A.N: Hmm, it looks like I might have to bring in Shinichi's parents at some point after all then, since people are wondering, but I'll think about that when the main line is worked out. Anyhow, on to the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

Midnight White

21: A Knife Edge of Shadows

Slumping into a chair at the kitchen table, Shinichi wrapped both hands around his mug of freshly brewed coffee and drew in a deep breath. The rich aroma of coffee filled his senses and he let out a contented sigh. Nothing beat fresh coffee first thing in the morning.

"Yep, definitely an addiction there," a chipper voice remarked.

Blue eyes cracked open to glare at the grinning face on the other side of the table. "Is not."

"Riiiight. Keep telling yourself that."

"How can you be so awake?" he grumbled, burying his nose back in his mug. "It's not natural."

"It's ten," Kaito pointed out. "That's almost noon."

Deciding he didn't feel like arguing the point, Shinichi took a long gulp of coffee and set the mug down. With the beverage's pungent aroma no longer filling his senses, he could smell something else. He frowned. "Kaito, do you smell something burning?"

Kaito sniffed then leapt to his feet. In the blink of an eye he was at the stove, yanking the pan Shinichi hadn't noticed in his usual morning, pre-coffee haze off of the fire. Cursing, the magician shut the heat off with a flick of his wrist and ran the pan to the sink.

Shinichi stood up quickly and moved to join him for a better look at the source of the burning smell. It was a yellow, brown, and black mess sticking to the pan's bottom like some kind of diseased growth.

"…What's that?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Well, it was supposed to be breakfast, but I don't think it quite got the idea. I don't cook much at home," he added as an afterthought.

"I can tell," Shinichi replied dryly.

Kaito shrugged. "It's not my fault Mom banned me from the kitchen when I was ten."

"For no reason at all I'm sure."

Deciding it was time to change the subject, Kaito moved to scrape the contents of the pan into the trash. "So who called you this morning? I'm sure I heard your phone ringing."

"It was Hattori," Shinichi replied, pulling open the fridge and checking to see if there were any eggs left. "He and Toyama-san asked if they could stay the night before they catch the train back to Osaka tomorrow morning."

"And?" Kaito prompted.

"I told them it's okay and that I already have a friend over." He peeked over his shoulder to see how Kaito would react. "Um, you don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all. In fact, this is good," the thief added thoughtfully, turning on the tap and beginning to scrub the pan. "It'll make things easier. So…" Mischievous, indigo eyes turned back to Shinichi. "What have you told them about me?"

"Nothing really. I wasn't sure what you'd want them to think."

"Perfect!" The glee in his voice was impossible to miss.

Shinichi wondered belatedly if this was really a good idea. It was, however, too late to change his mind. Pouring a little oil into a new pan, he watched as the heat made it spread and become more watery. "Please don't scar my friends."

X

When the two Osakans arrived they did a double take as the door opened to reveal a young man who looked remarkably like a taller, wilder Shinichi. Although the longer they looked, the less the similarity grew, it was still there. Maybe a relative? Neither of them was quite sure what to say although Hattori took a quick look around to assure himself that they were at the correct house.

"Um…" he began. "My name is Hattori Heiji and this is my friend Toyama Kazuha. Is Kudo home?"

"Oh, so you're the ones from Osaka," the stranger exclaimed, recognition lighting in his eyes. "Shinichi mentioned you'd be coming. Come in. My name is Kuroba Kaito by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you."

As Kazuha straightened from removing her shoes, the stranger snapped his fingers and produced a yellow rose which he offered to her with a charming smile. She blinked in surprise then blushed and took the proffered flower. Behind her, Hattori twitched.

"How did you do that?" Kazuha asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"I am a magician," he replied, doffing an imaginary hat.

"Oh, I love magic shows! Can you—"

"Okay, can we get out of the doorway now?" Heiji interrupted, placing his hands on Kazuha's shoulders and beginning to steer her towards the kitchen where he could hear sounds of movement.

They found Shinichi pouring himself yet another cup of coffee in the kitchen. He greeted them and offered them drinks, wondering why Hattori was wearing such a surly expression. A look at the excited sparkle in Kazuha's eyes and the sly grin on Kaito's face and he decided he didn't really want to know.

"How was your trip?" he asked instead. It was a nice, normal question, but unfortunately it had the opposite effect from what he had intended as Hattori glowered and Kazuha rolled her eyes heavenward at some remembered exasperation.

"That blond bastard had to take the same bus as us," Hattori began, throwing himself into one of the dining table's empty chairs. "Lousy, arrogant—"

"Heiji," Kazuha interrupted him with a note in her voice that suggested this wasn't the first time that day she'd heard this rant. "You do things your way, he does things his way, there's nothing to be so bent out of shape over."

"You only say that 'cause you've never had to work with him," he shot back, crossing his arms stubbornly. "He's one of those know-it-alls who's always looking down his nose at people!"

She sniffed. "I think you're just worried that he might be a better detective than you."

Hattori's jaw dropped. "What? No way is that—that— Argh, how can you say that?"

The two Osakans fell to bickering as Shinichi and Kaito watched, the first in exasperation and the latter in amusement.

"You know, I had a whole host of ideas for how to make today entertaining," he leaned over to murmur into Shinichi's ear. "But I guess this works pretty well too. If you want, I still have some popcorn left over."

Shinichi shook his head, lips quirked into a bemused smile. "Sometimes I really have to wonder at your taste in entertainment."

The magician winked. "It's a skill. Although really you'd be surprised how much you can learn about people just by watching them argue with each other."

"So, what, you're studying?"

Kaito just laughed.

Even after the bickering had died down into a sulky stand-off, Kazuha hadn't forgotten her desire to see more magic tricks and Kaito was all too happy to put on a small show in the living room. Shinichi was settling down to watch it with her when Hattori snagged the back of his collar and dragged him back into the kitchen.

"Hey!" Shinichi complained, struggling to prevent his coffee from spilling all over his clothes.

Releasing his fellow detective, Hattori rounded on him with a scowl. "Who is that?" he hissed, jabbing a finger in the direction from which they'd just come.

Annoyed at the manhandling, Shinichi straightened out his clothes with one hand as the other clutched his mug protectively. "Kaito, obviously. I could have sworn he already told you that."

"That's not what I meant," the other detective groused. "Where did he come from?"

"Ekoda," he replied, wondering why it mattered. The answer earned him a scowl.

They both fell silent as they heard Kazuha laughing from the other room. Shinichi watched the way Hattori's eyebrows drew even closer together. He could read irritation there, and more than a touch of suspicion.

"He's a good person," he said finally, feeling that it was important that Hattori know at least that much even if he couldn't tell him any more.

Green eyes held his for a long moment before Hattori deflated. "I guess if you trust him…"

"I do." And he did. Maybe more than he had ever trusted anyone before.

They heard clapping and the Osakan grimaced.

"Magicians," he grumbled, more to himself than to Shinichi. "What's she like about them anyway?"

Shinichi blinked, his thoughts rearranging themselves. Oh. Come to think of it, Kazuha had looked a little pink in the face when they'd come into the kitchen with Kaito. Suddenly the Osakan detective's behavior made a lot more sense. "Hattori," he said carefully. "Whatever he did, I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"Yeah? And how would you know that? You didn't see the way he was acting!"

Shinichi fought really, really hard not to blush as he turned back to the living room. "I just do. Now if you'll excuse me, I think the show's still going."

X

"You know, for someone who doesn't generally entertain guests, you sure have a lot of guest rooms."

"When my parents still lived here, they used to like having people over," Shinichi explained. "And the rooms are there anyway, so I figured they might as well be set up."

"They're certainly being put to good use now," the magician observed, leaning against the doorframe of the detective's room and watching the activity going on down the hall where Hattori and Kazuha were bringing up their belongings.

"This'll be the first time," Shinichi admitted, dragging some rather bulky packages off of the top shelves inside his closet. "I've never had so many people over at once before." With the packages piled in his arms, he squeezed past the magician and made his way down the hall. "Hey Hattori, you two should change the sheets. No one's used those rooms for a while so the sheets haven't been washed in a long time. These are clean. Just put the original ones in the laundry room."

"I can help," Kaito offered.

Between the four of them, the rooms were ready in no time. Kazuha had tentatively asked if it was okay for her to leave her windows open. Seeing how uncomfortable she was when the windows were closed, Shinichi couldn't bring himself to say no even if having windows open at night made him wary. It was probably the paranoia talking again, but again, in his line of work, it was far from unfounded. Still, they were on the second floor, Kazuha's room faced the yard, and there were four of them. And Kaito was there. He wasn't sure why, but that thought made him feel a lot less worried.

"It's a pity you have so many rooms," Kaito muttered under his breath as he followed Shinichi back to his room.

The detective cast him a puzzled frown. "Why?"

"No reason." He shrugged. "Well, I'll be next door if you need me."

"Shouldn't I be saying that? I mean, this is my house you know."

"Regardless." Pausing just inside Shinichi's bedroom door, he caught the detective's arm. When Shinichi turned to look at him, he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on the detective's lips. "Good night."

X

It was a shift in the wind that woke her. Something had altered the way the air flowed through the room. A person? People? But the door hadn't been opened. Neither had the screen on the window. She would have known.

Frowning, she turned over onto her back and opened her eyes—

To find herself looking into a stranger's face. She couldn't make out the features clearly in the dark, but she could see the eyes. They were a luminous green—or, no, they were blue, or was it purple? Red? Could they possibly be orange? Or maybe—

"Sleep."

And she did. She couldn't help it.

X

Heiji had been having a hard time sleeping. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it was just odd to no longer be in the cabins. There was also the presence of that Kuroba guy. Heiji couldn't help but think that it was strange that he had never heard of the magician before, especially considering how he and Kudo were so obviously very familiar with each other. There was just something odd about that. But in the end he was more inclined to blame his current restlessness on the new information on the Hakuren case that Shinichi had imparted to him earlier that day. So the professor really was dead… And apparently no notes regarding her research had been found in her house. What had been found instead was a scrap of a journal proven to be in her handwriting raging about years of wasted research which suggested a possible suicide. After all, with no family, it was possible that hitting a dead end in her life's work might send her over the edge. But, like Shinichi had said, something felt wrong.

Her will donated all of her considerable assets to the university she had taught at, but her university was one of the few such institutes that hadn't actually needed more funds. In fact they had turned around and donated most of it to other institutions and kept the rest for a scholarship fund dedicated to students seeking to study in her former department.

And of course there was the unlocked door and the light the neighbor had reported seeing in her house. A light that had appeared at a time when she had already been dead for weeks. Her key had been too dusty to have been touched recently, but there was no one known to have a copy. Then again, she had been a pretty secretive woman, so that wasn't saying much.

Either way, the light indicated that someone had been there and not reported her death.

He frowned, attention shifting abruptly to the present. What was that sound? It was coming from the hallway outside. Creaking. Maybe some shuffling.

Sitting up, he swung his feet over the edge of the bed and went to investigate. It wasn't like he was getting any sleep anyway.

When he opened the door into the hallway, he expected to see someone else who had been unable to sleep, or maybe someone trying to find their way to the bathroom in the dark. What he had not expected was to see multiple shadowy strangers, one of whom was carrying a limp shape that looked an awful lot like Kazuha. Fear shot through his system like liquid ice.

"Stop right there!" he hollered on instinct, leaping forward. But he was intercepted before he could reach Kazuha and her captor by one of the other intruders. It was a girl, he noted distractedly, and she was much smaller than he, so he was going to just charge past her and get Kazuha, but he couldn't. The girl had grabbed his arm. Her grip wasn't strong, but it didn't have to be. A strange numbness swept through him from the point where the girl's hand came in contact with his arm. It was as though all his physical senses were shutting down one by one. First he couldn't feel the hand anymore, then he couldn't even feel his own limbs. And yet he couldn't seem to feel anything about it—no fear, no surprise, no anxiety. A voice at the back of his mind suggested that the numbness was affecting his emotions too, but he couldn't make himself care.

A few steps down the hall, the figure who had been carrying Kazuha set her down and began to walk towads him. As it approached, Heiji found himself locking onto those eyes. There was something…about those eyes. What color were they? It seemed to keep changing. But that wasn't possible, was it?

They were mesmerizing.

Somewhere far away, he thought he heard people moving around. Maybe even some shouting. But he couldn't…couldn't focus…

X

Shinichi's first reaction when he yanked open his bedroom door to see what the shouting was about was to reach for his belt. Then he remembered he was in pajamas and wasn't wearing it. The few gadgets in immediate reach weren't any help. He had no idea why Hattori was just standing there, but he had a bad feeling about it. Hattori was standing a little too still, with his free arm hanging limply at his side and the other equally limp in the grasp of one of the intruders. He had to stop whatever they were doing. Blue eyes narrowed and he darted forward. Barreling into the person who'd been hanging onto Hattori, he managed to break its grip and push it—her?—into the next intruder in the same motion. That was when he saw Kazuha slumped against th wall. He faltered a moment, trying to see if she was still breathing. That was when hands closed on him from behind, one around his throat and the other over his nose and mouth.

His own hands flew up to pry at the fingers as he was pulled back. He was beginning to see stars. Gritting his teeth, he drove his elbow back into his captor's stomach, but the man didn't so much as flinch. Almost as though he hadn't felt it at all. The hand on his neck let go however and the arm attached shifted to pin his arms to his sides. But when he tried to breathe he choked as his nose and mouth filled with water. It was as though his captor was holding a handful of water over his face.

It had to be an ability, he thought as his vision grew spottier. He struggled to hold his breath, but the water that had already gone up his nose was making it difficult.

What he wouldn't give right now to be that officer who could breathe under water.

X

Kaito had been in the kitchen downstairs when he heard the commotion. He had gone downstairs to grab himself a snack. He had done his best not to disturb anyone while he was at it. Now however it sounded like no one was sleeping at all. Curious, he had made his way back upstairs with all the stealth that came from years of being a phantom thief.

He had almost reached the landing when he had to flatten himself against the railings to avoid getting knocked back down to the first floor by a flailing, yelling mass. Neither voice sounded familiar. Indigo eyes hardened as he bounded up the rest of the stairs to see Kazuha leaning against the wall near him, Hattori standing a few steps away and staring blankly into empty space like a zombie, and a malformed shape even farther away that resolved itself into two figures locked in a fierce struggle. The smaller shape was Shinichi. The other was a much larger man who appeared to be trying to restrain him—or strangle him. Even as Kaito arrived he saw his detective go limp.

Fear and cold rage had him across the hall in less time than it would have taken most people to blink. A blast of sleeping gas had the stranger loosening his grip. The next moment the man found himself sprawled a few feet away as Shinichi fell into Kaito's arms, coughing up water. The magician raised a force field to contain the stranger, another at the top of the stairs to prevent a surprise from below, and another around the house to keep the guests downstairs in before turning his attention to the boy still gasping for breath.

"Shinichi, are you all right?"

It was a few more minutes before Shinichi could answer. When he did, it was with a slightly breathy query. "Where are they?"

Kaito rolled his eyes at that, holding the other closer. Of course that would be what his detective was thinking about. On the other hand, that probably meant he was okay. "No need to worry about that, Tantei-kun, they should be right…" He trailed off as he cast a glance towards the man who'd attacked Shinichi only to see that he was no longer there.

But his force field was fully intact. He knew that. And he hadn't heard any movement. How had the man disappeared?

TBC

A.N: ^^ And now we begin! Er, part three anyway. I'm rather tired today so I'm going to go now. Hope you enjoyed and see you next time!