-FIRSTS-

Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.

Warning: KaiShin relationship.

A/N: Please, PLEASE don't kill me.


First Switch

His eyes felt as though glue had been poured over it as he tries to open a fraction. Light streamed in between his lashes, causing a wince, but he was adamant in opening his eyes. His body felt like weighted lead, yet at the same time felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Feeling across his skin was dull, he barely registered the rather rough texture of cloth beneath his fingers or the coolness of sheets currently covering his body. Heaving out a breathless sigh, he tries to turn his head towards one side, noting the whiteness of the room and the blandness of decor. The smell of antiseptic was heavy, suggesting he was in a medical facility, possibly a hospital but the lack of monitoring equipment and the emergency call button suggested otherwise. He tries to move but finds his wrists were bound by leather to the bed. An experimental tug resulted in more pain than it was worth.

He felt he should panic but at the same time, his mind was telling him to stay calm and figure out the situation as well as a method of escape. But where should he escape to?

At the same moment, the door slide opened with a smooth rattle, revealing a rather shapely woman and a well-groomed man in a bespoke suit. There was something in those facial features that rang alarm bells in his mind but he paid such warnings no heed.

"Good to see you are finally awake." The man spoke with a smooth voice. He took a seat in the chair set beside the bed.

"W...who...are you?" He looked at the face with confusion, noting a strangely lazy eye beneath the wire-rim glasses. There was a moment of surprise on the man's face as his scratchy voice made the sound.

"Well, this is certainly a surprise." He motioned for the woman to come over, who quickly undid the clasps on his wrists. He tries to sit up further but between the pain and the lack of energy, he sank back down into the bed. "Let's see...where should I start…"

"Um...was there...someone else who was supposed to be with me?" There was a sense of loss when only the man and woman came through the doorway. He had been expecting someone else, someone with bright blue eyes. "Someone who's...like me?"

"Like…? Oh, you mean your partner then." The man leaned back into his seat. "Well, I guess I can start with how you ended up here then. But first, how much do you remember?"

"I...don't know…" He hesitated, looking for any signs that could trigger a thought or memory. "I know that I'm in a medical facility that's not a hospital. Perhaps a private clinic. I know I'm in Japan, Tokyo to be exact. But I can't recall anything about myself specifically. Only a pair of bright blue eyes that belonged to someone that looked like me…" He frown at the lack of confidence in his words. He felt as though it was unlike him, the speech patterns and choice of vocabulary felt wrong.

"Ok then, how about we start with your name first?" There was a sense of gentleness in the man's voice, something that brought a chill rather than comfort. "Your name is Kuroba Kaito, aka Absinthe Verte. I'm your adoptive father of sorts after your own father passed away in a tragic accident. Your father used to work for me, in addition to his magician career, and was like my right-hand man. However, my enemies, sensing the danger, decided to put him out of the picture."

Kaito had a vague sense of a fire on stage but he could barely see the features of the person in his mind. He figured that was how his father had died, on stage, because of sabotage. He nodded, waiting for the man to continue.

"After your father's death, I took you in, along with your dearest friend for he too had been targeted due to his association with you, and by extension myself. Neither of you wanted to let things be and started...well...working for me would be the correct term. Although I treat both of you like a son rather than one of my employees." He reached up to fluff Kaito's hair, which he initially shied away but then tries to relax himself. If this man in front of him was family, there was no reason for him to flinch at contact.

"Is that where my...second name, Absinthe Verte came in?" He asked hesitantly, the words sounding foreign to his tongue.

"At least I'm glad your intelligence is still intact…" There was a sigh of relief from man along with a grateful smile. "Yes. I help run an organisation, or at least used to until my enemies infiltrated our ranks and caused distrust between my people. Now, I have splintered off on my own, gathering those I trusted with all my heart to my side. Including you and your partner."

"Then where is this partner?" He glanced from side to side, with an expectant gaze towards the doorway as though any moment now a particular individual would walk in and greet Kaito with a smile and shining blue eyes.

"I don't know how to break this to you, but, you were the only one we managed to retrieve after capture from my enemies. That last mission you went with your partner landed both of you in their experiment room and...I am sad to say the pair of you were captured for an extended amount of time. Who knows what they have done to both of you." The man reached out to give a comforting squeeze on Kaito's shoulder, another touch he wanted to shy away from. His own fists took hold of the free fabric from the blanket in frustration silently questioning how could he have left his own partner and escape himself.

"Then…" However, there was still hope in Kaito, he knew that his partner would not go down so easily even if the face and name of his partner still eludes him. After all, someone who could keep up with Kaito must be skillful in his own right. There was a sense that his partner always chased after him, so maybe this time Kaito could reverse their roles and chase after his partner instead.

"We suspect that Absinthe Blanche is still alive somewhere but we're unsure of what condition he would be in." Retrieving back his own arm, the man looked over towards where the woman stood with her back leaning on the blank wall.

The woman then took up the narration, her voice extremely smooth but lacked emotions. "The aim of the last mission was to retrieve experimental data and from what you have delivered back, they were doing something with the brain. From our experts, it was concluded that they were experimenting on mind manipulation and memory. We have reason to believe they may have devised ways of extracting information from our agents through such means." She crossed her arms in a defensive pose as she stared into his eyes. A chill ran down Kaito's spine.

The man nodded before turning attention back towards Kaito, "perhaps they found a way to brainwash our agents, or perhaps they found a way to manipulate our agent's memories. Either way, I'm hoping Blanche survived intact, or at least relatively intact even if you are missing some recent memories. Like you, he is like a son to me."

"Can you...at least tell me Blanche's real name?" Kaito whispered softly, eyes drawn towards the white sheet as though it held the answers to the world. There was a strange pang in his chest as he tries to imagine the features of his partner, he knew instinctively they looked alike but somehow he felt as though they were complete opposites of each other. And for some odd, inexplicable reason, Kaito felt as though the name Blanche does not fit with his view of his partner.

"Kudo Shinichi." The man was quite forthcoming with the information. Yet, other than bringing up feelings of warmth, Kaito could not remember anything more specific about his partner. He thought a name could help him recall his memories but all he came up with was sounds of soft whispers in his ear, a pair of burning blue eyes sometimes hidden beneath a pair of overly large glasses, a blur of black and white whizzing past his ear, and a view of the night sky overlooking a park. None of the images made any sense and does not seem to be stringing together coherently.

"Then when can I leave and start looking for him?" Even if he could not remember anything in particular about his partner, Kaito knew Kudo Shinichi was extremely important to him. The sense of urgency to seek Kudo Shinichi out was hard to ignore, it feels as though they belonged together.

"Not unless you've fully recovered. Then we can have you settled back at your home. However, we won't be putting you on any active missions until I am sure you'll be fine on your own." The man stood up, gave Kaito another squeeze of the shoulders, before moving towards the doorway. "And I know for a fact that you want to be on the field again but I'm not going to risk your health my Son."

"Wait," Kaito reached out, ignoring the sudden pain from his movement. "I need to know, what do I normally call you?"

There was a strange smile on the man's face as he turned back to face Kaito. He could not suppress the shiver as a single eye pierced into his soul.

"Sometimes Uncle, but most of the time I ask you to call me Rum to avoid further unnecessary associations that could be picked up by spies or enemies."

Without further words, he stepped out of the room, leaving the rather shapely lady with the cool expression. Kaito frowned when such attention was directed towards him.

"Then? Are you my Auntie?" Kaito asked somewhat mockingly, a tone that sounded more like himself rather than the timid speech he had been using up until now.

The woman laughed, not really offended by the term. "You may wish so but I'm more like a friend you hate or possibly an enemy that you love." As she walked by the foot of the bed, she patted Kaito on the legs covered with the blanket and left a soft message that Kaito could barely hear. "Heal soon young Dove. The game would be boring if you cannot fly."

Kaito wanted to call out for the woman again, for her to stop to at least give him her name. But something in his mind told him that the woman loved riddles. The phrase, spoken in English with a smoothly unaccented voice, 'A secret makes a woman Woman' echoed inside his head and Kaito could not help but wonder what the phrase meant even though it suited the woman very well.

xxxxx

A full week being cooped inside an overly white room and Kaito was relishing in the feeling of being able to stretch his legs and breath in the fresh air on the curbside of the road as he waited for the car to pick him up. His hands itched to do something as he waited somewhat patiently for his escort, the same shapely woman who appeared when he first woke up. He was disappointed when none other has visited him during his time in the medical facility, no co-workers nor friends. From how Rum explained things to him on the first day, it sounds as though Kaito had a life outside of doing the odd missions for his Uncle, so it was only normal to assume he had friends beyond the Organisation. And yet, he remained alone with only the company of several overly helpful nurses, all extremely well endowed and dressed in rather short skirts.

"Everything ok young Dove?" The white convertible parked in front of Kaito, startling him from his thoughts. It was both rare and common to be surprised, though Kaito was not sure why that was.

"It's fine." He took to the passenger seat smoothly, "just grateful that I'm out of the room."

"Like a true bird, you hate to be cooped up." With an amused chuckle, they sped off on the road.

Kaito barely recognised the buildings that sped pass the windows. No structure stood out, though whenever they pass by a park, Kaito would instinctively look up into the sky to search for something. If his companion had noticed his strange actions, she said nothing though there was a satisfactory grin to her face whenever Kaito looked to be engrossed in the view.

In no time, they arrived at a nondescript building. The plain exterior drawing up blanks in Kaito's mind. His companion handed over a card key and pointed towards the small reader to the side of the front door. Glancing between the two, Kaito walked over and awkwardly swiped the card between the reader. The red light changed to green and the automatic doors opened invitingly. The lobby was once again very sparsely furnished with a set of letter boxes to one side and a security counter on the other. The security man looked up briefly at Kaito before glancing over at his companion. An exchange of nod later, the security went back to the CCTV feed and left Kaito standing. He had to wonder whether he had ever been on speaking terms with the man.

"Come on young Dove," she directed Kaito towards the elevators, "we're going up to the top."

Kaito had to use his key card again for access to the top floor. He had to wonder whether such stringency is required. Then again, this building seems to be a high-end residential building most likely housing a variety of the nouvelle riche so maybe it was a standard. Kaito had a feeling that he had been living in a house until now and that this was the first time he stepped foot inside the building, but it cannot be true if these were indeed his living quarters. He looked at his companion in confusion.

"Do I live alone?" He asked, not wanting to actually question whether or not he lived here before. It would sound too strange especially since he was told this was his apartment.

"You live with your partner." She gestured towards the front door, urging Kaito to open it. He hesitated by the card reader, it felt wrong but he did not question further the feeling.

Swinging the door open revealed a rather spacious foyer, with ample room for several pairs of footware, some even left strewn haphazardly on the floor. Strangely enough, amongst the sneakers and sandals, there was a pair of heeled boots which should be wrong in an all male apartment yet out of everything Kaito has seen thus far, it was the only thing that felt right. Shaking his head, Kaito ventured further into the apartment, to which he was confronted with a large open space with a dark leather sofa set up in front of an electric fireplace. On its mantle was a collection of silver frames. To one side was an open kitchen with a pair stools set beside the counter. There was a bookcase separating the living area to what Kaito assumed would be the sleeping area. Foregoing exploration of the books, he approached the mantle place and lifted one of the silver frames from its place.

The picture looked very peaceful, showing Kaito standing next to his partner below a sakura tree with doves and petals dancing around them in the wind. Unfortunately, the picture was very blurred, possibly due to a lack of focus. Turning towards his gaze towards the rest of the pictures, he found every one of them were also blurred.

"Who took these photos?" He voiced his query, eyes never leaving the photos. Somehow, he felt creepy looking at it. "They're all out of focus."

"They're supposed to serve a purpose. However, what for, I would not be able to tell you." She shrugged, walking towards the kitchen area with a certain degree of familiarity.

"Have you been here before?" Replacing the out of focus picture in its original position, Kaito could not feel but sense something was missing.

"Once, some time after you moved into the place."

"Part of the house warming committee then?" He joked as he ran a hand on the counter. They were too clean for a place not to have been inhabited for extended time. "Did you leave a gift for m-...us?" He still was not able to think of this place as his own, nor did it feel to have belonged to him. All the furniture, placement of objects, were somewhat familiar but there was a sense of wrongness to it.

"You won't find it anymore. It was perishable." She rummaged around one of the drawers and pulled out several sheaves of paper. "Grocery is normally delivered to the apartment twice a week and meals once a day." She pointed at the contact number on one of the sheets before flipping over to a set of passwords and usernames. "You can order them online…"

Kaito frowned, all this seemed as though he was under house arrest. He must have voiced out his thoughts as she quirked an eyebrow with an amused expression on her face.

"No, just that Rum took the liberties of ordering for grocery delivery and meals to spare you the trouble." She shrugged, leaving the paper strewn on the table. "However, should you actually want to go out for shopping, know that you're...vulnerable in your current condition and Rum might have asked several of his men to keep an eye on you."

"It makes him sound like a control freak." Though Kaito was quite sure Rum was one. "Anything else Auntie?"

"Auntie?" She seemed surprised at the name.

"Well, seeing as I don't know what to call you and you had accompanied my...Uncle...I guess that makes you Auntie." To Kaito, it sounds extremely logical even if his heart was telling him there were other more apt names to call the woman.

She laughed at his logic. "Once you remember, I'm sure you'll amend your name for me. I remember you had quite a nice selection of nicknames for me, young Dove."

"Why do you call me that?" His questions drew an upturned smirk and raised eyebrows. "That name, Dove, why?"

"Oh? Would you rather be called Verte then?"

Kaito shook his head, that name sounded ever more jarring that the use of Dove. His mind was rejecting the name with vigour.

"Can you call me by my own name?" Slightly frustrated he looked for something to do with his hands. Idly, he took a nearby towel and began wiping down the counter.

"I always call you Dove, you weren't too bothered by it then so why does it bother you now?"

"That's because I don't normally see you so often…" He muttered softly under his breath, the words coming out without being filtered by his brain. For a moment, he wondered what that means.

"Recover soon Dove, the game's boring as it is now." She waved with a smile on her face, leaving Kaito with a small pile of paper on the dining room table and the silence of the apartment. Glancing over at the pile of paper, Kaito decided to let it be. His feet automatically drifted back towards the mantle, eyes browsing the selection of out-of-focus images. There was something unsettling about the images, something the rubbed him the wrong way. Yet for the life of him, Kaito could not put words to the feeling.

"What are you trying to tell me…" He muttered, hands brushing over the silver frames. "What are you secrets…"

-TBC-