. Suffice to say that deep blue was Aoko's favorite color, and a bright sparkly crystal pendant would make any girl's day.
Just seeing her expression when he opened that box at the restaurant was priceless. Really, was it that easy to please a girl if you got her something shiny?
"Oh Kaito! You didn't!"
Kaito was all smiles. "If I didn't, this wouldn't be here now would it?"
Aoko squealed and kissed him, Shinichi and Ran laughing in the background, until the detective pulled the same trick with his girlfriend and presented her with a pair of earrings. Soon both girls were giggling and gushing with praise, their boyfriends feeling quite pleased with themselves as they ordered their meals.
Dinner and dessert went smoothly, both couples having a great time, until the inevitable happened at the dance club they went to after dinner. A man dropped dead at the bar, and no fewer than fifteen people were possible suspects. Shinichi was first on the scene, cursing his luck under his breath.
"Nobody approaches the body or leaves the building!" he ordered. "Ran, call the police, Kaito, you're on crowd control! Aoko, tell the bouncers to guard the doors, no one gets in or out until the police get here!"
Aoko shrank back. "But what if they don't listen to me?" she asked, scared.
"Tell them Kudou Shinichi told you, now go!"
Everyone scampered off to their assigned task. Kaito had everyone corralled into groups away from the bar while Shinichi examined the scene. Megure-keibu was there in record time along with the homicide squad.
"Ahh Kudou-kun, what a coincidence." the inspector said blandly. "And you are here because...?"
Shinichi scowled. "Hey, it's not my fault I'm cursed! Kaito and I came here on a double date with our girlfriends!" he snapped. "I guess it's too much to hope that I could have just one evening out without dead bodies falling at my feet."
The officers flinched back at unusual bite in the teen detective's tone, but they went about their normal procedures of questioning the witnesses and examining the scene. However, they had a bit of a stumbling block, Kaito kept wandering around as if in a daze.
"Kaito!" Shinichi said, grabbing his cousin and yanking him out of the way. "You're going to get trampled, stay put."
Aoko came over, concerned. "He's been doing that for the past half hour, I think he's in shock."
Shinichi shook the magician hard, but there was no response.
"What's wrong Kaito? You've been really out of it." asked Aoko, hugging his arm. "Please, you're scaring me!"
Kaito stiffened, his eyes darting around the room, pupils dilated to alarming size and his irises faintly glowing. "Trails...they're everywhere..." he muttered. "...burns, blood...myrrh..."
Aoko held him tighter. "Kaito! You're not making sense!"
Shinichi pushed them both to an empty bench. "Sit down, he's not really conscious right now." he said. "Most likely he's in a tracker's trance, he won't come out of it 'till he finds the source of whatever's he sensing. He only found that ability last week, so he doesn't have much control yet."
"Tracker's trance? What on earth are you talking about Shinichi?" asked Ran, coming over their way. "Is something wrong?"
Shinichi shrugged. "My guess is that our victim was hit by some sort of spell, Kaito fell into this state after he got close to the body, all of his senses are hyper aware right now."
Both girls blinked in shock. "Wait...did you just say that man was killed by a spell, and mean it?"
"'Difordian Crush'." said Kaito, seeming to snap out of whatever it was. "Poison spell, has to be ingested. Causes fatal heart attack or aneurysm, nasty way to die."
Shinichi leaned over the magician. "Are you sure it's a 'Crush'?"
Kaito snorted. "Damn straight, whoever dosed the guy should smell like a cocktail of poisons, sticky sweet almond with a major hit of rose-hip oil." he said, shuddering violently. "Perfume, strong enough to kill your sinuses."
Shinichi nodded and clapped his cousin on the shoulder. "Thanks for the tip, you just stay here and pull yourself back together, your aura's a bit stretched."
"Sure."
The detective left, and the girls turned to Kaito in confusion.
"What was that all about?" Aoko asked, rubbing his back when he bent over, a hand over his eyes. "Are you alright?"
"I'm going to need a strong shot of something after this..." he moaned, a headache beginning to pound behind his eyes. "Here I thought we could have a nice, normal date without nothing happening."
That said, Kaito remained silent for the entire time Shinichi worked his magic, teasing out the details of the case and incriminating the killer via the vial of poison disguised as a bottle of perfume. Afterwards the detective lead his cousin out of the club carefully, a scarf tied over his eyes to minimize visual stimulation brought on by whatever it was that happened. He brought all four of them to the Kudou house, and immediately told his little brother to fetch a glass of strong liquor for Kaito.
Shinichi's parents and the girls were confused that he wanted to give someone with a migraine alcohol, but Conan actually backed him up.
"Kaito-nii-chan's gonna need it if he wants to sleep." he chirped, a short glass of scotch in his hands. "Sudden sensory trances take a lot out of a person, he's overstimulated."
They got Kaito cleaned up and into a set of silk pajamas, blindfold still over his eyes and a fuzzy blanket draped over his lap. Aoko blushed at the sight of the white fabric, but she joined her boyfriend in the oversized armchair.
"What exactly's wrong with him?" she asked quietly, stroking his head. "And why the scotch?"
Conan smiled and stirred a spoonful of some kind of powder in the glass before giving it to Kaito. "If you mix the right additives to it, it really calms down overactive nerves." he said, adjusting the blanket once he was certain the magician had a firm grip on the glass and started to sip from it. "Right now he's shut down as many of his senses as possible, sight, hearing, smell, he knows where he is and that he's safe but he's ignoring the rest of the world."
Ran quirked a brow. "Is that really possible Conan-kun?" she asked. "Can a person really shut down their senses?"
"If you have the talent." Shinichi answered, bringing his black book out of nowhere. "We were trying to think of a way to break this to you two, but I guess now is as good a time as any."
"Nii-chan and Kaito-nii-chan are Magicians." Conan said, and the girls could hear the capital in the boy's words. "Nii-chan's is called a Druid and Kaito-nii-chan's a Dragonite, they're special kinds of magic."
"...Druid?" asked Ran.
"Dragonite?" repeated Aoko. "What the hell does that mean?"
"A Dragonite is the most powerful and versatile of Magicians, linked to at least two dragon clans, and Kaito is bonded to five. A Druid is a specialist magic user that connects with spirits of nature and those of the dead. I can interact with spirits and do various magical tricks concerning them, but Kaito can use his powers to do just about anything." the detective said, looking up something in his book. "Magicians of his caliber are rare, especially when it's the five Prism clans. Diamond, Moonstone, Crystal, Tourmaline, and Opal. Five dragon types named for stones known to have just about any color under the sun, valuable and versatile."
Aoko stared at her still silent boyfriend. "Magic...real magic?"
"Yes. Kaito should have been the one to say this, but at the moment he's rather indisposed. Tracker trances cause all seven senses to become hyper sensitive, and if you can't control it your brain becomes overstimulated."
Yukiko, having observed silently until now, piped up. "Shin-chan, refresh my memory, seven senses?"
"Sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch are the normal senses," he began, "but a Dragonite Magician has eight. The first of the extras is Extra-Sensory-Perception standard to all magic users, but the degree one possesses can vary significantly. ESP is the ability to see and hear above and below standard perception, to see what is normally invisible to living eyes and to hear inaudible noise. If you're particularly gifted with it you can use it to speak telepathically, but neither of us has mastered that yet."
"But you'll get it eventually, right Nii-chan?"
Shinichi laughed and ruffled Conan's hair. "Yeah, we just need more practice, we're both still new to this. Anyway, the second extra sense that of energies, Extra Sensory Energy Perception, to 'feel' energy beyond heat and visualize it if you're lucky. Kaito got both ends of the stick in that department, he can feel, see, hear, and even smell magic residue, so that means he always tell where a person, spirit, spell, or creature is or was. He's always had that sense, since it manifests earlier than any other power, but it remains subdued until full powers emerge."
Despite the bizarreness of the conversation, Aoko made the connection to many memories of failing to sneak up on Kaito unless he was sick or concentrating on something particularly hard.
"The third extra sense belongs only to Dragonites, soul-mind sense, the ability to feel out a person's soul and delve into their minds. This sense does not activate unless it is purposefully triggered, mainly because it is so easily overwhelmed. He mentioned trying it out at school one time trying to gauge that witch in your class, and he passed out from the stress."
Oh yes, Aoko remembered that incident, the day he returned to school after his injury. One moment he was fine, if agitated with Akako sitting on his desk, the next he swayed dangerously and keeled over in a dead faint.
A thud of glass on carpet alerted them all to Kaito, having dropped the now empty scotch glass to the floor from limp hands. Yukiko dutifully picked it up. "Does he need another glass or should I go ahead and wash this?"
"No, he's had enough."
Aoko huffed. "And just how does alcohol help in this situation?"
"It's a depressant." chirped Conan, bouncing up into Shinichi's lap. "If you mix in Katikas's Remedy it makes a sensory suppressant. Kaito-nii-chan makes all the potions, so he gives us the stuff we'd need if he had an episode like this one."
Kaito leaned into Aoko's shoulder and snuggled into her side with a heavy sigh. The girl blushed, but didn't push him away.
Shinichi and Conan chuckled. "You might want to get changed for bed soon, he's not going to let you go easily once he falls asleep. If there's one thing I've learned after two of these episodes, it's that he's clingy when doped up and sensory-blind." the elder said. "He got Conan in a death grip the first time it happened."
Aoko blushed even redder, but allowed the other two women to help her pry Kaito off her long enough to move, leaving the room to find her some pajamas. Shinichi guided his cousin carefully to the guest bedroom and got him settled in the silk sheets set aside for these times.
Aoko came into the room, still pink in the face and wearing what Shinichi recognized as a lacy, knee length nightgown that Kaito had bought, but didn't have the nerve to give to her.
"Where on earth does your mother get these things?" she asked, arms wrapped around herself self-consciously.
Shinichi fought very, very hard not to laugh. "That's not my mom's, it's yours."
"WHAT?"
A snicker. "Kaito bought it, he just didn't have the guts to give it to you, so he stashed it here." he said. "If it helps, I was there when he got it in that boutique downtown you like, the one with the stuffed animals in the window. He was blushing like mad when he picked it out."
It did help, and Aoko smacked him on the arm lightly before climbing into the bed, putting Kaito's head in her lap. "Well, as long as you guys weren't being complete perverts in a lingerie store." she said, stroking her boyfriend's hair. "I was wondering, why all the silk?"
Shinichi shrugged. "It's a sensory thing. Silk and satin is less irritating to overstimulated skin, so he doesn't have to dampen down that last sense he has available. That, and he's sort of spoiled with it, it's a quirk of his."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Good night."
"Good night. Don't be too shocked if he grabs you in a bear hug in the middle of the night, he does that."
The detective turned off the lights and closed the door, leaving the pair to their sleep.
-xXx
Aoko wasn't sure what exactly it was that woke her, but when she did she realized that Kaito had her in a strong grip, spooned up to her and an arm around her waist, his breath tickling her neck.
She blushed furiously at the feel of his powerful body behind her, separated only by two layers of very thin, very slinky fabric. Even more was that his fingers were unconsciously tracing mindless patterns on her stomach and that his legs were tangled with hers, adding new heights to the heat pooling in her body.
Not even in her dreams did she imagine that she'd be in this position, in the same bed with Kaito between silk sheets and in such a revealing nightgown. Granted, said nightgown was on the modest end of the spectrum for lacy, satin nightwear, but it was still far more skin than she normally bared even in her own bed.
She shifted, grateful that she had shaved her legs just before their date, and just had to savor the feel of the silk against her smooth skin, and the ripple of Kaito's muscles as he responded to her movement in his sleep. Honestly it had never really occurred to her just how fit and tailored he was, but she had never seen him shirtless before...
Curiosity roused, she twisted in his grip and carefully extricated herself from his arms. He groaned, but she quieted him by running her fingers through his hair and along his jaw. Not quite believing that she was doing this, she slowly untied the blindfold he had fallen asleep with and examined his sleeping face in the faint light.
He was positively angelic in the calm of sleep. His face was softly boned and just shy of feminine, but still masculine. High cheekbones, a sharp but strong jaw, a perfectly shaped nose, and ever so slight pout to his lips. All the baby fat and boyish roundness had faded from his features, leaving the contours of an ideal bishonen face.
Aoko knew his face well, but it had only been recently that she had noticed just how...beautiful he was. He had been boyish cute for the longest time, but she had turned a blind eye to his sexy cute factor when they started high school.
Come to think of it, it had been the first year of high school that she had last seen him shirtless. He had stopped going to waterparks and pools at that time, and went to the beach always wearing loose t-shirts. Sure, he wore closer fitting gym shorts that showed off his legs, but hey, he was an acrobat, everyone knew how powerful a jumper he was. What no one knew was how toned his torso was, not even their male classmates who had to have seen him change in the locker room.
Aoko couldn't take it anymore, and carefully undid the buttons of his pajama top. Feeling more sensuous then she would have ever dared before, she traced the magnificent musculature of her boyfriend's incredibly sculpted torso.
He wasn't fit in the way a normal acrobat was, he was built like a lean, powerful marital artist. Well defined pectorals, washboard abs, and a trim waist, he was the image of every teenage girl's daydream. His shoulders were strong, but not bulky, in perfect balance to the rest of his body.
The only flaw, as Aoko found, was that his smooth skin wasn't quite that smooth in some places.
Her breath hitched at the unmistakable feel of a healing scar. Oh, she knew there was one on the left side of his abs and another in his left shoulder, but this one was grazing the right side just above his hip, a bullet scar.
She continued searching, more by feel than sight in the half light, and found several more scars. None of them were particularly ridged or deep deformations, all healing smooth at surface level, but not quite gone, almost all of them from bullets.
Kaito breath hitched as her hands passed over a particular spot on his lower abdomen, and the sound snapped Aoko into awareness of just what she was doing. While exploring, she had essentially been stroking him, something she had never done.
Her face burned in a deep flush as Kaito opened his eyes, breathing a touch quickly for just coming out of sleep.
"Aoko...oh god, don't stop...Aoko..." he gasped, arching into her touch.
It was then that she remembered that he was currently hypersensitive, every stroke magnified to who knows how much, and like a light going off in her head she smiled deviously. After all, Magician or not he was still an eighteen year old teen, and teen boys were helpless before raging hormones. A part of her she never acknowledged took over and was thoroughly enjoying having Kaito under her complete control. Giving into temptation, she pulled his shirt off entirely and straddled his lap, giving her the leverage to pin him to the bed.
"Shh, just let me take care of you Kaito." she whispered seductively in his ear, relishing in his gasp as her hair brushed his neck and how the shifting of her hips on his lap sent all kinds of pleasurable signals up his spine.
Feeling more confidant then she ever had before she continued exploring his body with firm, but teasing strokes, watching him writhe and moan beneath her.
"Aoko!" he gasped, grabbing her hips forcefully. "Gods, Aoko..."
With one sudden movement he surged up and kissed her hard, tongue darting into her mouth to taste her. Aoko responded just as fiercely, bringing her own tongue to battle his, tasting the scotch he'd had earlier.
They continued to kiss, hands roaming and stroking, until Kaito broke the kiss, breathing hard and falling back to the pillows, dragging Aoko on top of him.
"Shouldn't...not now...not here." he ground out. "I...I can't do that to you...not yet..."
She was disappointed, but she honored his wish. "If you say so, but you're going to tell me why in the morning mister Dragonite." she said, settling down against him, letting him feel every contour of her soft body against him, including her unbound chest. Somehow, against all expectations she quickly calmed down, and faded into sleep.