Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

Sky Colored Eyes

34: A Stroke of Luck

If someone had been watching Shinichi's apartment that Sunday morning, this is what they would have seen.

At half past nine, a white van pulled up in front of the apartment building. When its door opened, a young man with wild, dark brown hair leapt out and headed up to Shinichi's door. Once there, he let himself in (apparently without the use of a key, but surely that couldn't be right. Right?). Then all was quiet. An hour and a half later, however, the door opened again, only this time two middle-aged men stepped out.

The taller of the two had brown hair (messy, but not quite as much so as that of the young man from earlier). Tall and well built, he moved like an athlete and carried himself with the bright regality that only true confidence could bring. His smaller companion had a more reserved air about him that might be misconstrued as timidity. Blue eyes looked out from behind a pair of round spectacles. His clothes, though a little worn, were neat and well cared for. The two were laughing as they locked up the apartment. All the way down to the parking lot, they chatted about old bowling tournaments that they had apparently participated in.

Then the two men climbed into the front of the van that the teenager had brought like it was their van and drove off with it. No alarms were sounded, and the apartment around which these activities had occurred now appeared to be empty. Shinichi, the apartment's resident, and the roguish teen who'd brought the van were nowhere in sight.

X

"So is that the table?" Shinichi asked, glancing over his shoulder into the back of the van. Any additional chairs had been removed, leaving room for the hulk of a piece of furniture now squatting in their place.

"It sure is," Kaito replied. "See what I meant when I said it was hideous?"

"It's not…that bad." Shinichi trailed off. The longer he looked at the table in question, the uglier it seemed to grow. It was too big, he mused, meant more for a mansion—and not a normal one at that. It should be sitting in the study of a haunted mansion where tall, dark shadows could stand up from behind it and look at you with glowing red eyes. The thing itself wouldn't have gone amiss with some eyes of its own. Slitted, ruby orbs would go rather well with its massive, clawed feet and craggy edges.

"Do you know anything about its history and origins?" he asked out of curiosity. The piece just looked so—unique that it fairly demanded to have a strange story attached.

"I know a little bit," Kaito—no, it was Taoki now. The voice was older and more polished. "Grandfather bought it from a collector in Kyoto. The original owner was apparently quite desperate to get rid of the thing. He claimed it walked around at night on those clawed feet of its. He also said that anything he put into the drawers vanished just like that. Like the desk had swallowed them all."

"Well that's certainly interesting," Shinichi—no, Kenji, he reminded himself (he had to get used to the name before they reached their destination)—replied. "It sounds like the beginning of a ghost story."

Taoki laughed. "It could be at that. You should write one. But anyhow, my grandfather thought it was a fine specimen of craftsmanship, and having a story just added to its mystique. So he bought it. He put it in his study with a camera trained on it twenty four seven. I think he really wanted to see it move."

"Did it?"

The older man shrugged. "Not that I'm aware of. He did say he lost a few documents he put in the drawers, but he always was a bit forgetful, so we think he probably just misplaced them somewhere else."

"Huh. That's…interesting." Settling back into his seat, Kenji glanced out the window at the unfamiliar scenery passing by.

"So where are we meeting Banji-san and his client?"

"It's a country club his client has some stakes in. They've set up a private room there for us to display the table so everyone can examine it. Then if it all goes well, we could have a lot of cash in our hands by the end of the day."

"Do these things really go that smoothly?"

"Don't ask me. This is my first time too. At least it's better than a garage sale. Grandfather would roll over in his grave if his collection ended up being carted away by people who'd think of them as nothing more than second-hand junk."

"I guess that would be a shame. Although I'm afraid it'll take a truly unique person to appreciate this desk."

Taoki let out a hearty laugh. "Why do you think I've been looking forward to meeting these people? I'm thinking they've got to be an interesting bunch."

X

"We're here."

Looking out the car window, Shinichi watched as a row of tall trees rolled past. Through the gaps between their trunks, he could see a large, white building looking out over the smooth, green lawns of a private golf course. The van rounded a last bend in the road and pulled into a spacious parking lot. The tires crunched over gravel before they came to a stop beside the ramp up to the sidewalk.

"Are we going to have to lug the desk inside with just the two of us?" he asked.

"I borrowed a trolley we can use," his companion replied, turning off the engine. "Come on."

The two climbed out of the van and moved around to the back. It took only a matter of minutes to get the desk onto the trolley. The monstrous thing apparently wasn't as heavy as it looked, though its irregular shape made it a little hard to maneuver. Once they had it on the flat bed of the trolley, they locked up the van and began rolling it up the walkway to the house.

Stopping outside the front door, Kaito told Shinichi to wait as he went inside to ask where they should go. Left to his own devices, Shinichi found himself eyeing the desk again. The thing certainly had a presence about it that made you not want to turn your back. And it wasn't any better looking out here in the bright sunlight.

"Kenji! It's this way."

It was a moment before Shinichi realized that he was being addressed. Hiding a grimace, he turned to see that Kaito was back.

"There's a path around the left wing there," the magician turned gaming company employee said, pointing. "They said that if we follow it, we should come to an open lounge area. That's where the meeting is scheduled to be."

Together, they guided the trolley along the designated path. It wasn't long before they came upon the lounge. It had a rather large set of French doors which were standing wide open to let in the fresh air. The trolley trundled inside without much trouble.

"They're not here yet," Shinichi observed, looking around the empty lounge. Large windows flooded the place with sunlight, revealing a surprising lack of furniture. Perhaps the original furnishings had been cleared out for this occasion? If so then these men they were meeting certainly had a lot of sway around here. Bare floorboards gleamed like they'd just been waxed.

"Let's get the table off the trolley," Kaito suggested. "I think it would make a better impression that way."

Shinichi nodded. Though as far as he could tell, moving the table would most likely only help it make a more threatening impression.

Once that had been done, there was nothing left for them to do but wait.

Shinichi suppressed a twinge of annoyance. Honestly, if the dealer and his client were going to make them wait, the least they could have done was arranged for there to be some chairs around. Kaito didn't seem bothered though, he noted. The magician was now leaning against the wall, gaze trained on one of the many windows. He looked like he was lost in thought, but Shinichi was sure that he was well aware of everything going on around him.

The detective found his own thoughts drifting.

Last night, after Kaito had taken him home, he had spent a little time surfing the web for information on Kuroba Toichi. He'd heard of the man before, but for some reason he hadn't thought to connect the man to Kaito until his conversation with the other teen last night. He supposed he had just been too wrapped up in other things to give the matter any serious thought. So the renowned magician had been Kaito's father. It was rather fitting. He seemed to recall his mother mentioning that she had taken disguise and acting lessons from the man. It was almost surreal to realize that he and Kaito's parents had known each other.

What was bugging him now though was the fact that it turned out Kuroba Toichi's stage accident coincided rather well with the first disappearance of the Kaitou KID. Coincidence? Unlikely. It seemed the more he learned about his new friend, the harder it was getting to ignore the possibility that he really was the elusive gentleman thief.

Half of him wished he hadn't gone searching on the web last night. The other half knew he couldn't have resisted. He'd always been powerless against his own curiosity. It was half of how he'd landed himself in the Conan situation to begin with. The problem was that the more he knew, the more he felt as though something was expected of him. Like he had to respond somehow.

Kaito had to be aware of how much he was letting slip. So what was he expecting? Was he expecting anything?

Why had the magician trusted him with all this information? He couldn't have known that Shinichi wouldn't turn him in (the detective had only recently admitted to himself that he didn't want that. It had been a gasp of a realization—sudden and quickly tucked away—that had struck him in that instant when he'd understood why he'd woken with the Lady's Blessing around his neck). Of course none of the information was conclusive, but still… Kaito wasn't the kind of person who would take that kind of risk for no reason. Shinichi just couldn't figure out what that reason could be. What was he missing?

A knock came at the door between the lounge and the club's main building. Both Kaito and Shinichi turned in unison to see as it opened to admit two men.

Blue eyes widened behind their glasses.

The man leading the way was older, probably somewhere in his sixties. His thinning hair was peppered gray. He too wore glasses, though they had oval lenses and fine, gold wire frames. He walked with a slight limp, but otherwise appeared quite energetic for his age.

It was the man who entered the lounge behind him, however, that made Shinichi's heart rate pick up.

The man had a thin, white scar above his left eye. Tall and bony in build, his face too was long and narrow. His eyes were sharp and just as black as his hair. Those eyes swept over each disguised teen in turn, lingering a moment when they met Shinichi's gaze.

The detective hoped that his shock hadn't shown on his face. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting from this excursion, but he definitely hadn't expected this.

Sai's description hadn't been much, but this man fit it to a tee.

"You must be Banji-san," Kaito said, striding up to the two new arrivals without an ounce of hesitation and offering the bespectacled man his hand. "I'm Kaname Taoki. We spoke over the phone."

"Ah, yes, Kaname-san. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." The two men shook hands. "Just call me Taoki. And this is my friend Kenji. Sawashiro Kenji."

"I'm just tagging along," Shinichi said, bowing. "I promise I won't get in the way."

The antiques dealer waved away his assurances with a warm smile. "Don't worry about it. So I see you've brought it." His eyes brightened behind his oval lenses, and he stepped past them to circle the desk.

"Yes, yes," he murmured as he did so, gaze skittering this way and that all over the piece of furniture. "Yes, indeed. Oh, I was right. This really is one of them! I've only ever seen one of them, and that one was in nowhere near as good condition as this fine specimen."

"Does that mean you know where it comes from?" Kaito asked, playing the role of the interested grandson. "My Grandfather said he was told it comes alive at night and walks around."

Banji actually laughed. "I wouldn't know about that. But I can tell you about the origins of this piece. Now that I've seen it in person, I'm sure. This was one of the six desks carved by the artist Musajin Roku. He was famous among his peers for creating unique peaces that almost seemed to be alive. People used to describe his works as wooden beasts, reading to face any task and endure any hardship. Each of the pieces in the set is of a one of a kind design. They are said to be riddled with hidden panels and secret compartments."

"That could explain why people say their stuff disappears once put inside," Taoki mused. "I never realized though. So…is it actually valuable? I mean, it had a lot of sentimental value for Grandfather, but…"

"Valuable! Are you insane? This—this masterpiece is worth more than you could possibly imagine!" Banji erupted, throwing his arms out. "There isn't a single other piece like it in the entire world! Every inch of it was carved by a craftsman who put his heart and soul into its creation. It is the child of a genius mind!"

"Er…okay." Kaito was starting to wonder who was the real crazy person here. Usually, he'd think it was himself, but today he thought he'd found an exception.

"So it is authentic?" the man with the scar on his face inquired.

"It would seem so. It will take me a few minutes to make certain though, if you don't mind."

"Please do."

Banji nodded and ducked down, beginning to pull out drawers, examining the way they had been fitted to their slots. The other three occupants of the room were left with nothing to do but wait.

"Excuse me," Kaito said, turning to the scarred man, "but I didn't catch your name."

"Ryuga Takashi," he replied.

The magician nodded, slipping into an easy grin. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." The man's gaze flickered to Shinichi then back to Kaito. "I do hope that I did not cause you any undue inconvenience by requesting that you bring the desk here."

"Don't worry about it," Kaito assured him. "I was kind of wondering though, if you wouldn't mind my asking, why are you interested in this desk of all things? Not that I don't think it's got its virtues," he added hastily, feigning embarrassment. "But I have to admit, out of all of Grandfather's things, this piece has got to be the strangest."

"I have an…interest in the unique," the man replied, smiling a surprisingly pleasant smile. "There are those who might say that creations such as this one are too bizarre, even unsightly, but personally, I find that kind of unconventionality has its own kind of charm."

"But don't the stories bother you?" Shinichi asked, pushing his glasses up his nose and trying to project an air of unease. It wasn't too difficult considering his nerves were already on tender hooks from being so abruptly introduced to the man they had been searching for (or at least someone who could very likely be said man).

Ryuga chuckled. "Far from it. True art should inspire stories. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose…"

The conversation lagged. Kaito picked it up again, this time directing the talk towards the nice, safe realm of hobbies.

Eventually, the antiques dealer straightened from his examination and waved to his client. "Ryuga-san, would you like to conduct your own inspection?"

The man nodded and joined Banji by the desk.

"You know, looking at them, I can almost understand why Grandfather bought that thing."

"I don't know. It's still not the kind of furniture I'd want in my own house."

"Roger that. Still. I guess I could appreciate it in a purely artistic sense. They're right when they say it's one of a kind. And the detail in those carvings is pretty incredible too."

"That's true," Shinichi agreed, wondering why they were having this conversation. It wasn't as though the two men were listening. Then again, he supposed you could never be too careful.

"Taoki-san," Banji called, coming towards them with a thin stack of papers in hand. "Ryuga-san tells me that he would like to purchase this desk. This is the bill of sale I use in my shop. I have filled in the necessary information. So if you would look it over and see if the terms are agreeable for you, then we can finalize it. Keep in mind, you don't have to sell it if you don't want to, but we do hope you will."

Kaito took the papers and skimmed through them. "Wow, I—yeah, that would be great. It's a very generous offer."

"In that case, please sign here, and here. Then Ryuga-san will sign his part, and we'll be done."

A few minutes later, Kaito pocketed a check and shook hands with both older men. "Thanks. I'm glad the desk met your expectations."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you," the antiques dealer replied. "If you ever come across any other such pieces, do not hesitate to give me a call or send me an email."

"Will do. By the way, do you guys want to use our trolley? We could also just go ahead and deliver it to your place if you'd like, seeing as we already rented the van and everything. As long as you don't live too far from here, it would be easy."

"That will not be necessary," Ryuga said smoothly. "I appreciate the thought, but I have already made my own arrangements."

"Oh. Well, if you're sure, I guess we'll be going then."

"Have a safe journey. And rest assured, I will take good care of your grandfather's desk."

"Thanks. That means a lot."

X

"Man did we get lucky or what?" Kaito burst out once they were back on the road headed for Shinichi's apartment. "Not only did we find the guy this whole thing was about, we even got paid. If that isn't luck then I don't know what is."

"It would have been even luckier if we'd thought to plant a bug in the desk," Shinichi said, chewing on his lower lip as he thought.

"My, my, wouldn't that have been illegal?" the magician quipped, sounding entirely too amused.

Shinichi blushed. "It might have helped us learn more about what actually goes on in the mansion though."

"Provided that that's where he's going to have it set up," Kaito pointed out. "But I'd say there isn't much point fretting about it. With how closely they were examining every inch of that thing, they would've found a bug if we planted one. And that would have been a fiasco. At least we now have a name and a face. We also know that Banji-san is real, and that our target is apparently one of his regular clients with a liking for unusual art."

"He kept looking at me."

Kaito smirked. "Maybe he noticed what a pretty blue color your eyes are~."

"Wha—don't be ridiculous!" Shinichi snapped, embarrassed. "I was wondering if it was at all likely that he recognized me."

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Through your disguise?"

Shinichi nodded.

"What makes you think that?"

"I…don't really know. It could just be my imagination. It just seemed like whenever he looked at me, he was searching for something. Like he was trying to place something."

Kaito's expression settled slowly into a frown of his own. "I guess it isn't entirely impossible. Your disguise is a bit thin around the face, but unless he was actively looking for you, I feel like it should've held up—you did an excellent job talking about bowling like you were really into it, by the way. And he had no reason to be expecting Kudo Shinichi to appear at this meeting—or anywhere else for that matter—in disguise or not. Even really cautious types would say the chances of that are just too random to be concerned about. Then again, if he's seen you in the papers, it's possible he just thought you looked familiar and was trying to pinpoint where he might have seen you before."

"I hope that's all it was," the detective murmured, running a hand through his hair then grimacing as his fingers encountered gel. They had had to use quite a lot of it to flatten out his cowlick. "Can we drop by the police station? Satou-keiji said she could help us run a search through the databases for the man once we had a more complete description."

"Sure. Though I would recommend we ditch our disguises at your place first."

Shinichi nodded. "I would like to get this stuff out of my hair. It's kind of disgusting."

TBC