Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

Sky Colored Eyes

8: Footsteps in the Sand

"I said I was sorry," Shinichi protested, though his voice came out much feebler than he would have liked. It was hard enough not to cower under the evil eye Haibara was giving him.

"You can't keep doing this," she snapped, eyes flashing. "Or do you really want to dig yourself an early grave?"

"No, but—"

"I don't care if you apologized. It's not me you should be sorry to anyway, it's you. Do you have any idea what you're doing to yourself running around the way you do? What are you trying to prove?"

"Haibara, it's what I do…"

"Then do something else."

He stared at her, half disbelieving and half horrified. "I can't stop being a detective!"

"Idiot. I didn't say you can't be a detective. You just have to be a different kind of detective."

"You mean the kind that can't do anything by themselves," he retorted, unable to keep the bitterness from creeping into his voice.

The girl only rolled her eyes, utterly unsympathetic. "No. I mean the kind that actually thinks before running after trouble and knows when it's time to ask for help. I thought you would have learned at least that much these last few years."

He wilted at her scathing tone. She was right and he knew it. It was his own recklessness that had landed him in this situation in the first place. If he hadn't been so careless when he'd chased after Gin and Vodka, he would never have been force fed an experimental poison. And if he hadn't been poisoned, he wouldn't have needed an antidote, and he certainly wouldn't be sitting here now, suppressing the urge to cough lest it get him more scolding. He had also learned that there were limits to the things a single person could do, but at the same time…at the same time he had hoped that things would at least be better when he was his rightful age again.

His hands clenched into fists on his knees.

"I don't want to be a burden." His voice cracked a little on the final syllables despite his efforts and he looked away.

Ai's gaze softened for the first time since she'd arrived with the professor in tow that morning to forbid him from going to school. He was starting to regret telling her about what had happened the previous night. But then again, he hadn't had much choice when she'd called just as he was heading to the police station with the rest of the people involved in the operation. She'd heard the sirens in the background and asked what had happened, and he'd been too tired to even consider curbing how much he said.

"Kudo-kun," she said slowly, uncrossing her arms. "Asking for help doesn't make you a burden. We all need help sometimes. Knowing when to ask is wisdom, not weakness."

He sighed, closing his eyes. "I know."

Professor Agasa peeked into the living room where the two were talking to see if the storm was over yet. Seeing that things appeared to have calmed, he stepped fully into the room and cleared his throat.

"Breakfast is ready," he announced. "Would you two like to come eat?"

Ai nodded and headed for the kitchen. Shinichi was a little slower in responding, but soon he had risen from the couch and was trailing after her. Blue eyes turned hopefully on the elderly professor.

"Is the coffee done too?"

"No. No coffee," Ai cut in before the old man could answer. "You are going to eat then go back to bed."

"But Haibara—"

"No."

X

"What are you trying to prove?"

The question stayed with Shinichi long after the professor and Haibara had left to return to Beika. It was still on his mind a week later as he followed his classmates onto the bus that would be taking them to Chiba. It was a class trip for the seniors of Ekoda High. Spirits were high and laughter vibrated through the air, mingling over the heads of the students like a tangible cloud of good cheer.

Making his way down the aisle towards the back of the bus, Shinichi found an empty row and slid into the seat by the window. He had brought a book with him to read, but he wasn't quite in the mood just yet. So he tucked the book into the pouch on the back of the seat in front of him. Having only started attending Ekoda High recently, he didn't feel all that qualified to be part of the trip, but he had been invited so he thought he should go.

He had just settled down to wait for the bus to start when Kaito dropped into the empty seat beside him. "So how are you this fine morning?"

Shinichi blinked at him. The sky outside was overcast with swatches of darker clouds that promised rain. "Huh?"

The magician laughed. "What, did you not have any coffee yet or something?"

Shinichi turned away from him with a huff. "It's none of your business." The magician had been teasing him about his coffee ever since he'd seen all the bags of coffee beans in his cupboard. Shinichi really didn't see what the big deal was. Plenty of people drank coffee every morning, right? Okay, so maybe it was a little unusual for someone their age, but it wasn't Shinichi's fault that he'd never been a morning person. It didn't mean he was addicted or anything.

Kaito laughed to himself. The detective was just fun to tease. Rather than going all stiff and uptight the way Hakuba did, Shinichi tended to get flustered or, depending on the issue (read coffee), sulky like a child. It was kind of cute. He was very much looking forward to getting to know the detective better. "By the way, we'll be rooming together."

Shinichi turned back to face him in surprise. "We are?"

"Yep. They sorted out the room distribution according to last name."

"But I thought they weren't announcing room arrangements until we get there," the detective pointed out. "How do you know how they sorted it?"

Smirking, Kaito waved a finger under his nose. "A magician never reveals his sources."

"You mean secrets."

"And sources. Anyhow, since we'll be rooming together, I was thinking you could take first watch and I'll take second, seeing as you're not a morning person and all."

"…What?" Now thoroughly confused, Shinichi could only frown at his seatmate. "What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"There are rumors going around that the hotel we're staying at has some kind of monster living in it. That's why they gave us such good discounts for our trip."

"A monster," the detective repeated flatly.

"Yep. I believe it started about half a year ago. A family staying at the hotel brought their dog along. One of the children took it out for a run at night but he lost track of it in the dark. They figured the dog would just come back since it was always pretty well behaved, so they didn't worry much about it. The next morning though, it was still missing, so they asked the other people at the hotel to help them search. They never found the dog, but they did find its collar." Kaito's voice dropped into a dramatic whisper. "It had been completely ripped apart. Shortly after that, other pets living in or brought to the area began to disappear. Sometimes they left collars or leashes behind, but more often than not they just vanished into thin air. It was after four months of that that the hotel decided to ban pets altogether."

"For a while things seemed normal again. But then there was this couple who were there for their anniversary," the magician continued. "Apparently they'd been there on their honeymoon and since they were having trouble they thought it might help to revisit the place—reexamine old memories and all that. Things were normal for the first two days, but then they had a falling out and the wife ran out. When she hadn't come back yet a few hours later, her husband alerted the staff and they all went out searching. They found her lying in the bushes behind the hotel. She had these huge gashes down her back like some huge animal had raked her with its claws."

Shinichi's brows furrowed as he absently lifted his hand to his chin. "What makes them think the incidents were related?"

"Oh don't let him pull your leg!" Aoko interjected before Kaito could speak. She had hopped up to kneel on her seat and was looking over the back of it at the two boys seated behind her. "The police already solved that case! The husband murdered her because he knew she was filing for divorce and he didn't want to have to split their assets, the greedy creep. The strange wounds were because of the contraption he rigged up so that he could kill her and have an alibi."

Shinichi blinked. Come to think of it, he seemed to recall having read something about that case. He just hadn't remembered that it was in Chiba until now. "But what about the animals?"

"The collar thing only happened once. Most of the other animals probably just ran away. They all belonged to people who didn't keep very close eyes on them or were known to be badly behaved. As for the first case, the collar was found in some really thorny brambles. The local authorities said it was torn by the thorns. The dog actually found its way back home a month and a half later."

"Aoko!" Kaito complained, annoyed. "I already have to go to the stupid beach! The least you could do is not ruin my fun!"

"Only you would think misleading people is fun."

"Hey, everything I said was true," the magician objected, drawing himself up.

"Yeah, but you left out all the most important bits. You were going to try and trick Kudo-kun into going monster hunting with you or something weren't you?"

"I was just trying to make things more interesting. Besides, Shinichi didn't mind, right Shinichi?"

"I…no, not really." Deciding it would be better to change the topic, Shinichi turned to Kaito. "Does that mean you don't like the beach?"

The magician shrugged. "It's nothing special. Personally, I'd rather go skiing or mountain climbing or something more like that."

Aoko giggled. "He only thinks that way because he can't stand fi—"

Kaito's hand shot out and covered the girl's mouth. "Geez, you're turning into a real blabbermouth, you know that?"

The comment quite naturally sparked another friendly squabble. Shinichi thought he could claim without fear of contradiction that he had never met two friends who argued as much or as energetically as these two. He found it a bit befuddling, especially since they could actually look happy while they bickered, but he was gradually getting used to it. As Hakuba had said, it happened every day.

Tuning them out, he leaned back in his seat and turned back to the window. His own ghostly face looked back at him. Outside, he could see that the other buses were already beginning to pull out of the school parking lot. Not long after, their own bus' engines went from an idling hum to a more audible rumble. Then they too were moving.

It bothered him a little that he couldn't find an answer to Haibara's question. Was he trying to prove something? He hadn't seriously thought about it before, but he supposed part of him felt like he needed to show that…that… That what? That he could be independent? Of course he could. No one had ever suggested otherwise. That he was still a good detective despite his 'years away'? There had been a little of that when he'd first gotten back, but again, it wasn't really a big deal. One thing he'd learned from his time as Conan was that it didn't really matter who got the credit for a case or if people recognized and applauded your work or not. It was much more important to get the work done and help the people involved move on with their lives. That was what it really meant to be a detective.

What did that leave? He exhaled slowly. If the answer was that easy to find, he wouldn't be sitting here worrying over it. For all he knew, it was nothing at all, just a spawn of the unrest that had plagued him since his return. Yeah, that was it. It was just a natural side effect of so much change in his life in such a short time.

Making up his mind not to dwell on it anymore for now, he reached out and snagged his book from the backseat pocket, settling down to read.

On the seat beside him, Kaito had produced a dozen colorful balls and begun to juggle. Aoko had long since resumed her seat at the bus driver's pointed look. He had prepared several tricks for alleviating boredom on the way to their hotel, but it seemed he might not need them.

The parade of expressions across Shinichi's face as he read was pleasantly entertaining. One moment the boy's face would be relaxed and open then those blue eyes would widen slightly in surprise before sharpening and taking on that intensely focused expression that Kaito was still sure he'd seen somewhere before. Sometimes a hand would rise to Shinichi's chin to accompany the look. A few pages later, the expression would shift either into a satisfied grin that probably meant he'd been right about something or a blink of surprise at some unexpected tidbit of information. Kaito could almost read the book being written out on the detective's face.

It was clear that Shinichi had completely immersed himself in the pages of his novel.

Kaito had to fight the urge to laugh, wondering if the detective was aware of the faces he was pulling. Probably not. He decided he could save his pranks for later.

X

"Whoa, is that a hotel or a haunted house?"

"Don't say that," Aoko admonished, but inside she found herself agreeing with her old friend against her will. The hotel building before which their buses had pulled up was…less than inviting. It was large and weathered and looked as though a good storm would leave it little more than a pile of matchsticks. Judging from the dubious looks their fellow students were casting at the place, they weren't the only ones to think so either. Even Hakuba looked like he was considering digging out a map to double check that they hadn't missed a turn somewhere. Unfortunately, the buses were already leaving. The students and handful of chaperoning teachers were left with their luggage piled around them, gazing up at the unwelcoming building.

"Maybe we should just camp out on the beach," Shinichi muttered so quietly that Kaito suspected he hadn't meant anyone to hear. For his part, Shinichi had taken an instant dislike to the hotel—if hotel it was. In his experience, it looked just like the sort of structure in which people got murdered. Add to that the stories floating around about it and a case was all but inevitable. On the other hand, there had already been one strange homicide in the vicinity. Perhaps that meant he would get lucky this time and the trip would actually be a peaceful one.

"All right everyone," one of the teachers called out. "I'm going to go check in for us. The rest of you will wait in the lobby. Once you have your room keys, you can do whatever you like so long as you don't leave the hotel grounds. You can go exploring tomorrow. We will meet back here at seven thirty so we can all have dinner together. Does everyone understand?"

A chorus of unenthusiastic yeses answered his question. Then they all began to move. Kaito noted with some amusement that none of his fellow students seemed to want to be the first one through the door. He could already tell that this was going to be an unusually memorable class trip.

X

Despite its unappealing exterior, the interior of the hotel turned out to be quite cozy. The furnishings were clean and comfortable if plain, and the staff all appeared to be decent and welcoming people. Even so, it wasn't until they had all retired to their rooms for the night that Shinichi let out the breath he'd been holding. No one had been killed and no suspicious omens had been spotted. The only thing remotely out of the ordinary had been the three missing pet posters tacked up on the bulletin beside the front desk. Two were dogs and one was a cat.

Now he was standing in the middle of the room he would be sharing with Kaito. He didn't know where the magician had disappeared off to. All Kaito had said was that he would be back later so Shinichi shouldn't worry and definitely shouldn't report his absence to the teachers. Shinichi had hesitantly agreed, hoping he wouldn't regret it later.

He could hear the distant crashing of the waves on the shore. It was a soothing, rhythmic whisper that seeped into the soul. He closed his eyes, letting it wash over him.

The sound of his cell phone ringing shattered the peace so suddenly that it was almost a physical shock. Annoyed, he fumbled through his pockets until he found the device in question and brought it to his ear.

"Hel—"

"Kudo! How come ya never call me?"

Shinichi blinked. "…Hattori?"

"Duh, who else could I be? You didn't answer my question! I haven't heard from you in like, what, months?"

"Oh… Has it really been that long?"

"Is that all you have ta say for yerself?"

"…I'm sorry?"

"That's right. You better be! So how's life?" And suddenly Hattori's voice was all sunny like he hadn't been ranting just seconds ago. "I heard down the grapevine that ya moved."

"I got an apartment in Ekoda."

"Ekoda, huh? Why there?"

"It's for school." Sighing, Shinichi sat down on the edge of his hotel bed. "Teitan wouldn't let me graduate."

"All that missed class work finally catchin' up with you, eh?"

He huffed. "Do you have to state the obvious? Why did you call anyway? Has something happened?"

"What? No. Like I said, I just wanted ta know how you were doing. That's what friends do, right?"

"I guess."

"So is Nee-chan still mad at you?"

"I don't know. She says she's not, but we haven't talked much. But I guess these things just take time."

Hattori fell silent for a long moment. "So…are you all right? I mean, I know you said…but—"

"I'm fine, really," Shinichi cut in before his friend's awkward babbling could go any further. A tired but genuine smile crept onto his face. "I can't say I don't miss the way things were sometimes, but we all did what we did because we thought it would be for the best. This was just the way things turned out."

"And you're okay with that?" There was a note of incredulity in the Osakan detective's voice.

"I am," Shinichi said honestly. This at least was one matter on which he had spent ample time mulling over these last few months to have made up his mind about. The last few years had left its scars, but he had learned a great deal and understood much more about both himself and the world than he had before. He couldn't regret that. "So what about you? How have you been?"

Hattori made a disgruntled noise (like he didn't believe what he'd been told) but didn't argue with the change of subject.

When Kaito returned to their room at a little past midnight, it was to find Shinichi asleep on the bed farther from the door with the book he'd been reading all day lying open on his chest. Grinning to himself at the sight, the magician picked up the book and stuck the bookmark lying on the nightstand in to mark the page. That done, he set the book on the table and moved to close the curtains. He paused beside the sleeping detective, looking down into the boy's peaceful face. On a whim, he whipped out his phone and snapped a picture.

TBC