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Sky Colored Eyes

11: Message in a Bottle

Thick shadows shifted and shuddered like the great wings of shadowy beasts. They twisted and fled from the ribbons of gold that danced atop the three tall candles in the center of the room. Though their flames were small, they yet held so much sway in this murky land of shades. Their pure, brilliant light cut away the darkness: pushed it away, weakened it, shredded it, and tamed it.

A pale hand reached out to brush lightly through the air above the candle flames, causing them to flicker ever so slightly. Then the hand withdrew.

A quiet breath gusted through the stagnant air and Koizumi Akako stepped away from the table to sit in an old-fashioned armchair. It was an elegant piece, beautiful to look at, yet not exactly the most comfortable place to rest a tired body. It was the kind of chair that expected you to sit straight and regal while upon its polished plains.

Lately she had been thinking that the thing was a lot like her. They were both old in their ways, but not, she thought, without value.

She had always been confident in her abilities. She stood above her fellow humans, knowing that she held in her hands knowledge and power of which they could only dream. These last few years, however, had seen her wondering if perhaps there was more to life than she had first thought. There were things that even her powers could not acquire for her, and that thought troubled her. At first it had angered her. Then it had intrigued her. Now she no longer knew what to think about it, and that was more vexing than anything. And it was all his fault.

But she digressed. Whatever else she may have to learn, her knowledge of her own craft remained undiminished. So why was she not getting any results?

She couldn't find the source, but she could feel the presence. It was growing thicker in the air of Ekoda, but she was the only one who could feel it. And try as she might, she had had no luck isolating it or even unraveling the mystery of its nature. If it was anywhere, it was everywhere, and that couldn't be right. The problem nagged at her even though she knew that, technically speaking, it was none of her concern. Whoever or whatever the origin, it posed no direct threat to her. So why did she find herself putting so much effort into searching for it?

Ruby eyes turned to the tall, dark mirror that stood in the corner of the room. She stared into the polished glass, not at all surprised when the image of a certain magician surfaced in the reflection as though beckoned by her thoughts. He was smirking that arrogant smirk of his as usual. It was the way he always was with her. Sharp, wary, mocking—untouchable.

He hadn't heeded her warning.

Or maybe he had, but he certainly wasn't taking it as seriously as he should. Did he even believe her? Surely he knew better than to ignore a warning delivered by her of all people.

Long fingers clenched on the arms of her chair. That was it, wasn't it?

She wanted…wanted him to trust her. To think about the things she said—not with suspicion but with…with…

The witch stood abruptly. The candle flames threaded strands of gold through the deep crimson of her hair as she strode past them, head held high. Whatever else, she would not be outdone at her own forte.

It was the only thing she had that was absolutely and completely hers.

X

"So why are we visiting Chishima-kun?"

Hakuba Saguru frowned at the source of the question. "We are going because he came to Kudo-kun with a case. You, on the other hand, have no business here."

"That's a fine way to talk to the person who supplied you with directions," Kaito drawled. "Besides, if he asked Shinichi for help then you are just as much a tagalong as I am."

Hakuba bristled. "As a detective, it is my duty to offer my assistance to a colleague."

"Whether or not he wants it."

"I resent your implications."

Walking between the two, Shinichi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was developing a headache listening to the constant argument going on over his head. He didn't know why Kaito had decided to come with them either, but he didn't really mind the magician's presence. He had the feeling though that saying so now would only make things worse.

And really, at this moment he was beginning to wish he'd just come alone.

"Turn here," Kaito instructed as he broke off from his verbal jousting with Hakuba to tap Shinichi on the shoulder and point down a side street. "We're almost there. I believe it's a second floor apartment."

"You believe?" Shinichi repeated, glancing up at Kaito in surprise. "You mean you haven't actually been here before?"

"Of course not. I've only spoken to the guy once, and that was only because I found his pencil bag on the floor."

"But then how do you know where he lives?"

"I make it my business to know things. Information is more valuable than gold, you know."

Hakuba scoffed. "I hope you understand that stalking is not a legal hobby."

"Who said anything about stalking?" Kaito shot back. "Don't underestimate my information network."

"Using high tech tools and trained animals to collect private information about people is still a form of stalking."

"You do like to make assumptions, don't you? Do you have any proof for your little theories there?"

The blonde's sullen silence brought a smug, victorious smirk to the magician's lips.

Shinichi cleared his throat loudly before the argument could resume. "Is it here?"

They had come to a stop before a tall apartment building. It was an old building, but it appeared to be well kept.

"Yeah. We want number 23."

Climbing up the stairs, they made their way down the walkway to the door marked number 23. The door had a fresh coat of paint on it, but the mat on the floor before it had been worn almost through to the boards beneath by the passage of many feet. Stepping up to the door, Shinichi searched for the bell. Not seeing one, he raised his hand and knocked politely on the door.

There was the sound of movement from inside the apartment, but it wasn't until almost five minutes later that the door opened just wide enough to reveal a tall, thin woman with rectangular spectacles. Her black hair was tied back at the nape of her neck with a simple green band. Her clothes were practical and all in shades of green as well. She currently had a leaf-patterned apron tied around her waist and her sleeves rolled up past the elbows.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely, her gaze carefully examining each of the three teenagers on her doorstep.

"My name is Kudo Shinichi," Shinichi introduced himself. "This is Kuroba Kaito and Hakuba Saguru. We're from Ekoda High, and we were wondering if we might be able to see Sai."

"See Sai?" The woman straightened slightly, though she made no move to open the door any further. "Are you…his friends?"

"We're his classmates," Shinichi explained. "He recently came to ask me for help working on a problem, but then I lost contact with him. I was worried, and I heard that he was sick, so I thought I should come and see him. If that's all right," he added. "If this isn't a good time, we could come back later."

The woman remained silent for several long moments, eyes full of storm clouds and unspoken thoughts. Eventually, she smiled a wan little smile and opened the door fully. "No, now is as good a time as any. Please, come in and have a seat. I'm afraid that Sai isn't home right now. He was in an accident. He's still at the hospital, but I might be able to answer any questions you might have for him."

A chill ran down Shinichi's spine but he kept it out of his voice. "Is he going to be okay?"

A shadow passed over the woman's face. "The doctors haven't been able to tell me very much. They told me that his physical condition is stable now, but…well, he hasn't woken up yet."

She led them into a simply furnished kitchen and waved them towards the chairs around the dining table. As they sat, she took down several cups from the cupboards and began to make tea. Beside the kettle, a large pot sat simmering. A cutting board and knife lay on the counter opposite, both sporting slivers of green that suggested they had only just been used.

"Pardon me, Chishima-san, but may we inquire as to the nature of Sai's accident?" Hakuba asked.

The woman poured steaming tea into the waiting cups before placing one down on the table in front of each teen. The last cup she took for herself then settled into a chair with a weary sigh. "I still don't really know how it happened. I'd asked him to go run some errands for me. I didn't see it happen, but I heard from the police that it happened on his way home. He ran out into the middle of the road when no one was supposed to be walking and got hit by a car. The driver didn't have any time to stop, though he managed to turn just enough at the last minute so that the collision wasn't head on. If not for that…" She left the thought hanging, though her audience could fill in the blank all too easily.

"Do you know why he ran out into the street?"

"I wish I did." A quiet sigh escaped her lips. "All the witnesses say he just came running down the sidewalk and just didn't stop. They also say he looked…afraid, like he was running away from something, but none of them could recall seeing anything that might have been the cause. The police asked around, but they haven't found anything either. They're hoping that Sai will be able to explain once he wakes up."

"So," the woman continued, turning to Shinichi. "You mentioned that my son was working with you on something. Is it a school project?"

"Oh, um, no, it wasn't," the detective replied. "I didn't get the chance to hear the details from him yet, but he said he had a problem he wanted advice about."

"A problem?" The elder Chishima bit her lip as her hands clasped more tightly around her cup. "What kind of problem? Please, I… He doesn't tell me anything anymore. Not since—" She cut herself off, taking in a deep breath then letting it out slowly in a visible effort to collect herself. "I don't suppose children your age like to have your parents get involved in your affairs, but I'm sure you can understand that we worry. I just—if there's anything wrong, I know Sai wouldn't tell me himself. But I know something's been bothering him lately. So if he said anything to you…" She left it hanging, watching them with a mixture of hope and dread that made Shinichi's stomach clench in sympathetic pain. There were so many unspoken words in that look.

"I'm sorry," he said earnestly. "I really don't know very much. He only told me that he was having trouble with someone called Jinta."

The woman started violently. "What?"

Hakuba leaned forward, brown eyes intent. "Do you know who that is?"

"I…can't really say. It isn't an uncommon name. My grandfather was called Jinta, and so was my—my younger son."

Shinichi glanced at Hakuba, who looked confused, then at Kaito, whose expression was entirely unreadable, and finally back at Chishima's mother. "Could he have been referring to one of them?"

"No." There was no uncertainty at all in the woman's voice nor any hesitation to her answer. "They both passed away many years ago."

Her face was devoid of all expression as she spoke so that it took a moment for the meaning of her words to sink in. Shinichi opened his mouth then closed it again, at a slight loss as to what to say. He couldn't well tell her now that her son had wanted advice on the strange behavior of his deceased brother. Not only did it sound ridiculous, it just felt inappropriate.

They were rescued from an awkward silence by Kaito. He leaned forward and caught the woman's gaze. "Sorry. We didn't mean to bring up painful memories."

Chishima-san shook her head. "It's all right. You couldn't have known. As to your earlier question, I have no idea who he might have meant. When I ask him about school, he only ever tells me that everything is fine."

"Oh, I almost forgot." Unzipping his backpack, Shinichi pulled out a folder stuffed full of papers. "We brought his school assignments. The teachers said not to worry too much about the deadlines. But this way, when he wakes up, he'll still know what's been going on."

"Thank you."

Seeing the woman glancing back at her simmering cooking pot, the boys excused themselves. She walked them to the door. They had just stepped out the door when she spoke again.

"I'm glad," she said softly, not looking at any of them. "You were worried about him. You came all this way to see if he was okay. Thank you."

X

It was a subdued group that walked down the street away from the Chishima residence. Strings of cars and other pedestrians rumbled by, each in their own little world around which all other worlds spun. It really was strange sometimes, Shinichi thought, the things that couldn't be seen. Lives came and went, trouble flared and faded, hopes and dreams shifted and changed, and most of the world went on unawares. A single person's problems could be like Mount Everest or nonexistent depending entirely on the eyes through which they were examined. He had met many people who thought their lives were unfair or tragic, hard or oppressive, terrible or simply unbearable. And they were true because that was the way they felt about it all, yet he couldn't help but wonder if they could have changed everything if they'd simply been willing to let go, step back, and look with a different pair of eyes. It was a matter of perspective. But there had to be truth even for perspective. If there wasn't then the whole fabric of existence should unravel and fall apart around them. Truth was the frame that held them all together, giving shape to a world that was otherwise full of shapeless uncertainties, what ifs, and maybes.

"You okay?"

Shinichi blinked then glanced up at the magician. "Huh?"

"You have 'bothered' written all over your face. I know what happened to Chishima-kun is unfortunate, but accidents happen. So what's eating you?"

Shinichi let his breath out in a short sigh. "I was just thinking."

Kaito snorted. "I could tell that much without asking."

"It's just that… I should have asked to meet him after school that day he first mentioned having a problem. I could already tell at the time that he was nervous. Maybe if I'd talked to him sooner—"

"Hold it." Kaito held up a hand to forestall further comment. "If you're about to say that then this wouldn't have happened, I must repeat that accidents happen. True, whatever spooked him onto that street might have been related to whatever issue he wanted to discuss with you, but it could also just as easily be totally unrelated."

"I know that," Shinichi grumbled. "I just…wish there was something I could do."

Smiling fondly at the dejected detective, Kaito draped a companionable arm over his shoulders. "You can. Go talk to him when he wakes up. In the meantime, I know there are two Jintas at our school."

Shinichi straightened abruptly. "There are?"

"Yep. I can introduce you, and you can see if you think either of them might have had connections to Chishima-kun's problem. You can also request a copy of the police reports from his accident. You being you, I'm sure they'd be happy to do you a little favor like that."

Having fallen behind the two, Hakuba's eyebrows rose. Kuroba was being awfully familiar with Kudo. Of course, the magician had never had much respect for conventional behavior or the personal bubble, but the blonde would have thought that even Kuroba would be more reserved around such a famous detective. And since when did Kuroba start volunteering free information and aid? Usually he extracted bargains from people for those things, not because he didn't care to help but because it was just too good an opportunity for a schemer to pass up. On the other hand, Hakuba had noticed that something between the two had shifted since they had returned from that school trip to Chiba, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was.

He frowned. Was Kuroba up to something? Wait, that was a stupid question. Kuroba was always up to something. The question was if that something was malignant or benign.

He wondered if he needed to warn Kudo. After all, he didn't know that Kuroba was a major suspect in the KID case. Hakuba had meant to bring it up but just never gotten around to it for one reason or another. Kuroba could be doing research on Kudo in case he wanted to use him as a disguise. The two did bear a certain resemblance. Pretending to be Kudo would get KID past Nakamori's face pinch certainly. From there, Hakuba could think of a horrifyingly long list of things the thief could do with ease while masqueraded as a famous, upstanding detective. It just looked like a nightmare waiting to bloom.

Pausing for a moment, the blonde gave himself a shake. While proving that Kuroba was KID was important, they currently had more serious matters to deal with. Since Kuroba had obviously taken an interest in this case, they would have to put aside their differences for now and focus on giving Kudo their support.

Hakuba had just made up his mind on the subject and turned his attention back to the conversation about the different students at their school named Jinta when Kuroba stopped talking in mid sentence. The magician wrapped an arm around a startled Kudo and threw them both to the side and into a neighboring bush. Hakuba had only a moment to wonder at the weird and sudden act when something—or rather someone—landed on the sidewalk right in front of him where his two classmates had been just a moment ago.

He gaped.

TBC