Late. Well, I kinda managed to finish it more or less on time somehow- a miracle, really- and can you tell it was a little rushed? Anyway, enjoy~
Chapter 20: Taking It Early
He was bored. He was so bored. So bored. So much it was nearly unbearable. He was too awake to sleep, his eyes would easily be ruined if he stayed in front of a screen for too long, he was supposed to try and not empty the fridge, and he wasn't allowed to bounce around the house lest he didn't mind people seeing him and his oversized bird-wings through the windows.
Boredom sucked.
What actually made it worse was the fact that this was the first time he had to deal with it alone. No Shinichi, no Kaito, heck even Saguru was better than nothing- he'd at least have someone to complain to about it. Normally when his wings were out the three others would be around, talking, joking, Saguru and him fighting, without a care or a worry, pretending like having wings was basically normal- something he couldn't exactly do now that he was supposed to "lead a normal life". Obviously he enjoyed his new life as Hattori Heiji, but sometimes- just sometimes- he wished he could go back to being the sparrow he used to be. After all, he'd grown up to live with wings, and make use of his wings. He still needed the freedom of being able to spread them.
Heiji heard a faint clicking sound coming from downstairs. He sat up on his bed and blinked. Was Araide already back? Unless he had business outside of school, it was impossible. His family wasn't supposed to come until the evening either. He checked the time- barely four hours after noon.
His ears picked up hushed voices coming from downstairs. Front door area. He didn't recognise any. Thieves, maybe? Heiji smirked.
Oh, this was going to be fun...
Figuring he'd make good use of the toys in the guest room next to Heiji's, he grabbed a couple wind-up toys and some marbles before rushing soundlessly down the stairs. He slid silently against the wall and peeked into the living room where two tall men in their mid-thirties seemed too busy grabbing anything money-worth to notice his presence. They were muttering comments to each other quite loudly, mostly about how much certain things would sell on the black market. Heiji grinned as he gently put the tightly wound car toy on the floor and ran away as the toy sped across the room and, apparently, smashed right into one of the thieves' legs, judging from the loud swearing. Holding back a gleeful cackle worthy of Kaito, Heiji vanished behind the next corner, quickly placing a few marbles he collected earlier on the floor, before peering past his hiding spot to look. It took a couple seconds, but the thief finally spotted him and began to run in his direction. Being faster, Heiji disappeared into a farther room and started looking around for more "innocent" weapons. The sound of rolling marbles and a loud thump echoed in the household, making Heiji only happier.
Boredom had just jumped out of the window like the house was on fire.
xXx
When Tomoaki finally got his car lined up to the wall next to his house, he jumped out as quick as possible and ran to the door where several police officers stood, ignoring the flashing lights of the cars around. He passed them and found Heiji wearing a grey, oversized knit sweater, standing in the middle of the hall as he stared down at two unknown men being cuffed by one of the policemen.
"He's a monster! I monster I tell you!!" one them shouted, his face pale as a sheet of paper. "That strength is inhuman! And those wings- those bird wings! He's not human I tell you!!"
Tomoaki paled slightly, looking up at Heiji. The high-school detective simply shrugged like they were delirious.
"He put that sweater on just so you wouldn't see them, I swear he has wings!!" the man continued to shout. The officer that tried to pull them away rolled his eyes, while another approached Heiji with a sigh.
"Would you mind taking your sweater off?" the second officer asked. Tomoaki opened his mouth to object, but Heiji took it off without questions. Aside from a green t-shirt, he had nothing else under the sweater. The officer patted him down the back, and announced clearly that there was absolutely nothing suspicious about the boy's physique.
"But I swear he had wings!!" the man continued to shout as the officer dragged him out the door. "I don't know how he did it, but he had them!! He should be killed!! Kill him before he eradicates humanity!!"
"Sorry for the inconvenience." the officer apologized before leaving as well. Tomoaki and Heiji stood silently in the hall until the wailing sirens of the police echoed in the distance and finally vanished.
"...The house is a mess." Tomoaki said in hope of breaking the awkward silence, glancing at the scattered toys and tools.
"Yeah." Heiji replied flatly, still staring at the door.
"So...what happened?"
"Long story short, the thieves came in, I decided ta play with 'em a bit, danced around th' house for a half hour or so, they got sick of our hide-an'-seek game, took a shot at me, I lost my cool, an' I attacked 'em."
"Hattori-"
"Knocked 'em unconscious is all. I'm surprised I didn't actually kill 'em when th' bullet grazed my cheek." Tomoaki sighed as Heiji still stared at the door. It was like the boy suddenly refused look at him. Couldn't look at him.
"...Come with me, let's get that cheek of yours tended to."
"Araide-han," Heiji muttered, making Tomoaki stop before he could even turn to go fetch an aid-kit "why are humans like this? They only see what they want ta see. They only accept what they want ta accept. They don't think any farther, and shove away anythin' that doesn't suit 'em. Why do they look for perfection when it don't exist?"
"I don't know, Hattori-kun." Tomoaki replied quietly, giving him a pat on the shoulder. He'd already touched Heiji so often that the boy almost didn't tense at the contact anymore. "If I did, I think I would be a bigger help than I am now."
"Is that even possible?" Heiji grinned at him. Tomoaki smiled and relaxed a little, he seemed a little better already.
"So, how did you fool that policeman into thinking you didn't have any wings?" Tomoaki asked as they headed to the washroom. "You didn't already take the pill, did you?"
"Actually, I did." Heiji admitted. "I knew th' other guy saw my wings, so I took it as a precaution."
"Isn't that going to have consequences on your internal stability?"
"Well, s'not like I took it two minutes after it happened. Ya can't expect everythin' ta be perfect, but I ain't gonna die just 'cause I took th' pill earlier than planned."
"I'd hope not." Tomoaki chuckled. They arrived in the washroom, walls plastered with white wallpaper and the floor decorated with white and pale blue tiles, and he made Heiji sit on the toilet seat cover before searching through the small cabinet behind the mirror to pull out an antibiotic bottle and a couple plasters.
"Now, give me that cheek of yours for a second, and then take your shirt off so I can take a look at your body."
"Araide-han, my back's fine. I've been livin' like this th' last six years."
"I know you have, Hattori-kun, and that can become dangerous." Tomoaki sighed as he gently dabbed at the cut on Heiji's face. It was dangerously close to the boy's left eye. "I'll also have to call the three others up soon to see how everything is..."
"Ya mean ya plan on studyin' our systems an' wing cycles, don'tcha?"
"I...personally would've put that in politer terms so you don't get offended," Tomoaki admitted after a flinch, and continued as he plastered a band-aid "but yeah, that and the fact that I still have to check up on your torsos- especially Kudo-kun's."
"Just don't use those terms in front a' Hakuba an' s'okay, but whaddya mean by saying especially Kudo's?" Heiji frowned. Tomoaki motioned for him to take his shirt off, and the dark-skinned detective obeyed.
"You, Kuroba-kun and Hakuba-kun got a more or less proper treatment thanks to Kudo-kun having good sewing skills that I still can't figure out where he got them from, but Kudo-kun's was a lot more rushed since he came in last and the members of the Dark Ring were already starting to come after us." Tomoaki sighed, still somehow managing to sound professional. He gave Heiji a soft punch in the back, making the boy straighten up and let him see the oversized- and horribly fresh-looking- scar marks. From what Tomoaki could see (thought mostly only guess), they'd only just started mending again.
"How much does it hurt when you're walking around?" Tomoaki asked, looking carefully at every inch of them.
"It don' hurt at all." Heiji replied. "I mean, ya'd think I wouldn't be used ta it by now."
"Don't lie, it took you everything to not show any reaction when that officer patted you down, didn't it?" Tomoaki sighed again, pulling back a little and resting a hand on the boy's back. Heiji didn't succeed in hiding a painful twitch, or maybe he didn't even try considering he'd let out a hiss as well.
At the same time as Tomoaki shifted to see Heiji's cut mark in the front, someone shouted throughout the house.
"Tomoaki! Tomoaki, where are you?" the voice of Tomoaki's grandmother called out.
"I'm in the washroom taking care of Hattori-kun, Obaa-san!" he shouted back, but a little too late. The house maid had just walked in, and skidded to a halt with a gasp of surprise and embarrassment as she spotted the two young men.
"T-Tomoaki-san! Hattori-san! I-I'm so sorry, I-"
"It's alright, Hikaru-chan." Tomoaki smiled gently. "You didn't expect to see us in here."
"I- um- I'm really sorry!" Hikaru apologized again, bowing. "Ah, but Hattori-san, what happened to you? Tomoaki-san said that you would need three days before you recover..."
"Yeah, I kinda took the pill earlier than I should've." Heiji admitted with a sheepish grin. "But that's okay, I ain't gonna die yanno!"
"I hope so. I really liked your wings, they're beautiful." she smiled back before realising what she'd just said and blushing violently. "I-I'm going to go prepare dinner!" Heiji couldn't help but blink as she ran off.
"...Now I'm th' one who's embarrassed..." he mumbled, his cheeks tinged with pink. Tomoaki chuckled.
"Alright Hattori-kun, turn towards me. Right. ...Hmm...I think we can take the thread out soon, so we might as well take care of it before you go to bed tonight."
"Yanno, sometimes ya make it sound like I'm just a kid." Heiji smirked.
"Sorry." Tomoaki smiled back. "Alright, I'll go ask Tou-san for some soothing cream and some bandages so we can put them on after we removed the stitches in the front. It should feel better tomorrow morning."
"Thanks, Araide-han."
Speaking of Tomoaki's father, they could now hear him screaming at the house maid for staining his shirt. With water. The young doctor shook his head and headed out.
xXx
Heiji always thought that there were certain things in the Araide household that could be better. He never voiced them, since he'd only been there for slightly more than two weeks, but first impressions could be very telling. And actually, it had more or less been the same procedure every day.
After standing up and following Tomoaki out of the room (he tried to call him Araide in his mind so he didn't end up talking to him in a too familiar way when at school, but here it was hard to think and tell the difference between this Araide, that Araide, the other Araide and the last Araide, so he was kind of forced to think and address him by his first name), he quickly rushed into "his" bedroom and started looking through his schoolbag to find his schedule for the next day. Depending on Tomoaki's decision, he'd probably have to either go back right away, or he'd be allowed to stay at home for three days like planned. Personally, Heiji preferred being allowed to go back to school- staying alone with nothing to do was a horrible experience Heiji sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to ever deal with in his life again.
Coming back down the steps, Heiji passed by grandmother Mitsu with a quick greeting before looking for Tomoaki again. He wanted to discuss the school-matter with him as soon as possible so they had time to debate it instead of rushing the end decision. Heiji found Tomoaki talking to his father in the living room.
"I'm sorry, Tou-san, we didn't have time to clean things up before you came back." Tomoaki apologized.
"Don't worry son, you should leave cleaning to the house maid. Then again, I wouldn't rely on her too much, she's too clumsy."
"She's really making an effort to help, Tou-san, you shouldn't be so hard on her."
"Maybe I can help do somethin'?" Heiji offered, making the two men turn to him.
"Your help would be very much appreciated Hattori-kun, but I refuse that you move around and bend over too much before tomorrow."
Heiji gave him a deadpan stare. "Sheesh, I know ya say that in my best int'rests, but do ya have ta be so uptight about everythin' I do?"
Tomoaki smiled. "If you're really dying to be able to do something, we might as well get that cream on now instead of tonight and then you can help Yoko-san with cooking once she gets back, deal?"
"Aw man, I suck at cookin'..." Heiji muttered, but agreed anyway. Instead of heading back to the washroom, Tomoaki led Heiji to the small clinic of the house. Without thinking too much, Heiji sat onto the available bed and pulled his shirt off before waiting for Tomoaki's instructions.
"Alright Hattori-kun, face towards me so I can pull the stitches out."
Heiji sat still, silent and unmoving, while Tomoaki pulled the thin thread out piece by piece, quietly focusing to not make any mistakes. It took a while, but when Tomoaki finally finished, Heiji let out a sigh of relief and fell back onto the bedcovers.
"Oi, Araide-han?" Heiji started as Tomoaki went and fumbled around with a couple of drawers to find the healing cream thing. "About school..."
"Ah, yeah. You probably want to go back instead of staying here, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, you can go." Tomoaki smiled, pulling out a tub of cream he'd just found. "Just put on a mask and pretend like you still have a very serious cough or something."
"Sure, an' can I skip out on class in th' mornin'?"
Tomoaki blinked in surprise. "Eh? Why?"
"Sports." Heiji replied flatly.
"Oh. I get it. That's a good idea."
"Thanks, Araide-han."
"Tomoaki-san!" Hikaru called, running into the clinic. She came to a halt and gasped in surprise as she saw that Heiji was- once again- shirtless, but quickly came back to her senses and looked at Tomoaki, holding out a phone. "Tomoaki-san, it's one of your clients- Hashimoto-san."
"Oh, this is going to take a while." Tomoaki sighed, giving Heiji and apologetic look. "I have an idea- Hikaru-chan, could you do this for me? Please take this cream and rub it on Hattori-kun's back. Unless you have a problem with Hikaru-chan doing...?"
"Nah, I'm fine with it...I guess. But is Hikaru-chan okay with doin' that?"
"I- I think I can take care of it. I just have to spread it out evenly without hurting him, right?"
"Yeah, that's it. Thank you, Hikaru-chan." Tomoaki smiled before accepting the phone and walking away with it.
There was something of an awkward silence before Hikaru snapped out of it and opened the tub of cream. She then walked over to Heiji, asked him to turn around a bit so she could reach his back, and sat beside him. Heiji let out a hiss as her fingers touched him and tensed slightly.
"Oh, I'm sorry! D-Did I hurt you?"
"Nah, it only stings a bit- but I didn't expect th' cream ta be so damn cold!"
Hikaru giggled a little at the reply and continued to spread the cream out. While Heiji had indeed spent his life living with the pain and learning to try and ignore it, he'd have never thought that the healing cream would work a miracle and actually make him feel better.
"I, um, I'm sorry for what I said earlier." Hikaru continued. Heiji blinked.
"Whaddya mean?"
"About your wings, I said it without thinking, and- well, I mean..."
"Are ya regrettin' sayin' it or somethin'? Ya shouldn't be."
This time, it was Hikaru's turn to blink. "Eh?"
"It really made me happy ta hear someone say that." Heiji smiled. "I was probably more embarrassed than you were, considerin' that- well, I think it's th' first time someone even ever said that ta me at all. An' it means a lot ta me that you an' th' Araide's understand my situation an' accept me as I am. It really does."
"I- I don't deserve that much praise..." Hikaru mumbled, probably blushing even if Heiji couldn't see it. "I'm clumsy and always do something wrong, so I..."
"Since when is bein' clumsy a crime? Everyone makes mistakes, it's only human. Even I make some- th' last time I made one I got a good scoldin' from Hakuba, but even he knows that ya can't always have everythin' go th' way ya want." Heiji smiled and gave a shrug. "Life is like a flow of water, either ya go with it or against it, ya just don't get much out of goin' the other way, and life pulls ya back it's way in th' end anyway."
"...Wow, that was nice. It sounded like the kind of line that belongs in a philosophy book."
"...Heck, you're right! Where th' hell did I pick that line up from?" Heiji asked aloud, making Hikaru giggle again.
"Stop laughing you two!" Yoshiteru's voice suddenly boomed, making them stop immediately and stare stunned at the figure standing in the doorway. "Hikaru, you weren't hired to flirt with guests, now finish up what you're supposed to do and get to the next task!"
"Y-Yes, Araide-san!" Hikaru blurted out, watching Yoshiteru turn around and leave again. Heiji sent a deadpan glare after him.
"Geez, can't ya even have a nice chat with someone every once in a while? What's with that stick in th' behind attitude- oh, wait wait wait, I think he's remindin' me of someone- wait, no, Hakuba's worse, so I can't use him as th' victim in this one..." Heiji muttered thoughtfully. Hikaru snorted, immediately hiding it with a fake cough. Heiji turned around as Hikaru finished spreading the cream and reached for the bandages next.
"Hikaru-chan, if there's one thing I can say ta ya: don't let that guy pull ya down. Ya can't let him get ta ya, ya can't let him trample your feelins', ya can't let him make ya feel like you're nothin' but mud at his feet. Ya can be clumsy, ya can make mistakes, he can fire ya from your job, but if there's one thing he can't take away from ya it's your kind heart. Make sure ya don't lose it."
Hikaru first blushed and stared at him for a while, but in the end she smiled at him. "Thank you, Hattori-san."
"Ya can call me by my first name. When Yoshiteru-san ain't around. So: buddies?"
Hikaru's smile widened into a grin "Alright, Heiji-san. Buddies." Heiji and Hikaru gave each other a high-five before Tomoaki came walking back in, a little confused about the overly-happy look on their faces, but decided to not ask any questions and simply smiled.
xXx
"Lucifer."
A swirl of wind arose in the enclosed stone room at the quiet call of Akako's voice as the witch slowly stepped back. A figure slowly formed over the star-shaped symbol on the small circular table.
"Who dares call me?"
"I do." Akako replied firmly. "Lucifer, there are things I want to ask you."
There was a long moment of silence.
"I am waiting for your attention, Lucifer." Akako finally said.
"I was simply wondering what on earth you would want to ask this time. You cannot expect me to begin stalking Him just because of your undying curiosity."
"As wonderful of an idea as that sounds, I came to ask about someone other than him this time." Akako replied, making Lucifer stare in semi-shock. She smirked. "Actually, there are four of them. Their names are Kudo Shinichi, Kuroba Kaito, Hattori Heiji and Hakuba Saguru."
Akako waited for Lucifer to say something. Except that there was another very long waiting time.
"Lucifer." Akako growled warningly, hoping he'd react at her tone.
"...What is it you want to ask about them, exactly?"
This didn't sound good.
"They showed up two weeks ago, and they have particular auras I've never seen before. They are similar to the others', yet still different. Why is that?"
Another long pause. Except that this time, Akako didn't have to call his name again.
"They are the other half of the puzzle you so desperately seek to solve, yet there are still missing pieces needed to be found. He already knows, and He is preparing the stage for when the time comes. He sees what is to come, and He shall be the one to answer all of your questions when He deems the time is right."
"Does it have something to do with that Heart-thing you mentioned last time?" Akako asked quickly before Lucifer could vanish.
"...The Heart must remain hidden as long as possible, for there are those who seek to use the Heart's pureness for their own greed."
"But what is the Heart?" Akako demanded, this time a little too late. Lucifer was already gone.
She sighed, and sourly walked out of the summoning room, closing the massive wooden door behind her as the flames on the torches flickered and eventually burned out.
xXx
"...Now where is she? What happened to her?"
"Stop it. There's no use in asking."
"Where is she, Gin?"
"I told you to stop."
"Well, fine then. I'll stop working until you tell me what I want to know."
"...It's pointless. You'll never get the answers you want."
She didn't look up at him as he stopped by her. He kneeled so that he wouldn't be looking down at her. She smirked mentally. Even in a situation like this, that man took care of her like a worrying father.
"...Why?" came the silent question.
"I'm sorry, Redwood. But this is the choice I've made."
Silence. She slowly raised her head, and smiled weakly.
"I guess...I'll never be free, huh?"
"Don't say that. Of course you will."
He said that, but she knew there was no helping her.
All she could do was sit and wait for her end to come.
I corrected it the moment I saw it while re-reading, but when I first wrote Araide saying "Take your shirt off so I can take a look at your body", I missed a letter while typing and it ended up as "So I can take a look at our body". I gotta admit, I thought "wtf did I write"? XD
IMPORTANT: Okay, not so important really, but for you people who like to skip author notes like I do, I figured I should underline that word so you stop to read this part like the others do and so I can bring your attention to the fact that I wrote a sub-chapter that you can read by using the following link...
http:// birds-of-a-feather. ohmyforum. net/ sub-chapters-f4/ chapter-20b-forget-what-others-think-of-you-t7. htm
...after taking the spaces away, of course. It's on the (still unfinished) "Birds of a Feather" forum, just so you know.
Actually I called it a sub-chapter because it's a part of the story, but that you don't have to read to understand what's going on. Sub-chapters will all be OC-centered, so for those who don't like OC-centered chapters/stories/bonuses/whatever, well you won't have to follow the link, and you won't feel like you missed something important XD I didn't make it an omake because I decided that the omakes are...unrelated to the story and mostly crack ideas anyway.
Comments on the sub-chapter can either be added in a review here, or in the DCMK discussion section of the forum. (Wow, I sound like those adversiment suckers...so what? XD)
Mangaluva: Yes, I love Akako too XP But as far as the pairing is concerned, you're gonna have to wait for a while...XD As for Lucifer's thought on the boys...well...XD
LeonaWriter: Welcome to the fic, glad you like it so far. I completely forgot people actually still go and look at the fan-trailer vid, so I was surprised when I found your comment XD As far as the OCs are concerned, they will have a role later on, but I'm not saying what obviously XP I'm actually having trouble with them because I'm trying to balance their role and their appearances...s'not easy '__' Also, about the canon manga classmates, I put them in when I find some names and faces. The only ones that I can think of off the top of my head are Nakamichi and Aizawa (Shinichi's soccer buddies), but I'll definitely be adding at least some of the others. For your request to see the others in their new homes, you just reminded me of another issue I have to deal with XD Added them to the timeline, they'll show up soon...well, kinda '__'
Marie Ravenclaw: Actually I'm also all for meeting people, but whenever I finally get to those kind of places I end up sitting in a corner by myself because I'm too shy to go and talk XD Besides, I'm a weird person, so I doubt we'd stay friends...Like I said, I only have four that I feel close to, one of them being my boyfriend and two others living in different countries, so in the end I stay in front of the screen and write and read and watch DC episodes and sometimes meet people through online games (but I don't more often than do) XD And yeah, that's how we shall call him from now on..."Lucy-chan" *dies*
Animegirl1987: To be honest I have trouble remembering everything so I have to keep going back to re-read some of my previous chapters to make sure all the details fit. There's a lot of juggling to do between their lives in the Dark Ring, their fake pasts, their current lives, the excuses the boys need to make up for all the things that can't be hidden, the way they try to put the pieces together to make everything believable (and actually I might have screwed up on the timing because I wrote that two weeks have passed since their first school day even though it might be three, it's confusing enough that even I can't do the math) I like to say I'm stupid and suck as far as schoolwork is concerned, others like to say I'm smart and am denying my potential. I like to think that my so-called hidden intelligence applies to remembering 'useless' things, but at least it helps me with the fic XD
A Smiling Cat: You keep saying that again every month, so I think I got the point XD And craziness is what brought this fic up in the first place B3 Merci pour les commentaires tout de même, j'les apprécie beaucoup XP
Aiko96: Sorry for making your stomach hurt XD But it was too good for me to not put that in though. No idea how I even thought of it, but oh well XD
MidnightSushiNinja: I still can't remember where the heck the idea came from. But I think it started off as meant to be a fic about "what if the Gosho Boys were from the BO?", which they're not anymore due to circumstances (haha). Once again, to all readers, sorry for making it a monthly update only but I'm such a slug when it comes to writing XD
Static Messenger: You're not the first one to have commented about how the story resembles "Maximum Ride", but I still don't know what it is really XD Well, I do if I look at what I've written up to now, I've just never read MR =P