Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.
Pairing: KaitoxShinichi
Chapter Rating: Mostly T with some suggestions of M
Collection Summary: No matter where or what they are, their lives are always entwined. KaiShin stories in fantasy settings.
Chapter Summary: Sent to work at the magician's castle as the representative from his village, Shinichi finds his life taking a turn for the crazy. Some jobs are a whole lot harder than they should be for entirely unprofessional reasons.
Small Problems
[Castle Verse]
Shinichi sat at his desk in the castle library. There was a stack of folders in front of him. Every folder contained information about one or another of the many residences owned by the Kurobas scattered about their territory.
When Kaito had given him the assignment, Shinichi had thought it would be a simple one: choose a location for a nice vacation getaway for when Kuroba Chikage came to visit. Kaito hadn't been able to spend much time wih his mother in recent years, what with how busy he was and how she didn't live here at the castle anymore. So, now that they had some down time coming up and she'd expressed a wish to visit, Kaito had decided to make a vacation out of it. And it just wouldn't feel like a vacation in the castle's hustle and bustle, so he'd told Shinichi to pick somewhere suitable.
Simple.
Except… Every location seemed to have some kind of glaring flaw.
Sighing, Shinichi flipped open the next folder. This was the lake house where Kuroba Toichi used to take his wife fishing. The place now served as both a vacation spot for castle servants (it was Hakuba Saguru's favorite getaway) and a source of aquatic food stuffs and materials for the castle and surrounding settlements. Shinichi quite liked the place too. It was lively but peaceful, and a lot of the local children often came to play on the nearby shores. It was a common sight to see the kids helping out whichever staff members were working there at the time.
Kaito referred to the place as the Hellhole.
Shaking his head at the memory of the uncharitable way Kaito had described the place to him, Shinichi moved on.
The instant he opened the next folder, he shut it again, cheeks reddening.
He just couldn't think about that house without blushing. He and Kaito had spent a week there on what Kaito called their honeymoon after their trip to the abode of Lady Akako. They'd both needed to unwind after that stressful adventure. It had been a very…pleasurable if exhausting week during which Shinichi had gained rather…intimate knowledge of, well, just about every surface in that house.
Yeah, that house was definitely not going to be the one. Spend two weeks in a house where every piece of furniture called up vivid memories of himself writhing in intense pleasure as a certain magician pounded into him with said magician and his mother? He'd probably implode from blood rushing to his face before the end of the first day.
Next on the list was a quaint little cabin out in the forest. The place was really more of an outpost that had been built because of the area's many precious and rare herbs. The cabin was where people stayed when Kaito sent them to collect said herbs. The magician had taken Shinichi there with him once, and Shinichi quite liked the tranquil atmosphere. The problem was that last time Kaito had been there, Aoko had dropped by, and the magician had played a harmless joke on the dragon that the dragon had not appreciated. At all.
She had torched the cabin and the surrounding forest. Kaito had managed to raise a shield to contain the blaze, sparing most of the vegetation, but the cabin now had to be rebuilt.
Shaking his head at the memory, Shinichi crossed the cabin off the list.
Then there was the White Clover Manor. It was one of the largest of the Kuroba residences outside of the castle. This was partly because it had been built within easy reach of several of the largest towns in the magician's territory. Considering its location, it was often chosen for holding important meetings or parties. Because of that, it always had a full staff. That would make a lot of things easier. On the other hand, the manor felt much more like a place of business than a place of leisure. A lot of people went there when they wanted a word with Kaito but were hoping to get around the usual channels. That meant dealing with random intruders with all sorts of problems, most of which should have been brought to one of Kaito's staff members rather than to the magician himself.
Shinichi dithered over the manor for a little longer before marking it out as a possibility.
The bee farm he dismissed without a second thought despite its lovely locale. Aside from being, quite naturally, full of bees, the house there was barely large enough for the bee keepers. The one-room cabin in the mountains near Aoko's home was ruled out for the same reason.
Speaking of mountains though, wasn't there a house by the Magical Waterfalls of Lyre? Kaito had taken him there for his birthday last year. The place had been absolutely breathtaking. And the waters there were rich with magical properties. Kaito had said something about the area being inaccessible for large portions of the year though. Still, if it was open, it would be ideal.
Shinichi made a note to check up on the matter, feeling slightly more optimistic now about his search.
Next up was another lakeside abode. This one was smaller than the first, but it was not used for fishing. In fact, fishing and all fishing related activates had been banned. Anyone who disobeyed the rule ran the risk of spending the rest of his or her life striped pink with purple polka dots.
It was a nice house with lots of large windows and a beautiful view.
It was also situated near a vineyard, which was probably why it was the house where Shinichi had learned that an inebriated Kaito was a very horny Kaito with a thing for tying people up. Well, he said people, but it was really just Shinichi. The whole experience had been rather embarrassing (and hot, and intensely erotic—but of course that was precisely why it was so embarrassing. He wasn't sure if the fact that he'd been drunk himself was a good enough excuse. He couldn't even remember what they'd been celebrating). That night had left Shinichi with aches all over and a limp it had been impossible to hide. Even thinking about it now made him squirm in his seat.
Shinichi crossed that house off the list too. Noting that he'd already ruled out more than a dozen of their options, he groaned and dropped his head onto the folders. This was just ridiculous.
He really hoped that house by the waterfalls was accessible right now because it was starting to look like not only the best but the only viable option.
-End of Chapter-
