A/N: I'm posting Chapter 1 today too, since I still feel pretty guilty... Also because the prologue is super short and sounds rather unrelated to the summary xD
Enjoy, and again, please review! Much appreciated!
Chapter One
He awoke to a throbbing ache in his temple and bright lights that seared his eyes. He groaned as he winced his eyelids back shut— and regretted making the noise too, as his throat felt burnt-dry.
"Oi, Kaito, don't do that!" a sharp voice admonished from somewhere to his right. "Can't you see the poor boy's sick?"
"It worked, didn't it?" a cheerful voice above him shot back. "He's awake!"
The brightness receded and, slowly, he slid one eye open. A mischievous grin and a startlingly familiar face greeted him first, followed by a chorus of salutations and crowd of facial expressions ranging from welcoming to worried to indifferent.
"ʼS a pity they're th' similar type," drawled a dark-skinned teenager with a thick accent and a baseball cap angled backwards on his head. "I don' think th' world can handle anoth'a Kuroba."
There was a general murmur of agreement among the throng of teenagers surrounding his bed as they all looked at the grinning boy still hanging over him. A girl with flowing dark brown hair cleared her throat and stepped closer. "Don't mind them," she said, rolling her eyes at her friends' antics. "How are you feeling?"
"Sick," he croaked, immediately bursting into a coughing fit as the burning sensation in his throat spiked once again.
"Don't push yourself," the girl gently scolded as she placed a reassuring hand over his shoulder. "Your fever's gone down a bit, but you'll still need to rest quite a while if you want to get better soon." Reaching over to the nightstand, she picked up a glass of water and handed it to him, helping the invalid sit upright as she carefully wrapped his thin fingers around the glass. He mumbled his thanks as he brought the cool water to his thirsty lips.
"Why don't we introduce ourselves?" another girl suggested, and he nearly choked. The girl who had spoken looked almost identical to the brown-haired girl still standing between the nightstand and his bed, and for a second his still-sluggish brain had falsely informed him that they were, in fact, the same person.
Oblivious to the fever-ridden patient's momentary confusion, the girl continued, "I'll start. My name is Nakamori Aoko, and this idiot—" here she produced a mop from thin air and whacked the still-smiling boy on the head, "— is Kaito."
"Kuroba Kaito, genius, prankster, and magician extraordinaire," Kaito added, shooting Aoko a sour look as he rubbed the growing lump on his head. Quickly recovering his cheerfulness, however, Kaito swept into a showman's bow before straightening and presenting the convalescent with a blue rose that appeared in his hand. "At your service, good sir," he proclaimed grandly, beaming as his offering was hesitantly accepted.
The boy with the baseball cap playfully elbowed Kaito out of the way. "Name's Hattori Heiji," he announced, ignoring the disapproving glare from a girl standing beside him. "Pleased ta meet ya."
Still frowning at Heiji, the ponytailed girl with dark green eyes turned her attention to the bed's sickly occupant, her slightly accented voice introducing herself as Toyama Kazuha. A loud, bubbly, light-haired girl with pale blue-green eyes and a plain headband pushing back her shoulder-length locks declared herself "Suzuki Sonoko, ultimate queen of beauty and wisdom."
(Everyone else in the room rolled their eyes at that statement.)
The tall blond teenager leaning against the doorframe cleared his throat and revealed his name to be Hakuba Saguru, his voice polite and serious.
"He's a prick," Heiji interjected not-so-quietly, once again disregarding Kazuha's immediate reprimand.
"Please excuse the rude language of my friend over there," Saguru said coolly, addressing the raven-haired spectator regarding them with bemusement. "He doesn't think very often before he speaks."
"Why ya little—" Heiji growled, but was swiftly cut off by Kazuha slapping her hand over his mouth. The yet-unnamed girl closest to the bed shook her head and smiled. "I'm afraid they're always like that," she apologized. "I'm Mouri Ran, by the way."
"And what's your name?" Kaito interrupted, eagerly leaning forward.
Lowering his now-empty glass, the center of attention looked around at the anticipatory expressions with chagrin. "I— don't remember."
There was a crestfallen silence, and he fidgeted awkwardly. Finally Kaito plucked the glass from the nameless boy's hands and replaced it on the nightstand. "Then we can give you one!" he exclaimed brightly. He put a finger on his chin, as if deep in thought.
"Oh, I know!" Lunging forward, Kaito threw his arms around the other boy. "I'll call you Shin-chan~!" he sang happily.
Everybody else sweatdropped. "Um, Kaito, don't you think 'Shin-chan' is a bit… overbearing?" Aoko reasoned.
"Nope!" came the sunny response.
"What about 'Shinichi'?" Ran suggested. "It has a nice ring to it."
"Sounds good to me," the boy in question replied, his voice somewhat muffled by Kaito's arm. "Kuroba-san, could you please, uh, get off me?"
"Aw, Shin-chan, just call me Kaito," Kaito mock-pouted as he pulled back.
"All right, that's enough commotion for today," Ran decided. "Sick people need to rest." She began ushering the other teens out of the room, but the newly-christened Shinichi stopped Kaito, catching his sleeve.
"Kaito-san— could you stay for a minute?" Shinichi requested. "There's… something I'd like to ask you."
Surprised, Kaito agreed, settling himself on the edge of the bed as Ran gently closed the door.
"Kaito-san," Shinichi began.
"Call me Kaito," the magician insisted, grinning.
Shinichi resisted the strong urge to sigh or roll his eyes (preferably both). "Fine, Kaito," he amended. Suddenly anxious, Shinichi twirled the stem of the blue rose between his fingers as he tried to figure out how to phrase his question. "Look, I- I know this might sound sort of strange, but— Kaito, you… you look really familiar." He sucked in a breath. "Do I— do I know you?" *
After a startled pause— during which Shinichi held his breath with trepidation— Kaito smiled. "I don't know you personally—"
Shinichi's shoulders slumped.
"—but I will soon enough, and I do know why you might find me so familiar."
Shinichi perked up.
Kaito flicked his fingers, producing a small handheld mirror in his palm. "Here," he prompted, thrusting it into Shinichi's hand. Shinichi slowly brought the mirror in front of his face.
And stared.
The face looking back at him should have been his own reflection, but all he could see was Kaito. At second glance, he noticed the differences— his own features were slightly sharper, his chin and jawline more angular, his hair considerably neater (more windswept than bedhead), and his eyes a deeper blue in contrast to Kaito's indigo-violet— but the general shape and appearance were exactly the same.
It was unnerving, to say the least.
"Weird, isn't it? The word 'reflection' can have two entirely different meanings; one being the identical replica of something, the other the complete opposite," Kaito spoke, his voice lilting and mysterious. "Most people use it to mean the first definition, but still."
Dazed, Shinichi shifted his gaze from the mirror to Kaito, entranced by the web spinning out from his thread of words. "People have Reflections, too, you know," Kaito continued. "Everyone has one somewhere. Someone who either looks and acts just like them, or is different in infinitely large and small ways." He started towards the door, smiling enigmatically as he tossed a parting comment over his shoulder. "It seems we're supposed to be alike, but… who knows?"
Shinichi blinked. He was quite overwhelmed by this foreign concept, his bewilderment accentuated by a 'poof' of smoke as the mirror vanished from his hand. Still, he couldn't help blurting out—
"One more question," Shinichi called. Kaito halted in front of the door, brow quirked in curiosity.
"Do you just happen to carry a mirror with you on a daily basis?"
Kaito laughed lightly, turning to face his Reflection. "Ever heard of the phrase 'smoke and mirrors?' Mirrors are a classic for magic tricks, since they're known for showing only what truly exists." He smirked, silently opening the door and transporting himself to the other side of it. His words were left to linger in empty air.
"Didn't you know?"
A/N: * I don't really have anything important to say about this, except... Did anyone else think Shinichi was going to confess his love to Kaito at this part? (raises hand) It wasn't my intent, and so far I don't think this is going to be KaiShin, but that's what it sounded like to me when I reread it...