Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

Sky Colored Eyes

19: Conversations in Delirium

Hakuba blinked at the accusing tone in which the otherwise innocuous questions were delivered. She sounded as though she was sure he'd done something terrible to Shinichi. "My name is Hakuba Saguru. Kudo-san has caught a cold."

"Oh. You're the other detective."

"I am a detective, yes," he agreed, wondering why the girl's comment made him feel like he ought to be something else. It wasn't like being a detective was a crime or anything. He was proud that he could call himself a detective. He reminded himself of this as the girl gave him another look up and down. It was a very critical look that made you want to stand up straighter.

Eventually the girl made a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat and pushed past him. That too caught Hakuba by surprise. He'd been expecting a self introduction or maybe more questions, not this careless dismissal. Bemused, he shut the door and trailed after the visitor.

He arrived back in the kitchen to see the girl setting her backpack in a corner then turning to give Aoko the same careful examination she'd given him. "And you are?"

Aoko looked just as taken aback as Hakuba felt. "Me? Oh, well, my name is Nakamori Aoko. What about you? Are you a friend of Kudo-kun's?"

"You could say that," the girl said shortly. Medical bag in hand, she turned and headed for the bedroom. The two high school students were left to stare after her, slightly more confused than they had been before she'd answered.

X

Haibara Ai had to admit that she was surprised to see that Shinichi had visitors. And so many of them too. It was…interesting, she thought.

Not bothering to knock, she pushed open the door to Shinichi's room and paused. She'd noticed three extra pairs of shoes at the front door, so she wasn't particularly surprised that there was a third stranger before her now. What did surprise her was just how much this latest stranger looked like Shinichi himself—albeit a taller and much more rough around the edges sort of Shinichi. The lookalike was sitting on the edge of Shinichi's bed, one hand on the detective's forehead and the other on his own as he apparently compared their temperatures.

"Still a bit high," he muttered to himself as he stood up. "Do you want more water?"

Shinichi turned onto his side facing the wall, mumbling incoherently into his pillow.

"I'll get some anyway," the stranger said to no one in particular as he picked up the empty cup on the desk and turned towards the door. He'd heard the door open earlier, but he feigned surprise at the sight of Ai standing behind him.

"So who're you then?" he asked, crouching down so that he would be more at eye level with her.

"My name is Haibara Ai," the girl said after a moment's consideration. "I'm here to see Shinichi. Who're you?"

"The name's Kuroba Kaito, but you can just call me Kaito. I'm a friend of Shinichi's from school," he added before holding up his hand. A yellow rose popped into existence, and he held it out to her with a warm smile. "It's nice to meet you."

Ai gave the rose a look over as well before taking it and nodding to the teen. "Has he taken any medication?"

"I just gave him the fever medicine. It seems to be helping, but his temperature's still a bit high."

"He'll need to drink more fluids."

"I'll go get more water right now. Did you need anything?"

The question caught Ai off guard and she shook her head. "I have everything I need in here." She patted the bag. "Just bring the medicine you gave him to me. I need to see it." The magician nodded to her then disappeared out the door.

Strange, the young scientist mused. It felt almost like he'd expected her to be here to see to Shinichi's health and not just to say hello and wish him a speedy recovery like most friends might. It should make things easier, but it was a bit unusual. Her thoughts flickered back to the magic trick with the rose then the face, the resemblance… The combination tugged at an old memory. She frowned then shook it away. She could ponder about it more later.

Marching over to the bed, she pulled a thermometer from her bag and stuck it in the detective's ear. It beeped and she removed it, glancing over the readout. He definitely had a fever, but it wasn't to the need-a-hospital level. Hopefully, it would come down soon. Ai was more concerned about how this was going to affect her patient's condition in regards to his other issues. Well, she'd run several tests in the past in case of such a situation (Shinichi caught colds quite often after all) and determined that most cold medicines shouldn't interfere with the one she'd been giving him for dealing with the antidote's aftereffects. Pulling that pill out of her bag as well, she waited until the Kuroba boy got back. She glanced over the cold medication bottle, noting that it was indeed one of the usual. Good. Then she took the water from him and nudged Shinichi until he made a muffled noise of protest.

"Eat this," she ordered, pressing the pill into his hand.

Bleary blue eyes finally opened to peer groggily at them. "Haibara…? What are you doing here?"
"I brought your medication," she replied, holding out the cup of water. "Which you should have come to get yourself days ago. How many times are you going to make me remind you? Pretending you don't have a problem doesn't make it go away, it makes it worse. Now take it and you can go back to sleep until the food's done."

Grumbling, the detective did as he was told then curled up again, already back to sleep.

"He really must be exhausted," Kaito observed, shaking his head. "It figures all that jumping in the river and running around the city was going to leave a mark."

"You sound like you were there."

He glanced down at the little girl's suddenly intent stare. "Well, yeah, of course I was. When a friend of mine goes running off into a storm after a mad lady, I can't just let him go alone, can I? If I hadn't been there, they'd probably both have drowned. I just opted not to join in on the dip in the river."

"I see." There was an ironic quirk to her lips. "That was wise on your part." Ai fell silent again for several moments, leaving Kaito to watch Shinichi sleep. Finally, she turned to face him again and smiled. It was a bit of a shock to see a smile on that otherwise critical face, but there it was.

"Thank you for looking after him," she said. The iron certainty that had suffused her every gesture up to that point had suddenly gone to be replaced by something softer. "He can be…careless when it comes to his own health. Stubborn fool," she added to herself.

"You don't have to thank me."

"I suppose not."

"Hey, does Shinichi have an older sister?"

The little girl turned abruptly to stare at him. "What?"

"Earlier, when I was trying to get him to eat the fever medicine, he kept telling me to tell Nee-chan that he was sorry."

Ai let out a derisive snort. "I see. To answer your question, no, he does not have a sister. So just leave him be and don't ask him what you asked me when he wakes up."

Kaito raised an eyebrow at the request (it sounded more like an order), but he opted not to comment. Instead, he watched with interest as Ai pulled an assortment of other medical tools from her bag. She had obviously come prepared to give the sick detective a thorough examination. She could just really enjoy playing doctor, but the magician had the feeling that that wasn't it.

The little girl had always struck him as being a very odd person. The way she moved and spoke was far too sophisticated for her age. In that way, she reminded him of Tantei-kun.

Excusing himself to go check on the soup, he headed back out to the kitchen. Come to think of it, now he had a direct connection to the one person he knew for sure was in contact with Tantei-kun. Part of him felt guilty for thinking about such things when Shinichi was running a high fever in the next room, but he couldn't help it. It was in his nature to be calculating. Still, making sure the detective got better soon should take priority over sating his curiosity.

He was accosted in the kitchen by a flustered Aoko. "Kaito? What's going on in there? Who was that little girl?"

"Haibara Ai. She told me she's a friend of his. I think she's the niece of one of his family's old friends. She has some medical knowledge, so she came to see if he was okay."

"Medical knowledge?" The skepticism in Hakuba's voice was all but tangible. "What kind of medical knowledge could a child possibly have?"

"Why're you asking me? I'm just telling it how I saw it." Dismissing the blonde, Kaito turned back to Aoko. "How's that soup coming along? At this rate, Shinichi's going to starve before it's finished."

The girl snorted. "No he won't. It's ready. Just let me get a bowl." Opening the cupboards, she searched around until she found a bowl that suited her tastes. She ladled it full of steaming soup and held it out to Kaito. "Be careful. It's hot."

"Yeah, yeah, shouldn't there be a spoon too?"

"Here's the spoon."

Bowl in hand, Kaito knocked lightly on the closed bedroom door. There was the sound of soft footsteps before the handle turned and it opened a crack.

"Yes?"

"The soup's ready." He proffered the bowl by way of explanation.

"I'll take that." Ai held out her hands expectantly. Kaito hesitated a moment then gave in and handed the bowl over (no point arguing over hot soup). The door shut again, leaving him on the outside. He could have slipped in, but his instincts made him stay outside. Turning around, he leaned back against the door, listening intently for any voices that might seep through the partition.

X

The world spun in slow, lazy eddies around Shinichi as he sat slumped against the pillows, staring down into the bowl of soup that had just been placed before him. He knew fundamentally that he had to eat it, but the thought was not sounding very attractive. It wasn't that he wasn't hungry because he was, but the idea of food just made him feel nauseous.

"If you wait too long, it's going to get cold."

"I know." Sighing, he forced numb fingers to pick up the spoon and begin bringing spoonfuls of soup to his mouth. He fancied he could see the steam rising from it. It slid down his throat, warming him from the inside. He couldn't really taste it though.

There was a scrape as Ai dragged the desk chair up beside the bed and hopped onto it. "You have some interesting new friends."

Shinichi blinked then laughed, but the laugh turned into a cough. Closing his eyes, he fought to catch his breath and calm his breathing. "They are pretty unusual," he agreed when he could speak again.

"So moving was a good idea."

Shinichi's spoon froze in his bowl for a split second before resuming the task of ferrying soup to his mouth. Ai was right, he mused. He was glad he'd decided to move all those months back. At the time, he'd told himself it was for school—and it had been, in a way. But he'd known deep down that he'd really just wanted to get away. He'd grown to like living in Ekoda for its own sake though. And it was all because of the people he'd met—people he would never have come to know if he hadn't come to live here. They had accepted him as he was. There were no words for how much that meant to him, someone who was running away from everything that had led him to the person he had become…

He finished the rest of his soup in silence, mind a muddle of old recollections and those bright, splotches of realization that often surfaced in moments of delirium when the mind's built-in safety mechanisms of self delusion were out of commission.

"Let me take that."

Blue eyes blinked, and Shinichi realized that he'd been staring into an empty bowl for at least a minute or three. He handed the empty bowl to Ai and lay back down, pulling the covers up to his chin. A quiet, half laugh slipped from his mouth before he could swallow it.

The little scientist frowned. "Is something funny?"

"No, no. It's just…I finally figured out why."

Ai paused, giving the figure on the bed a quizzical look. "Why what?"

"Why…I've been afraid…"

"…So what are you afraid of?"

"That…I don't know who I am anymore… Sometimes…sometimes I wonder if it was a mistake to come back. It's easier to start over, isn't it?"

"Only if you don't mind leaving everything behind," the little girl replied, her own voice quiet.

"Yeah."

"Do you still feel that way?"

"I…no, not as much, but there are times…"

"There always is."

There was a long moment of silence before Shinichi spoke again, words soft but no longer hesitant.

"Are you happy? With the way things turned out… I never got to ask."

"I am."

"That's good. I'm glad."

"And what about you? Now that you've found some of your answers."

She waited patiently for Shinichi to reply. When it came, however, the words were murmured into his pillow and completely incoherent.

"Kudo-kun?" she prodded, but there was no response. Stepping back over to the bed, she found that the detective had already fallen asleep.

"That figures." Letting out an exasperated sniff, she turned away. It was about time she started heading back to the professor's.

She stopped before the closed door to cast a last look back at the slumbering detective. A small smile made its way onto her face. Yes. Coming here had indeed been a good idea. Shinichi himself might not be able to see it clearly yet, but she could. She could see that Shinichi had found his own chance at a new beginning here with new friends who really did seem to care for him. It was a good beginning. The kind you couldn't ask for because it had to come to you on its own. By luck. And while Shinichi had just about the most terrible luck of anyone she knew in most regards, he had quite a lot of good luck when it came to surviving and having a few good friends who wouldn't let him go.

X

Outside the door, Kaito frowned as he slipped away so as not to be caught eavesdropping. That…was not the kind of conversation he'd been expecting to overhear. What had Shinichi meant about new starts and not coming back?

It bothered him, hearing Shinichi say things like that, even if the detective was feverish when he said it. At the same time though, it sounded as though some things—whatever they were—were starting to look up.

He wondered if he might have had a hand in that. He found himself hoping that he had.

Whatever troubles Shinichi had come to them from, Kaito was determined that it would not take Shinichi back. Not while Kaito was around. He was a thief after all. And he'd decided that his next target was going to be one Kudo Shinichi.

X

"I will be leaving now," Ai announced to the kitchen at large as she set the empty bowl and spoon in the sink. "Do you three live nearby?"

"We do," Aoko assured her. "I was thinking we might stay a bit longer and make sure he has dinner before we go."

"That would be good. Make sure he drinks lots of water."

"Is someone picking you up?"

"No. I'm taking the train."

"By yourself?" The girl looked worried.

"I'll walk her there," Kaito offered, appearing in the kitchen doorway. "You and Hakuba can make us some dinner. We can have a study session here while we keep an eye on Shinichi."

"Okay. That sounds like a good idea," Aoko agreed. "Make sure she gets home safely."

"I know, I know. Come on, Ojou-san, the last train to Beika's going to be leaving soon."

Ai picked up her stuff, checked that everything was in order, then followed the magician out the door. She had originally planned on staying the night, but she kept that information to herself. She felt that she was leaving her patient in good hands.

The walk to the train station was a peaceful one. The roguish lookalike chattered away, telling her little stories about the city that he'd probably made up. There was something about him that struck her as familiar, and she wasn't talking about the face. Or, no…maybe it was.

"Is it a long walk from the station to your house?" the magician asked as they both watched the train pulling in.

"I take a bus. It's an easy route. Nothing you need to worry about."

"Well, if you're sure. If you do run into any trouble, just call." He flicked his fingers and produced a white card with a phone number on it. "I'd hate to discover that something happened to you because I didn't escort you all the way."

She snorted but accepted the card. "Make sure he takes all his medication. He'll know what I mean, but you'll probably have to remind him. I'll come back again as soon as I can."

"You really are worried about him, aren't you? Don't you think he can take care of himself?"

The little girl shrugged. "It isn't about that. He's my responsibility."

Kaito chuckled. "No offense Ojou-san, but that sounds kind of funny coming out of someone half his age."

"I advise that you don't make assumptions about situations you don't understand." Ai glanced up at the announcements. "This one's mine. Thank you for escorting me. I'll be fine on my own from here."

And as she sat in the train, looking out at the station pulling away behind them, her thoughts drifted back to a time when a certain thief had come to a heist disguised as a certain detective. They'd pulled on his face that time, but there had been no mask. Except it couldn't have been the real detective because the detective in question was there as well, just ten years too young and several feet too short.

Ai leaned back in her chair. Well, things were going to be interesting, weren't they?

TBC

A.N: I have started a new DCMK story called "Racing Dreams" that will be alternating updating with this one until it's done. It's my first time doing something more science fiction and I'm rather enjoying it. You're welcome to swing by. Anyhow, have a great week and thanks for reading! ^_^