Chapter 38

Chikage felt worried.

Kaito had been missing since hours ago. Of course, this wasn't exactly a rare thing, especially when there was a new heist to prepare for. But he always told her before he went out to do something like that, and he almost always took Jii with him. She had phoned Jii, who professed concern over Kaito's disappearance.
It was strange, really. Kaito didn't seem to need Jii at his heists as much as he used to. Jii had said it was because he was becoming more independent; Chikage privately thought that it had more to do with that Shinichi Kudo detective who usually showed up at his heists.

She paced up and down the hall, trying to decide what to do. He wasn't at Aoko's, wasn't researching for a heist, and wasn't pranking Hakuba. She felt panicked. Toichi was gone, and she had no other family to speak of. Kaito was all she had left.

Where could he be?

Chikage had a brain wave. She went to her computer and looked up a name. Kudo, Kudo... there! And there was the phone number.

Chikage picked up the house phone and began to dial.

Shinichi was awoken by bright flashes behind her eyelids. She sat upright, clutching her head. The flashing stopped.

You wouldn't wake up, Pandora said. Its face was unnaturally white.

"What", Shinichi snapped, "do you want?" She was more tired than usual, due to a fake heist note that had taken around ten minutes to decipher, and an hour to explain. It had been hard to convince Nakamori that the heist note had been fake.

It's Kaito.

"What's Kaito?" Shinichi rubbed sleep from her eyes. It was still dark outside.

No! Kaito's the reason I woke you up! He's in trouble!

"He is?" Shinichi looked at Pandora sharply. "You've been stalking him again, haven't you?"

Pandora looked guilty. No, I... I haven't left the house.

Shinichi's eyes narrowed. "You made a... link with him, haven't you?"

The jewel shifted guiltily. Well...

"Did you get his permission?" Shinichi's piercing blue eyes bored into the transparent figure in front of her.

Pandora reddened, avoiding Shinichi's eyes.

"Pandora! You can't just make a link with people's minds without permission!"

Never mind that, Pandora said hastily. Kaito's in trouble!

"Being-chased-by-an-angry-Hakuba trouble, or trouble trouble? Because remember when you couldn't tell the difference, and you-"

Pandora hesitated. Does being buried alive count as trouble trouble?

Shinichi stared, her face whitening. "Buried alive?"

The phone rang.

Kaito had managed to calm himself down sufficiently enough that he could think clearly. The gasping had stopped, which was good- it meant less of his air was being used up. He had tried searching for his phone, a torch, something to light the suffocating darkness inside the box, but he had left his phone and torch inside his bag, which had evidently been taken away from him. There wasn't any doubt as to where he was now- the scattering of soil across the floor of his coffin only served to show him how horribly correct he was.

The coffin was made of some sort of cheap, wood-like material, almost cardboard. He would have broken out by now, only he was afraid of the soil above him rushing in, covering his face, suffocating him.

His breathing quickened again, and he tried to calm down.

Don't breath and swallow, a voice by his ear said. That'll make you hyperventilate.

Kaito jumped violently. His injured head bounced off of the floor, and he saw stars for a moment. He felt a weird sensation on his shoulders, like the stuffy air in the coffin was trying to hold him down. He stilled and forced his breathing to become shallow.

"Pandora?!", he hissed.

Don't talk, Pandora ordered. Shut up, don't speak or anything. Just listen. We're gonna help get you out.

Kaito opened his mouth, then closed it again. He nodded, hoping Pandora could see in the dark.

Good, the jewel said, sounding relieved. Now listen carefully. You need to take off your shirt.

"Take off my-"

Shut up! Pandora waited until it was sure Kaito wasn't planning to speak again before saying, Look, it's not me saying this, it's Shinichi. She knows these things. Don't ask me why. Now, take your shirt off.

Kaito glared at where he thought Pandora was before beginning to struggle out of his shirt. He swallowed the pain of pulling his broken arm through the shirt sleeve, finally pulling the fabric off after what felt like a very painful eternity.

Now, Pandora said, in what Kaito considered a slightly too cheerful tone of voice, tie the bottom of it so it looks like a sack and put your head through the neck.

Vermouth poured herself a glass of water and leant against the counter of her temporary kitchen. She was staying in a rather nice hotel, although she would have to downgrade to a less extravagant one soon. It wouldn't do to make herself easy to track. She stared out of the window with a troubled look on her face.
Maybe burying the Kuroba boy alive hadn't been such a good idea after all. He was a love interest of Shinichi, and although she wasn't particularly interested in the girl's love life, she was interested in keeping on her good side. Her silver bullet still had to uphold her part of the deal, after all...

But at least that Black Organisation agent had been dealt with. It had irritated her that Shinichi Kudo had been noticed and marked down for watching so soon, although being shot at a KID heist would draw attention to you. Good thing that Shinichi had noticed him so soon. She had evidently come to the same conclusion as Vermouth did- that they suspected her to be an imposter. The detective had been smart enough to act accordingly. Too bad that Vermouth wasn't quite so patient.
Vermouth had killed the agent in a way that was very unlike her, spattering brains across that neat little apartment with a wooden bat, unlike the clean, smooth way that bullets had of killing. Everyone knew her favorite way of killing was with a gun, and this way, the killing would not be traced back to her. She had even stolen a few valuable items to make it seem as though the Black Organisation agent had just walked in on a thief in his home, and paid the price of it.
She knew particularly Gin's habit of easily making assumptions. Hopefully, this would throw him off of her track.

It had been fun, though. She hadn't felt the raw, savage emotions that came with killing for a while now. And it would be interesting to see whether the Kuroba boy would survive or not. She had just been planning to just kill him in a different location, but then decided to play a game. She deserved a treat now and again. If he died, he died; if he survived, then she would have a new toy to play around with.

Vermouth smiled as she sipped her water.

Kaito tried not to panic as dirt rushed into the coffin. He used his feet to push the dirt down to the bottom of the coffin, rising and pushing it into the space he had just vacated, as per Pandora's instructions.

Stand up, Pandora said.

Kaito groaned as he stood, pushing the soil underneath him to make room for him to straighten. It had obviously rained at some point, and the soil was heavy and damp.

Now climb. Push the soil out of the way. We'll be waiting for you.

Kaito felt Pandora disappear and felt panicked again. He tried to push the soil out of the way, only able to use one hand, got so far up, and stopped. His arms and shoulders were aching. The soil was too heavy to push out of the way. He was surrounded by dirt and darkness. His air was gone. He had a sudden black moment where he wondered if he would be trapped in this nightmare forever.

A hand burst through the soil and closed around his wrist. He was yanked upwards slowly, and he kicked at the soil around him to speed up his ascent. He felt his upper body break through the cold surface of the ground. The shirt on his head was yanked away and he was dumped unceremoniously onto the ground. Mud clung to his cheek and grass tickled his nostrils. He cracked open one eye to see Shinichi kneeling beside him, clutching her shoulder. She pulled the rest of his body from the earth and rolled him over onto his back. She was saying something, but he couldn't hear her.

"Thank you", Kaito croaked, and then he passed out.

Chikage ran her fingers through Kaito's hair, and flicked out a few flecks of dirt. She had managed to get the majority of the earth off, but he would still have to shower once he woke up. She looked up as Shinichi entered the room, pushing her sleeves down. She had just been washing the mud from her hands and arms. There was mud on her knees and sleeves, and on her chest where she had dragged Kaito from the earth. There were ugly red marks on her shoulder where she had strained to pull Kaito out.

"Is he alright?", she said hesitantly.

Chikage, her eyes fixed on the marks, nodded. Her throat had constricted.

"Oh, good. Good", Shinichi said, nodding. She flicked a glance at Kaito, her eyes lingering on the blood on his head, and the odd angle of his arm. There may have been blood on his chin, but the dirt was particularly thick there. "I think he may need to go to a hospital?" It was phrased as a question.

Chikage shook her head. "He's had worse. I know people who can fix him up."

Shinichi nodded. She shuffled uncertainly, then moved towards the doorway. "I'd, uh, better go. I hope he gets better", she added.

"Shinichi?", Chikage said, as the detective reached the doorway. "May I call you Shinichi?"

Shinichi nodded. "If you'd like."

Chikage ran her fingers through Kaito's hair again. "You're a detective?"

"Yes."

"And you know Kaito's secret?"

"... Well, yes. If we're talking about the same secret."

Chikage opened her mouth, hundreds of words all fighting to get out at once. Most of them were questions. "Thank you", she said finally.

Shinichi nodded, recognizing that Chikage wasn't just talking about that night. "You're welcome", she said. She lingered for a moment or two, her eyes fixed on Kaito's pale, mud-encrusted face, before leaving.

A few days later, Kaito caused a stir by arriving at school with a bandage on his head, his arm in a cast, and a huge, bloody bruise covering half his cheek and part of his lip. He showed a revolted Hakuba his missing teeth almost proudly, and let the class sign his cast. He explained away his injuries by mentioning what slippery steps the tube station had after a rain fall.
Midway through the day, Akako pulled him aside.

"Alright, what really happened?", she demanded.

"Whaaat?", Kaito said innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Akako!"

"Last night", she said slowly, "I saw you getting buried alive."

Kaito hesitated. "Do you mean that you literally saw me getting buried, or was it one of your twitchy moments?"

Akako blinked at him. "Twitchy moments?"

Kaito made a series of arm movements that somehow managed to convey the word witchcraft.

"I- yes, it was like that. I had a vision, of sorts", Akako said, trying to get back into her interrogating role.

"Then why didn't you help me?", Kaito said indignantly. Granted, his classmate had attempted to kill him a few times before, but he hadn't really expected this of her.

"How could I help you if I didn't know where you were?", she snapped. "Now- how did you get out?"

"Why do you care?", Kaito said huffily. For someone who had recently thought him dead, he had expected little more relief. Instead, she was just being her usual haughty self.

"You were supposed to die. How did you cheat death?"

Kaito eyed her for a few moments, then smirked. "Who knows?", he said, shrugging. "I guess I just got lucky."

"Did someone help you?", she said doggedly, her cheeks beginning to flush from anger. "Did something help you? Humans can't cheat death by themselves, you know! What help did you have?"

Kaito thought of Pandora, looked at Akako, and decided not to say anything. Instead, he grinned and turned away. Akako watched in mute frustration as he walked back to Aoko and those of his classmates who had not yet signed his cast.

She cast her mind back to the time she had first met the thief, and searched her memories from there, for any sign of otherworldly activity. From the moment she had woken up at three in the morning, panting and sweating from the horrible vision, she had been certain that she would never see him again. Even now she could see Kaito being put into a coffin, being buried under heavy, damp soil. Waking up, gasping, hyperventilating, screaming, clawing at the lid of his coffin until his fingernails broke, kicking until it gave way and dirt flooded in...

She shuddered. When he had sauntered into school in that cocky, arrogant way of his, five minutes late, bursting with vitality and... life, she had almost had a heart attack there and then. She had slipped through the crowd intent on signing his cast and ogling his injuries like a ghost, because every good witch knew how to unseen when she wanted to, and grasped his arm, pressing her skin against his to convince herself that he was really there.
She had watched him through break time, as he flipped Aoko's skirt and shrieked when he realized that having a broken arm wasn't reason enough for her to refrain from hitting him. She had watched him through class, as he drove the teachers to desperation all through the lesson, and ended it with finishing all the work flawlessly and effortlessly. And she had cornered him at lunch to find out just how he got out of dying.

Akako wasn't really worried about the fact he had not died. This was not a fanciful horror film- no monsters would come looking because he had not died when he was meant to, no people would die in his place to restore some weird life-death balance. But she was worried about the consequences. There was a chance something not quite human had come to him in his time of need and struck a bargain with him. His life, in exchange for something not quite specified. His first new-born's life, for instance. It was a bit of a cliché, one that featured quite a lot in fairy tales, but that was usually what they asked for. There were a lot of things that could be accomplished with the possession of a pure, new-born's soul, especially if you were a demon of sorts.

Akako didn't want that.

But, in order to strike a bargain with someone, you have to be able to communicate with them. And the only way demons and suchlike were able to speak to people is to establish a mental link. To make a link, you have to be near them for a long, long time.

Akako recalled a certain day, in a certain café, where she had made a fool of herself by pointing out a weird, floating girl no one else could see.

Maybe...?

She remembered who it looked like. She remembered the other person who had been there.

Akako twisted a lock of plum hair between two slender fingers. Perhaps it's time I have a little talk with Shinichi Kudo.

Shinichi looked over the photos of all of the victims of the serial killer, dubbed the 'Ripper' by the media, so far. There wasn't any real puzzle to solve. All of the victims were similar in height, age, and facial structure. Even their skin colour was similar, which worried the detective, as the skin colours of the victims were nowhere close to Hattori's dark shade. Which made it unlikely that the 'Ripper' was the one responsible for the Osakan's disappearance.
But he had been abducted in the early hours of the morning, when the sky was at its darkest... Maybe the killer had kidnapped Hattori on a whim, not realizing that his appearance didn't match until it was too late?
It was a possibility.

All the recent victims, and there had been increasingly more, had shown signs of muscle cramping, taser and rope burns, and mild dehydration. They had also been wearing soiled clothing, which hinted at inadequate showering and toiletry facilities. In addition to this, the lack of blood spatters at the crime scene made it obvious that the victims were all being murdered elsewhere.
Shinichi knew her suspicions were being confirmed- the murderer's past mistakes had frightened him, and he was now kidnapping boys and murdering them in a place where he would not be disturbed. The fact that they had been returned to their homes hinted at a lack of hiding places for the bodies.

The very fact that so many people were being abducted and killed frightened Shinichi. This insinuated that the killer was either desperate for a kill, and couldn't wait for a long length of time without one, or that he just didn't care about being caught. Killers throughout history took their time with killing- weeks could go past without someone dying, and they often laid low until they felt the need to kill again. But this killer had killed over twenty people in a month. They were getting through victims fast. And now Hattori was gone, and Shinichi didn't know how long it would be until she ever saw him again.

Or if she would even ever see him alive.

Of course, all this information was pretty much useless when trying to find out where the killer killed his victims. Nothing he did hinted towards a location. The best they had to hope for was catching him in the act.

But all the victims had lived in a certain area. Policemen had been instructed to patrol there, and the area was in high alert.

Kaito lives around that area, Shinichi remembered.

She frowned, then turned to Pandora. "We never did get to tell Kaito about that serial killer, did we?"

The jewel shook its head. I expect his mother told him. It looked at the worried expression on Shinichi's face, then offered, Would you like me to keep an eye on him the next time he sneaks out?

Shinichi was quiet for a moment, her discomfort about invading Kaito's privacy warring with the need to keep him safe. "Oh... okay. Just don't make it obvious, alright?"

Pandora grinned proudly. Sure thing, Shin-chan!

Yellow police tape had been set up at the doorway to the apartment to deter curious civilians and reporters. A little way away, attempting to blend into the excitable crowd, were two men dressed in black.

"He's dead", said Vodka glumly.

Gin's eyes narrowed, the only sign to show that he had been listening to what his partner was saying.

"They said he had been beaten", Vodka continued. "The weapon was left there; a wooden bat. He doesn't have much of a head left, they said."

Gin looked sideways as the squat man. "A wooden bat?"

"Yeah. Dropped at the scene. There's other blood on there too. And some stuff was stolen."

Gin turned to go. "Doesn't seem like her..."

"Who?", said Vodka, a mystified expression setting up camp on his face.

"Vermouth." Gin hissed the name. It was quite the achievement, considering the lack of sibilants the name contained, but he nevertheless managed it.

"Doesn't she usually use a gun?"

Gin had been searching for a while now for some trace of her, to no avail. She wasn't the type to just disappear without a show. "I hate loose ends", he muttered. "And when I find her..."

He didn't bother to finish the sentence.

I think it's been like a year now since I first started this story in my notebook. I honestly did not expect it to go on for this long, although I think the huge length of time is mainly due to those month-long gaps between chapters ^.^' To those of you who are getting frustrated with the... lack of an ending, shall we say, I'm really sorry. And I do intend to finish it- hopefully within the year. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I was originally going to kill all the characters in this chapter to shock you all, until I told a friend and she begged me not to.
Maybe in another story, huh?
On a less violent note, I just thought I'd mention that Moonlight Magician is being translated into French by Cristal noir on this site. It's translated name is Le Magicien au Clair de Lune, so if any of you read better in French than in English, it might be worth checking it out ^.^ It's currently up to Chapter 9.

GirlOfAThousandDreams- Only one good-looking guy caught now. And you didn't sound bratty, it's fine to not want a character to die ^.^

Guest on the 9/18/13- I was going to kill everyone, but since you mentioned milk and cookies...

Other Guest on the 9/18/13- There you go, I spared him. Just because you asked so nicely :)

Yet another Guest on the 9/18/13- Glad you thought the chapter was improved ^.^ I thought about all the things that Kaito could suffer from after getting a beating, and losing teeth came to mind. Gross, but realistic, I think. It certainly has that ew-factor.

Bodil40- Any name is a good name, since it makes it easier to tell you guys apart ^.^

meitantei konan- Including those characters is something I'd like to do, but I can't- too many characters often makes me lose control of the story line. Although a Kaito girl outfit and Ran demonstrating her karate skills does sound like a good idea...