Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Chapter Rating: T

Collection Summary: No matter where or what they are, their lives are always entwined. KaiShin stories in fantasy settings.

Chapter Summary: A promising lead in the investigation of Toichi's murder takes Kaito and Shinichi to the home of the secretive Ebon Mages.

Chasing Shadows

[Castle Verse]

Part 1

It had taken a lot longer than Shinichi had anticipated to find the heist that those guests at the Shiratori wedding had been discussing. He had thought at first that those three had been members of law enforcement from within Kaito's lands and therefore the information must relate to the stolen goods lists that were sent to the castle regularly. But it turned out he had guessed incorrectly.

Those three had been special guests of the young master Shiratori, who had actually spent the last ten years working as a police officer in the kingdom where the city of Lady Akako could be found. He had gone there, one of the Shiratoris' servants told Shinichi, because he believed the woman of his dreams was one of the other officers working over in the area. It hadn't been until recently that he had met Miss Kobayashi during one of his visits home and realized that it was the young school teacher that he had been searching for.

But that was neither here nor there.

The point was, Shinichi found that he had been looking at the wrong records because he should have been looking beyond the Kurobas' borders.

He found what he was looking for when he began researching some of the kingdoms beyond Akako's city. One of those was a small but powerful and secretive kingdom named Ebon from which information was difficult to acquire and to which outsiders almost never went. Some of the only people allowed in and out on a regular basis were merchants, and of those, only those with the highest quality goods were truly welcomed. Precious stones and jewelry were particularly sought after.

The gemstones that had been stolen had been from a delivery to one of this reclusive kingdom's neighbors. The robbery itself had occurred right on the border in the mountains between it and said neighbor, and it was suspected that the robbers had taken the stolen goods into Ebon to sell. There was no hard evidence of this, however, and the kingdom itself claimed that neither the robbers nor the stolen goods had anything to do with them, forcing their neighbors to content themselves with searching their own lands and the parts of the mountain range outside of Ebon territory. The braver law enforcement investigators might have ventured further, especially since the robbers had murdered so many, but Ebon's borders were protected by a powerful order of magicians.

"The Ebon Mages, eh?" Kaito leaned back in his chair as he studied the documents Shinichi had laid out before him. "They certainly look suspicious, now that we know Pandora's a gem. They've always had a thing for precious stones in that country. The Oyumis told me about it too. Most goods have to be carefully screened for quality and acceptability before a merchant can even think about taking them over the border, not to mention the merchant has to pay a fee, but anyone bringing precious stones is exempt. They're only required to bring those stones to the Ebon Magicians Order first. Anything the Order doesn't buy, they can sell in the rest of the city."

"It sounds like a good way to get people to help you search for a specific gemstone," Shinichi pointed out. "Even if they're not directly involved in the case with your father, I think they could be a good source of information."

Kaito frowned. "I suppose you may be right. Or we could be barking up completely the wrong tree and these people are just gemstone fanatics. They do exist. And a lot of magic can be worked or amplified with the use of precious stones, so they could also just be monopolizing a good resource for their craft."

"Well, I can try to do some more digging, but information about Ebon is pretty hard to come by."

"Don't. That lot gets really touchy when they find people looking into them. I'd prefer not to alert them to our interest."

"But you do want to investigate them, don't you?" Shinichi prodded. He didn't for a moment believe otherwise. "To see if they might have been connected to your father's murder."

Kaito mulled this over for a long moment before nodding. "I do want to know. I didn't think of them before because I'd heard they rarely attend magical gatherings of any kind and don't deal with magicians from other lands, but maybe…" He shook his head. "Well, they're too far away, and we know next to zilch about them. With their secrecy, we're going to have to go there ourselves if we want answers."

"I believe their laws forbid magicians from other countries from visiting unless under the strict supervision of one of their Order Magicians."

"We won't go as magicians."

"Do you have a plan for getting them to let you in?"

Kaito smirked. "Have you forgotten already? The Oyumis said we'd be welcome if we ever wanted to go back to work for them. I'll contact them now and see if they do any trading up at Ebon."

"Wait, but if we're asking the Oyumis, you're intending to go as—"

"The charming young Kozuki couple, enjoying our married life as we explore new places," Kaito declared, grinning. "It'll be perfect."

-0-

Perfect was not the word Shinichi would have used for Kaito's plan, though he would admit that it had merit. The Oyumi family ran a well established merchant business, so, if they would allow him and Kaito to use their name, they could avoid suspicion while gaining access not only to Ebon but also to their magicians. After all, showing the Ebon Mages their wares would be a quick and easy way to meet the mages and evaluate their character and possible interests. So yes, Shinichi had to admit that the plan had its merits. There was really only one reason it was not a perfect plan, and that was the fact that he would have to be Kozuki Shina, Kozuki Kaito's young wife. Again.

To be entirely honest, Shinichi didn't mind having to pretend to be Kaito's wife. After all, they were already a couple, so pretending that it was official didn't change anything between them. He didn't particularly like having to wear a dress (he'd argued that plenty of women did not wear dresses, but Kaito had pointed out that, last time they had been in the city, Shina had mostly worn dresses, and therefore she should do so now to stay in character), but at least the dresses were only necessary when he was in public. What bothered him most, however, was having to act like a newlywed girl as he made small talk with the Oyumi women and female employees.

"So~, is there a little one on the way yet?" Lady Oyumi asked with a teasing smile.

Blushing bright red, Shinichi stuttered.

"Oh mother, stop teasing her," the Oyumis' daughter said, shooting Shinichi a wink that only made the librarian go redder. "Children can't be rushed."

"That's true enough," Minako, one of the merchant company's textile experts put in. "Yuuji and I had a hard time of it. Was five years before we had our Yuri. Not that we didn't enjoy the tryin', mind you," she added with a laugh.

Shinichi was rather glad that he was no longer the only one blushing.

The younger of the Oyumi women coughed. "I meant that you should make sure you're ready to take care of a child before you actually have one. Since Shina and Kaito still want to travel and see more of the world, it would make sense to wait."

"True enough," her mother agreed. "But you don't want to wait too long. Children can be a handful. You gotta have energy to keep up with them, especially if you're looking to have more than one."

This comment sparked a discussion about the many humorous and exasperating antics of their children between the older women present, leaving Shinichi to breathe a sigh of relief. He turned to the younger Oyumi, who, like him, had little to say about the trials of parenthood.

"It really is good to see you're all doing well," he said. "But you really didn't have to go to the trouble of throwing us a party. I mean, I know it's always pretty busy around here. We didn't mean to be a hassle."

She laughed. "Throwing a party's no hassle. If anything, we should thank you for giving us the excuse to party. Like you said, it's always busy here. It's good to take a break now and then. And we're glad to see you both are well too. Have you seen anything interesting on your travels?"

Shinichi told her about a few of his and Kaito's escapades, though he was careful to leave out any details about their true identities and Kaito's magic.

"It certainly sounds like you guys are having fun," she said when he was done. "There are a lot of truly beautiful places on the way to Ebon too. I'm sure you'll love it."

"Have you been to Ebon?" Shinichi asked curiously.

The girl shrugged. "Only once about four years ago. Since it's such a difficult kingdom to get into, I was really curious about it, so I asked Father to let me go with the caravan. He didn't want to let me at first, it being such a very long way away, but I kept asking and asking until he finally gave in."

"So how was it?"

"Well, I liked a lot of the places we stopped at along the way a lot more, to be honest. The kingdom's pretty small—just one really large city, really. And it had some beautiful architecture. But the atmosphere was…" She struggled for a moment with her words before shaking her head. "It wasn't exactly unfriendly, but it wasn't an inviting feeling really. The people there almost never spoke to me unless I said something to them first. And there was always this kind of creepy feeling that I was being watched."

"That…sounds kind of forbidding."

"It does, doesn't it? But that was four years ago. So maybe things are different now. And, well, I was only there for three days. The Ebon Mages bought all the stones we had with us, so we had no reason to linger. If the place had been less, you know, I might have liked to stay and explore more. But as it was, we just packed up and left. Maybe it would have been better if we'd stayed longer and really gotten to know the local."

"Maybe," Shinichi conceded. "I'll let you know how it goes. I think Kaito wants to stay for at least two to three weeks. Ebon's supposed to have some great private libraries he's hoping to get a look at."

"Good luck with that. Oh! There's one thing you have to try when you get there! It's this fruit they have. Ebon's the only place they grow, so they call them Ebon Cherries. They're absolutely divine! They use it in all kinds of desserts and drinks. If you could bring some back, that would be a godsend!"

"I'll keep that in mind," Shinichi promised, chuckling. "I guess you won't be going with us then?"

"No. I'll be going to that big trade festival being held next week. Dad will probably send Ethan with you. He knows the area best. Grew up near the foot of the mountains there. He's the one that mainly handles our contacts with the Ebon Mages so that they know to open their barriers for us."

"I see." Shinichi filed away the name for later. It would surely be important.

A few minutes later, Lord Oyumi and the rest of the men seated at his table stood, signaling that it was time for the dancing to start. Everyone in the dining hall stood and streamed into the adjoining ballroom. Shinichi hadn't gone three steps when Kaito appeared next to him and took his arm.

"Have a good chat?" he teased. "That was quite the blush."

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Oh be quiet. And hurry up. The music's starting."

"I never knew you enjoyed dancing so much."

"I don't. I heard they hired the Nightingale Troupe. They're supposed to be incredible musicians. I want listen."

Kaito laughed and lengthened his stride, tugging Shinichi with him. "Understood. But you will dance with me."

-To Be Continued-