Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

It's About Communication

[Nature of Love series]

Part 2

Kuroba Kaito blinked then stared.

He had just finished using the main bathroom at Shinichi's when his eyes had picked out the new pill bottle on the bathroom shelf.

Unmated alphas and omegas alike tended to take their respective preventative pills religiously. After all, no one wanted to accidentally wind up bonded to someone they didn't like. Such incidents had been known to drive people mad. The pills prevented the establishing of the empathic mating bond. The pills for omegas came in two versions, one of which doubled as a contraceptive.

The bottle of pills he was looking at now were of this latter variety.

He wasn't exactly surprised to see the pills because, as mentioned before, just about all unmated omegas took such pills as a precaution against unforeseen circumstances, accidents, and spur of the moment decisions. What puzzled him was that he knew Shinichi typically kept the pill bottle tucked away in the bottom drawer of his nightstand (how Kaito knew this was something he would not divulge). So why was it out here now—not even in Shinichi's personal bathroom—like it was just asking to be seen?

Now there was a thought.

Kaito contemplated the bottle and what it might portend as he washed and dried his hands.

Of course, maybe it didn't mean anything. It was entirely possible that Shinichi had taken the bottle out and simply forgotten to put it away. Omegas in and nearing heat weren't exactly known for their clear thinking (a fact which, he knew, frustrated his dear detective to no end).

If the bottle was indeed a message of some kind though… Kaito knew what he hoped it meant (that, though Shinichi wasn't yet ready to actually bond, he might be ready to consider something more than kissing), but, precisely because he wanted it, he was hesitant to make the assumption.

It was, he thought with no little amusement, quite the unexpected dilemma he found himself in.

Kaito had never been a hesitant person. But he had also never wanted anything so much as he wanted Shinichi. And, for that reason, he found himself hesitating for what might possibly be the first time in his life. This was one heist in which he couldn't afford to make a mistake.

Best to observe a little longer, he decided.

If Shinichi was really trying to say what Kaito hoped he was trying to say then surely he'd ask Kaito to stay over next time he went into heat. That would be in a little over two months since Shinichi's previous cycle had passed about a week ago. Kaito could wait another two months for an answer.

If Shinichi didn't bring it up though, should he offer to stay? He had done so a bit tentatively the first time Shinichi had run into a heat cycle after they had started dating. The detective's incoherent stuttering, vivid blush, and slightly panicked eyes had had the thief hastily turning the offer into a joke—just teasing. Shinichi had clearly been relieved to let the issue go at that, but there had been guilt in his eyes as well, and that more than anything had made Kaito feel terrible. He might have been disappointed, but he really didn't mind waiting for Shinichi. His detective was worth waiting for. The last thing he wanted was for Shinichi to feel guilty about not being ready for more physical intimacy.

That look of wide-eyed panic and subsequent expression of self recrimination were also why Kaito hadn't asked again since, but now, maybe…

But only if the signs seemed right.

His determination not to put any pressure on his dear, beloved detective, however, didn't stop Kaito from dreaming of big blue eyes and a pair of long, creamy legs.

"Is it what you're looking for?"

He turned the large, star sapphire over in his hands as he sat on the sill of an enormous window, watching the moonlight slide in silver ripples across its polished surfaces, and sighed. "No such luck."

Even so, he held the jewel up to the great, round moon beyond the window for another look anyway. Seeing nothing but an admittedly lovely but otherwise ordinary jewel, he sighed and lowered it.

A soft rustle and a sense of movement drew his attention away from the window to what turned out to be a bedroom decorated completely in shades of white and blue. There was a painting of a pair of doves flying together against a starry night sky on the wall across from an enormous bed mounded with pillows. And there, rising from said bed, was a slim, black-haired figure with eyes even more blue than the sapphire he'd just been admiring. Shinichi was dressed in nothing but an oversized shirt that Kaito recognized even in the dream as the one that had gone missing from his wardrobe two weeks ago. He had suspected Shinichi of taking it but hadn't mentioned anything because it amused him (to think, a detective stealing a shirt from a thief's closet). And the idea of his detective wearing his shirt (one of his blue Kaitou KID shirts no less) was both incredibly endearing and frankly kind of arousing. Oh yes, he thought now as he watched Shinichi pad across the thick carpet towards him, arousing didn't begin to describe it.

Desire sent tendrils of fire curling through his veins.

He couldn't take his eyes off the detective. The next thing he knew, Shinichi was sliding onto his lap and gently tugging the sapphire from his lax grip.

"Are you upset?" the detective asked, voice and eyes soft as he too took a turn at examining the jewel.

Kaito smiled, gaze tracing the silver of moonlight threading through dark hair and shimmering like liquid crystals in sapphire eyes. "A little disappointed, but it'll pass," he said just as softly, lifting a hand to brush Shinichi's bangs from his eyes then leaning forward to brush a feather light kiss across his lips. "I could never stay upset when I'm with you."

Shinichi's cheeks turned a becoming shade of pink. "You always say the sappiest things."

"Because they're true," Kaito informed him, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Believe me when I say that there is never a moment when you're not somewhere on my mind."

Expecting a sarcastic response, Kaito was mildly but pleasantly surprised when Shinichi leaned closer, sapphire eyes all but glowing.

"Is that so?" he murmured, voice barely a whisper and lips just a hair's breadth from Kaito's. Somewhere along the way, he had slid his arms around Kaito's neck and shifted so that he was straddling the thief's lap. "I think I'd like to know what you've been thinking about me. Show me please?"

Indigo eyes gleamed as Kaito closed what little distance there was left between their lips.

"Gladly," he purred into the kiss and smirked when he felt Shinichi shudder in his arms.

Kaito woke with a mess to clean and the sound of Shinichi's pleasured cries still ringing in his ears. It wasn't the first dream he'd ever had about ravishing his detective, but it was certainly one of the most vivid. He ended up taking a very long, very cold shower before he dared head out to pick Shinichi up so they could go get breakfast before their respective morning lectures together.

-0-

Nakamori Aoko was extremely surprised when, upon passing by a stationary store near her university campus, she spied said store roped off by police tape and a certain alpha magician watching the place from inside the café across the street. It wasn't, however, the police presence that surprised her, especially when she spotted a familiar cowlick through the stationary shop's large window. Poor Kudo-kun really did seem to attract trouble like there was no tomorrow. Nor was she surprised by Kuroba Kaito's presence. She had, after all, been partially responsible for introducing him to Shinichi, and she had been very pleased when the two had hit it off so well.

No, what surprised her about this scene was that Kaito was just sitting there across the street, eyes narrowed in a rare look of grim concentration. She would have expected him to be over in the stationary store with Shinichi, especially if something about the case under investigation was putting that sort of look on his face.

Curious and slightly worried about her friends, she made her way into the café and invited herself to sit at Kaito's table.

He acknowledged her presence with a quick flicker of a smile and a nod, but then his gaze went right back to the scene across the street.

Aoko followed his gaze but, seeing nothing overtly untoward, she focused back on Kaito.

Never one to beat around the bush, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"That's the question isn't it?" the magician murmured, apparently more to himself than in answer to her question.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Indigo eyes swiveled in her direction, pondering. When the magician finally spoke, it was to ask a question of his own.

"You've worked with Shinichi on a few cases recently, right?"

Aoko blinked. "Well, I'm not sure if I can say I worked on them. I was more observing. But yeah. I don't thin I'll be going into the homicide division when I join the police, but learning more about the way homicide cases are worked is still important. I've learned a lot from watching Shinichi-kun."

"Have you noticed anything strange going on recently?" Kaito pressed.

"Like what?"

"Like anyone giving him trouble."

Aoko frowned. "I haven't noticed anything. Did he say someone was bothering him?"

Kaito made a face. "No. He insists everything is fine. But he's been tense and nervous, and now and then he seems depressed. It's driving me nuts."

Aoko looked across the street again to where Shinichi had his head together with Satou and Takagi-keiji. He looked normal to her, but she knew better than to ask if Kaito was sure. Alphas and omegas both had innate empathic abilities. Those abilities were fairly limited for the most part, but they became heightened in regards to those people the individuals had closer connections to. In other words, the more an alpha or omega got to know and care for someone, the more attuned he or she became to that person's emotional state. This heightening of senses was particularly strong in regards to his or her mate.

While Aoko didn't know whether Kaito and Shinichi had officially bonded yet, she was fairly sure it was only a matter of time, and the two were certainly already close enough that she wouldn't question any impressions Kaito got about Shinichi's state of mind.

It made her think back to their high school years. Back then, she had thought—hoped—that she and Kaito would one day bond. But there had always been (and still were) parts of him she couldn't see or sense—that she couldn't understand. It was a darkness, she thought at times: something secret and hard and dangerous that he kept tucked behind his masks where she could never reach it.

It was when she finally allowed herself to acknowledge the existence of that shadow behind his eyes that she had finally admitted that they wouldn't work out as a couple.

Kaito needed someone who could see, understand and accept all his faces, the bright and the dark. Someone Kaito would allow to see those faces.

Aoko was glad that he had found that person in Shinichi.

That thought brought her attention back to the present and the problem at hand.

"When did you first notice him acting strange?" she asked.

"About three weeks ago." Now that he thought about it, Kaito mused, it had started shortly after he'd found that bottle.

Aoko frowned thoughtfully. "I don't remember any bad cases coming up in that time… Has he actually done anything strange? Or is it just the nerves?"

"Well, there was this thing last week."

Kaito had just finished giving a major presentation for a chemistry class he was taking, and Shinichi had recently had a big exam. So, to celebrate and unwind, they had planned a relaxing evening together of good food and movies. Shinichi's last class that day ended later than Kaito's, but he caught a case on the way home, so Kaito got to the Kudo Manor before him. Neither surprised nor perturbed, the magician had let himself in, started the coffeemaker in anticipation of Shinichi's return, then gotten out the plans he'd been making for his upcoming show to work on while he waited for Shinichi to get home.

Despite the mood music he'd put on, his sharp thief's ears caught the sound of the front door opening, and he smiled. He heard Shinichi pause, probably at both the sight of Kaito's shoes at the door and the sound of music. Then the front door was shut. There was the sound of Shinichi taking off his shoes.

"Welcome home," Kaito said when Shinichi stepped into the living room.

"Sorry I'm late."

"Nah. I had to work out a few things for my next show. I'm just about done, so I'd say you're right on time. Anyway, why don't you go change into something more comfortable, and I'll go get us some coffee? Then we can decide what we want to order for dinner later."

Shinichi hesitated for the briefest of moments then nodded and murmured an agreement. Kaito watched him disappear upstairs with a puzzled frown before heading to the kitchen to pour the coffee. He brought both cups back to the living room and sat back down on the couch to add a last few details to his plans. He grew increasingly puzzled as the seconds became minutes and Shinichi had yet to reappear.

When Shinichi did finally appear, the tension and uncertainty Kaito could sense from him instantly put the magician on high alert. His concern only grew when the omega detective padded over to sit down on the couch next to him and immediately curled up against his side. Kaito immediately wrapped an arm around him but was not particularly reassured when Shinichi snuggled closer. The tension he could feel in Shinichi's slim frame made Kaito's inner alpha growl. He wanted to hunt down whoever had upset his detective and make them regret they'd ever crossed paths.

"What happened?" he asked as gently as he could.

Shinichi's brows furrowed at the question. "What do you mean?"

"At the case," Kaito clarified. "Did anything happen?"

"Not really," Shinichi said, confused. "I mean, the murderer tried to make a run for it, but Satou-keiji flattened him. Served him right anyway. He was a jerk."

"Who'd he kill?"

"A friend of his—or, well, I guess I wouldn't call what they had friendship. They were both trying to con each other, but one of them was more successful. The other guy took offense and decided to retaliate by killing him." The detective made a disgusted noise and rolled his eyes. "Classic pot and kettle, I guess. The whole thing was ridiculous. There are some people I'll just never understand."

So it wasn't the case itself that was bothering his detective.

"Was anyone else hurt?" he tried.

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"Well," Kaito said carefully. "It's just you seem kind of tense." When Shinichi stayed silent, he continued. "And you haven't touched your coffee. You're also being cuddly."

More silence.

"It's all right if you don't want to talk about it," Kaito added. "Just know I'm here for you, whatever it is."

Shinichi made a strangled noise that Kaito found most alarming then seemed to deflate.

"Yeah, I know," the detective murmured before settling into a gloomy silence that only confirmed Kaito's suspicions that something was horribly wrong.

"I don't think I understand," Aoko said slowly.

Kaito looked amused. "Join the club."

"Well…is there anything else?"

"He's been giving me these sort of looks. Like he wants something, but he won't say what. When I ask, he blushes and says it's nothing. Then he'll go hide in a book."

Aoko blinked. "Huh…"

"He's also been rather forgetful."

"Forgetful?"

"Like he keeps forgetting to use a scent masker. Then he snaps at me for reminding him."

"That doesn't sound like Shinichi-kun…"

"Like I said, he's been acting strange." Combine that with all the distress he kept sensing from his beloved detective, and it was no wonder his inner alpha was going bonkers. He wanted to protect Shinichi from whatever was upsetting him, but he couldn't do that if he didn't know what the problem was. It made him feel like he was failing Shinichi somehow. It was putting him on edge and had led to his recent spate of Shinichi-stalking.

It was because he looked away from Aoko and back across the street to where Shinichi was wrapping up his case that Kaito missed the way Aoko's eyes widened in sudden realization. By the time he turned back to her, she had managed to wrestle her expression back under control.

"I need to go," she said a little too quickly to be normal, but Kaito was too distracted to pay that much mind. "But I'll see what I can find out."

"Right. Thanks." The magician's eyes were already back on Shinichi.

Aoko gathered up her stuff and headed out of the café, thoughts whirring. Part of her felt the extremely inappropriate urge to laugh because really, if this was what she thought it was then it was a problem she would never in a million years have imagined her loud, shameless, and overbearing Kaito of all people having. Then again, considering it was Shinichi he was trying to court, maybe she shouldn't be that surprised. Well, as their friend, she really ought to give them a hand since they were obviously getting nowhere on their own.

-0-

Shinichi really, really wished that there was someone he could talk to about his current dilemma. The problem was that he was also pretty sure that he would die of embarrassment if forced to actually discuss said problem with anyone he knew, even Ran, to whom he usually went when he had relationship-related problems he felt the need to discuss with a third party. And obviously he wasn't going to discuss his sex life with anyone he didn't know. He simply wasn't comfortable sharing aspects of his private life—especially this aspect—with other people. It was, well, too private.

The thing was that he couldn't logically ask for advice without also sharing the problem. It was as he was tossing this obstacle around in his head that he realized the obvious solution.

And that was how Kudo Shinichi ended up browsing internet forums professing to offer relationship advice.

He learned very quickly that there were a lot of strange people in the world, but he also learned that he wasn't the only omega out there who didn't want his or her first time with the person they loved to be while they were in heat. Like him, there were others who wanted all parties involved to have clear heads for both their own sakes and that of their prospective mates. For some reason, learning that he wasn't the only omega with these kinds of concerns made him feel better. He'd never been too concerned with such things as fitting in or whatever, but that didn't mean it wasn't nice sometimes to have some support, no matter how indirect.

Unfortunately, what he did not find was advice that he wanted to follow. Half the advice he found contradicted the other half anyway, and the advice that sounded most like it would work all involved talking about it, and, well, that was kind of what he was having trouble doing. He had thought about it a few times when Kaito had pressed him for what was on his mind, but he just couldn't get the words out.

He could sense that Kaito was confused and growing increasingly frustrated. Shinichi couldn't blame him. It made the detective feel guilty and a little down.

It wasn't helping his mood that Kaito seemed to believe that any overt gesture of physical affection from Shinichi meant that something terrible must have happened. It made Shinichi wonder why Kaito even put up with him. Certainly none of the omegas sharing their experiences online ever had to deal with their alphas assuming a friend was in the hospital just because said omega wanted to cuddle. Did that make Shinichi a bad mate?

That depressing question was still rolling around in his thoughts as he opened up his email to begin checking his messages for the day. Most of it was spam. He had a few emails from classmates asking about this assignment or that problem on a piece of homework that he answered as concisely as he could. Then there was a message from some of his police contacts inviting him to karaoke. He stared at that one for a long moment before deciding to skip it for now and move on. There were other police messages asking for advice on various cases. He answered the ones that were obvious, gave a few tips for the others, and offered to schedule in person meetings for discussing the rest when everyone had time.

Once he was done with all the work and class emails, he found that he had one more from a Nakamori Aoko.

That surprised him.

Shinichi had gotten to know Aoko through Kaito first because she was one of Kaito's best friends. But he had also gotten to know her through his own work with the police because she knew several officers and often shadowed them to learn about police work in preparation for following in her father's footsteps. She had even helped out on a few cases that he had worked with Hakuba Saguru, a fellow detective who also happened to be Aoko's boyfriend.

Shinichi had found Aoko to be a dedicated, energetic girl with a fiery temper and very definite ideas about right and wrong. She had been welcoming from the very beginning of their acquaintanceship, and he had come to consider her a good friend. But he also knew she was typically a very upfront sort of person, so why was she sending him an email? If she had something to say to him, she usually sought him out in person or at least called.

Puzzling over this, he opened the email, and his evening got even stranger.

On the other hand, he no longer had to wonder why she'd chosen to send an email instead of speaking to him face to face.

Inside the email was a list of instructions complete with dates and times.

A blush climbed slowly up his face as Shinichi read more and more slowly down the step by step instructions.

At the very end of the list, there was a note.

"I understand talking about these kinds of things are difficult and awkward for you," it said. "They are for me too, so I really get it. But that idiot is thinking too much, and I think you are too. So this is my way of giving you both a hand.

And good luck. I know Kaito can be a handful, but he really is a good guy. You got lucky when you found him. But he got lucky too when he found you. You make him happy, and I know he'll take good care of you. If he doesn't, I'll kick his butt. So don't worry so much and just go for it!"

Shinichi read the message again then sat back. He was embarrassed as hell, but he was also touched. And, well… He read the email again. It was a plan created by someone who had known Kaito far longer than Shinichi had. Since he couldn't decide what to do on his own, he might as well follow her advice.

…

And if it didn't work, Shinichi would find a really deep hole to crawl into and stay in for the next hundred years or so because he would never be able to look Kaito—or Aoko-n the face again.

-TBC-