Disclaimer: Charries don't belong to me, so sorry Fyl, can't give them to you

Chapter 3

Shinichi stared at the young man in front of him. He was clad completely in white, the clothing style at least a century old. He almost seemed to be hovering a few inches off the ground, but Shinichi reasoned it was simply an illusion caused by the smoke still swirling around their legs and the youth being a few inches taller than himself. The strangest thing however, was that the other's face was nearly identical to his own.

The other seemed to notice this as well and moved forward to peer intently at Shinichi's face. "Now that's interesting," he mused, more to himself. "Descendant? No…I was the only one of my family left…pretty sure at least…maybe one of my future incarnations? Possibly…and makes sense since I'm here it would have been given someone else's soul…"

Narrowing his eyes, Shinichi took a step backwards to put some space between them. "Who are you?" he asked.

The other scratched his head. "Didn't I say already?" He shook his head. "Oi…I've only had a few owners and already things are blending together. Well then, whether I forgot or you just weren't listening, I'm the spirit thief, Kurobo Kaito, at your service.

Shinichi laughed. "Spirit? Nice try, but I don't believe in them." His laughter ceased, "However, based on what you've said, I'm fairly certain I know the true story."

"Oh?" Kaito asked, pulling his legs up to a sitting position, apparently interested in the theory.

Shinichi nodded. "First, you mentioned owners, so you are used to servitude, most likely as a slave or a normal, but poorly treated, servant. In either case, you must not have liked your employer very much, so you ran away. Unable to find work, you turned to thievery and so you wouldn't get caught, you used illusions and peoples' fear of superstitions to make them believe you are a spirit. Such as you are doing now." He swung his katana underneath Kaito, hoping to knock loose the pole or platform that was supporting him.

Kaito smirked as the blade passed underneath him, hitting nothing.

Shinichi blinked in surprise. "Maybe another support…?" He muttered to himself, starting to walk around the levitation figure, randomly hitting at spots, desperate to see through the trick.

By the time he was about to start his third revolution, Kaito rolled his eyes. "Look, am I going to have to break out into a full-fledged magic show accompanied by song and dance to convince you?"

With a glare, Shinichi aimed the flat of his blade towards him, wanting to give him a hard thwap on the arm.

He promptly sat down on the ground in shock when the sword passed through Kaito's torso. "You…you're a real…spirit. But…they aren't…not logical…"

Kaito waved a hand. "Magic doesn't follow logic, so of course spirits aren't logical. Most people accept it, but I guess you're one of those that need to see it to believe it." He leaned backwards, reclining in midair. "Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, I guess I should explain the rules to you."

Shinichi stared up at him blankly.

Kaito rolled his eyes. "You seem to worship logic and yet you don't seem to have figured out the situation here." He held up a finger, "First, I'm a spirit thief, can steal pretty much anything." He raised another finger, "Two, I'm connected to the rose," He jerked his head towards where Shinichi had dropped it before lifting one more finger, "And finally, you're the new owner of the rose."

The cogs whirred a bit in Shinichi's mind before it clicked. "So I have my own personal thief?"

Kaito grinned. "Now he gets it. But as I said before, there are rules and limits to this arrang-"

"Forget it," Shinichi interrupted, "Even if you're a spirit and not bound by mortal rules, I cannot bring myself to associate with any type of thief."

"You a lawman or something?" Kaito asked, sitting back up and floating down a few centimeters so he was eye to eye with Shinichi. "The rose's second owner was the captain of the emperor's army, and he found my help to be…well…helpful."

Shinichi scowled. "Probably a power-hungry, corrupt bastard."

Kaito shook his head. "Nope. In fact, the only times he summoned me were to gain information about invaders or potential assassination attempts. Great man...great sense of humor." He frowned. "Sadly enough, he died when the petals were half gone...the rose was kept at his shrine and some pretty nasty men stole it afterwards."

Shinichi didn't bother asking what he meant by 'when the petals were half gone.' He had another concern. "I'm not cursed with you until I die, am I?"

Kaito made a face. "You think of me as a curse? I'm hurt." He shook his head. "But no, you can pass me onto whoever you want. Only whomever owns the rose can summon me, not one person in particular."

"Good. I can dump you with someone else then."

"You sure there's nothing you want?"

"Of course there is. I'm just not resorting to thievery to get it."

The spirit shrugged. "Your decision then. If you change your mind, just pluck a petal off." There was a puff of smoke, much smaller than the first time, and he disappeared. Nearby, the rose glowed faintly for a moment before returning to normal.

Picking himself up off the ground, Shinichi planned on leaving the flower there, now knowing that it wouldn't follow him home, but on second thought he picked it up, knowing he was most likely the only law-abiding person to wander dark alleyways at night.

Hours later, Shinichi continued to toss and turn, unable to sleep. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was sleeping on a pile of mats that had all but a few of their reeds broken, after all, he'd slept on much worse before.

Instead, he was plagued by the spirit's words, 'Can steal pretty much anything.'

I would never steal anything, even if it was through another person, he told himself, but what if 'steal' is just another way of saying 'get' or 'acquire'? And then what if it's something that doesn't belong to anyone or belongs to me in the first place? It wouldn't technically be stealing now would it?

He quickly sat up, suddenly wide awake.

What if he could bring my parents back? Make everything go back to the way it used to? Sure there were times he was actually glad his parents were elsewhere, especially where his mother was concerned, but if he ever wanted to accomplish any of his goals in life or be able to do anything with it, he needed to regain his rank and rights. And the only way he'd be able to do that was if he could prove his parents were still alive.

Pondering this, he glanced over near the entrance of the abandoned storehouse where he'd discarded the rose upon entering.

Could always try some sort of test…see if he means 'steal' in the literal sense of the word. If it doesn't…

He quickly crawled over to the bloom and picked it up. How'd he say to summon him? Pluck a petal?

Moments later a rose petal lay discarded on the ground and Kaito was sitting cross-legged in midair again.

"What were those rules you mentioned?"