Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.
Pairing(s): Kaito x Shinichi
WARNINGS: Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned
House of Cards
By V. Shalyr
3. Play
Ai frowned, emerging from her laboratory after a sleepless night trying and failing to figure out what exactly had gone wrong. From her experiments, she highly doubted that the last batch of potential antidote she'd given Kudou would have worn off and reverted him back to Conan, but it did cause changes. She just couldn't figure out what kind of changes. And the only clues she or Hattori had been able to find on the detective's abandoned garments were a few white feathers. They could have come from anywhere, especially seeing as he'd been on the scene of a KID heist.
Moving to the kitchen, the little girl climbed up onto one of the stools she'd set up around the place so that she could pour herself a cup of coffee. She was sorely in need of the caffeine right now, though she did take care that she didn't have too much of the stuff when it wasn't absolutely necessary. Still, sometimes, it was all too easy to forget that she was only nine—or was it ten now? She didn't much care to keep track.
As she moved to sit at the kitchen table, a soft tapping reached her ears. Frowning, she looked up, her sharp gaze zeroing in on the window. There was a dove on the windowsill, pecking on the other side of the glass. It noticed her gaze and stopped, fanning its wings.
Was it... asking to come in?
The scientist hesitated then got up and moved to the window. Unlocking it, she slid the windowpanes up and the dove hopped inside, cooing insistently.
The doves eyes were blue.
Ai stared.
Doves didn't have blue eyes, she was almost sure of it. Blue eyes... Kudou had blue eyes though, and there had been white feathers on his clothes—very possibly dove feathers.
Shinichi could see the wheels turning in her head as she processed the evidence and probabilities then returned to examining him with new interest.
"Well, this is unexpected. Kudou-kun, I presume?"
The dove seemed to relax with relief and bobbed his head in acknowledgement.
"I suppose I'd better start trying to find a way to make you human again as soon as possible. I'll ask the professor to call your parents so they can cover for you. Hattori's in town too, by the way. Originally, he was supposed to help me find you. But I suppose that's unnecessary now. You can probably stay here while..."
She trailed off when the dove hesitantly shook his head.
"You're not thinking that you can actually survive out there as a dove, are you? You realize that doves are virtually defenseless creatures."
He fluffed out his feathers indignantly at the suggestion. He wasn't an idiot after all.
Ai rolled her eyes. "Fine, as long as you know what you're doing. Just... be careful, all right? And check back in with me in a couple days."
The dove bobbed its head again to show that he understood then turned and took to the air, circling over the professor's house once before making his way back towards the apartment that was rather quickly starting to feel like home.
.
Kaito glanced up at the open window of his room at the sound of wings. When the blue-eyed dove landed on the sill, he grinned. "Oh good, you came back. I was starting to worry you weren't going to since your injuries have pretty much healed up."
/ I kind of like it here, / Shinichi admitted aloud, though his words came out in a series of happy, unintelligible coos.
Kaito held out his hand and the dove half hopped, half flapped over to land on it obligingly.
"You seem to be in a good mood today," the magician mused, holding him up at eye level. "I wonder what the reason is? Or maybe it's just being able to fly again?"
The magician sounded slightly wistful at that last question, and Shinichi wondered if he was missing the use of his glider. It had always seemed like KID's favorite means of transportation.
Kaito lifted the hand he was perched on to his shoulder and Shinichi took it as a cue to hop onto it so the magician could pick up his pen again. He sat there for awhile just watching the magician finish up his homework, but he had things to do today. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to tell the magician who he was, but he had several ideas, and now that he could move about freely, it was high time to see if any of them worked out.
Taking flight again, he darted through the open door of Kaito's room and out into the living room. He was pretty sure he had seen an ink pot there the day before—ah yes, there it was. He wasn't sure what Kaito used the ink for, but then being who he was, the magician had all sorts of strange things lying about his house. Waddling over to it, Shinichi examined the seal. Luckily for him, it hadn't been closed too tightly, so it only took some effort on his part to remove the already loose cap.
Right, now to get some paper. Well, a sheet or two from the printer in the corner would probably do.
An hour later, however, Shinichi was no longer feeling so optimistic.
Operation "Try to Write" wasn't going as planned. Shinichi sat back, frustrated and exhausted to stare dispiritedly at the mess of black ink upon the page. Wings and talons just weren't amenable to the creation of legible letters. They made his movements clumsy and it showed in the many splotches and streaks of blackish gray that marred his white body. Not that he was one to give up that easily, but an accidental flick of his wing sent the entire ink pot tipping onto its side and rolling across the tabletop. Shinichi managed to stop it from falling off the edge, but only just, and there was no stopping the flood of ink that cascaded out across the wooden surface.
The noise soon brought Kaito into the living room. His gaze fell on the dove right away and he frowned, heading into the kitchen for a rag to soak up the majority of the spill. The rag came accompanied with a giant bowl of warm water and more clean cloths for the bird.
Shinichi just sat despondently as Kaito rinsed the ink off his feathers, scolding him all the while about messing with the ink pot and what kind of damage he might have accidentally done to his feather coat.
Being a bird was much more frustrating than being Conan had ever been. At least as Conan, he could talk to people.
"What's the matter with you?" Kaito grumbled, frowning. "You were all cheerful just this morning. And now you can't even be bothered to move."
When Shinichi still failed to react, he signed and snapped his fingers. "Aka."
The bird fluttered to him at once, and Kaito set him down next to Shinichi. "You talk to him. See if you can cheer him up."
There was a moment of silence as Kaito moved to the kitchen to dispose of the cleaning materials, then Aka said obligingly, / So, what seems to be the problem today? /
Shinichi shuffled about a little, feeling weirdly like he was in a doctor's office all of a sudden. Maybe Kaito had gone undercover as a medical professional at some point and taken this particular dove with him. / Nothing. /
/ Don't be like that, / Aka chided. / I want to help! And you're making Master worried. /
/ But there isn't really anything you can do, / Shinichi countered. / If I knew what to do, I wouldn't be sitting here. /
/ So is it information that you need then? / Aka asked, unperturbed by his snappishness. / I think most humans look at books when they need information. Though I don't know how to read. Do you? /
Shinichi blinked. Books, that could work. He recalled being somewhat surprised to find a collection of Sherlock Holmes books on the magician's bookshelf along with a variety of other fiction and nonfiction titles. That could work.
/ Thanks, / he said quite earnestly before taking off again for Kaito's room.
Aka stared after him, baffled but glad that he could help.
Shinichi didn't have to wait long for Kaito to return to his room with a mug of hot chocolate. The homework that had been on his desk had been exchanged for a bunch of diagrams and research books, but none of that interested him at the moment. Instead, Shinichi sat himself on top of his favorite series of books and stared at the magician intently. Being who he was, Kaito was extremely aware of being watched, and it didn't take him long to glance back at the dove in question.
Noticing just what books he was perched on, Kaito chuckled. "Looks like you and Tantei-kun have more than a few things in common."
Before the magician could look away again, Shinichi flapped his wings and moved to sit on top of a different series of magic books. Unfortunately, this didn't have the desired result and Kaito returned to his work without further comment. Not, Shinichi supposed, that he could blame him. How could he expect the thief to come to the conclusion that his new bird was really one of his detectives under a spell with so little in the way of clues? It was a leap in logic that people—even certifiably insane people—simply wouldn't come to. If only there was some more obvious method for him to act out his point.
Writing out the words had seemed like such an excellent and straightforward way. Hold on a moment, words... There were lots of things with words on them. If he could find the right words, there was no reason why he couldn't simply point them out instead of trying to write them out himself.
Casting his gaze around the room, Shinichi found what he was looking for stacked up on another corner of the bookshelf. Flying over to it, he selected the topmost newspaper and gripped the edge with his beak. It took him several tries, but he finally managed to drag the paper free and over to the desk, depositing it next to what appeared to be a diagram of a theatre stage.
"You know," Kaito said dryly, "you really are acting strange today."
Shinichi ignored the comment, hopping about on the page as he searched for the words he wanted. Luckily, the thief kept himself well updated on the goings-on of detectives. Unluckily, Kudou Shinichi had been absent on the news front for quite some time. Still, he'd work with what he had.
Stopping before a quote from some detective, Shinichi pecked at the word "I" then looked at the magician expectantly.
Kaito stared at the word then at the dove. It was obvious the bird wanted to tell him something, and it was beginning to dawn on him that his earlier suspicions may have been correct. "You can read."
It was more of a statement than a question, but Shinichi nodded anyway just to make it absolutely clear.
Kaito stared at him a moment longer then looked back at the article. "So, is it the sentence you're interested in?"
There didn't seem to be anything special about it to him. It wasn't even an article about a particularly skilled or well-known detective.
In reply, the dove shook his head and pecked at the same spot on the page once more.
"I?" Kaito guessed.
Yes! Shinichi nodded vigorously and began shuffling about again in search of the word "am".
Kaito watched him in growing wonder as "am" was followed by "a" and finally "detective". Thank Lady Luck that her favorite thief liked to read articles about crime.
"I've never heard of doves being detectives," Kaito informed him, gaze never leaving the bird in question. "I didn't think birds committed crimes either."
Shinichi snorted and cast around for something else to add more detail. It was pretty unlikely that he'd be able to find the word "spell" in articles about crime and the justice system, but maybe... Well, his name wasn't that unusual. It was worth a shot. With this in mind, he hopped about the page until he located the word "my", but the moment was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone.
Flipping it open, he leaned back in his chair and lifted it to his ear. "Hello?"
Shinichi caught an incoherent murmur from the other end of the line, then the magician frowned.
"Can't it wait?"
Another incoherent murmur, sounding a touch more frantic this time, and Kaito sighed. "Of course. I'll be right there."
Shutting the phone, he gave Shinichi a rueful look. "Sorry, Shin-chan, but it looks like we're going to have to finish this conversation after I get back."
Shinichi fluffed his feathers in frustration, but he supposed he could wait a few more hours. He wasn't having much luck locating any words or fragments that could be used to spell out his name anyway.
"Do you want to come with me?"
/ I suppose I might as well, / Shinichi sighed aloud even though the magician couldn't understand him, and waited patiently as Kaito scooped him up and placed him on his shoulder. At least he was finally getting somewhere.
.
They arrived at the university drama department theatre half an hour later to a scene of utter chaos. Props lay scattered everywhere and people were milling around, some of them cleaning up and others talking in rapid, urgent voices.
"So what's the emergency?" Kaito asked, singling out the stage manager who had called him in the first place.
The young man wrung his hands, a look of distress making his face look pinched and pale. "Something's happened to Fujioka, but we don't have anyone who can fill in for him. The opening performance is tomorrow night! There's simply no time to train someone else, and it's not like magicians grow on trees. We were hoping, seeing as you helped him with designing his part to begin with, that you'd be able to do his part. I mean, Hakuba-san told us that you were a good actor and that memorizing his part by tomorrow night shouldn't be a problem for you. Please, please consider it."
Kaito raised his eyebrows, sorting through the garbled half-rant, half-plea in his head. "Hold on a moment. What happened to Fujioka?"
"We don't know," the stage manager admitted, his voice strained with frustration and anxiety. "He just collapsed. But he seemed perfectly fine yesterday."
Still perched on the magician's shoulder, Shinichi frowned—or he would have if his new face had been capable of such human expressions. As it were, he turned his attention to the people around them, searching their expressions and trying to catch the various snatches of conversation going on. This sort of incident had become all too familiar to him over the years, especially as Conan.
"How is he?" Kaito asked, allowing some concern into his voice.
"We called an ambulance. The hospital sent word that he should be all right, but he's still unconscious."
Shinichi breathed a mental sigh of relief. At least the person wasn't dead. That was always a plus, and often a rare plus at that.
"He was poisoned."
The new voice belonged to an all too familiar figure making his way through the milling theatre club members towards them. Hakuba Saguru had a stern expression on his face that Shinichi recognized from the few cases he and the blond detective had worked on together.
"It was a fairly fast-acting poison, but luckily, not lethal when dealt with in a timely manner. We found traces of it in his drink, which was among those provided for all the club members."
Which meant, Shinichi translated in his head, that it had very likely been someone involved with the club who had executed the deed. And if they had meant to target this Fujioka person in particular, it was probably someone still on the scene, since they would have had to be able to ensure the poisoned cup made it into the right hands.
Caught up in the workings of the case, Shinichi moved from his place on Kaito's shoulder with a flap of his wings. Circling the crowd, he landed on whatever surface was available to listen in on what everyone was saying.
He didn't notice the eyes suddenly fixed on him.
"What's your bird doing?" Hakuba demanded warily. He didn't exactly have fond memories of the magician's birds. He couldn't understand why everyone else seemed to find the white, winged creatures so adorable. As far as he was concerned, they could be perfect little devils in their own right. He chalked it up to Kuroba's influence.
"That's a good question," Kaito mused aloud, though in his mind, he was thinking back to the newspaper incident just before they'd arrived. The way his new dove was flittering through the crowd, in his mind, he could see a person doing much the same—or rather, a child wearing a pair of fake glasses and an expression of intent concentration. What had that first sentence been?
I am a detective.
A detective... His Tantei-kun had gone missing several days ago. And, now that he thought about it, that was around the time the dove had shown up. It had even been at one of his heists, which his Tantei-kun had been attending regularly before his disappearance. Could it possibly be...?
Kaito shook his head. But that was impossible, wasn't it? People couldn't just up and turn into birds. But then again, from a reasonable and logical standpoint, they couldn't just remove ten years from their physical appearance either. And he professed to be searching for a gemstone that could grant a person immortality. While he couldn't say whether he really believed that such a gem existed, he obviously had decided not to rule out the possibility. In comparison, a person being turned into a dove hardly seemed all that implausible.
A sudden round of screams and the flurry of feathers jolted Kaito from his thoughts and he lunged forward to snatch the small, white shape out of the air, cradling it protectively in his arms and glaring.
"Hakuba, what is your bird doing here? It just tried to eat my dove!"
The blonde had hastily called the falcon to his arm as people scrambled to back away from the commotion.
"I'm sorry," he apologized to everyone in the vicinity in general. "I don't know what came over her."
Turning to Kaito, he added, "I was taking her outside when the incident here brought me here. Maybe it would be better if you left."
Kaito scowled, but turned to the stage manager and said, "I can cover for Fujioka, no problem. Just e-mail me his script, and I'll join you for rehearsals tomorrow."
"Thank you," the man replied, his entire frame sagging with relief. "We really, really appreciate this."
"I'm glad I could help." Donning his usual smile, Kaito wished them luck and left the theatre with the trembling bird still nestled against his jacket.
Under normal circumstance, Shinichi would have protested at being taken away from a crime scene like this. But Hakuba was there, and Watson had given him the shock of his life with that sudden attack. He'd never realized before how terrifyingly huge and sharp those claws could look to a dove.
Kaito waited until they were a good distance from the university campus before locating an unoccupied bench and taking a seat. Carefully transferring Shinichi to his hands, he slowly lifted the dove to eye-level and asked with a mixture of hesitation and amazement, "Tantei-kun?"
Shinichi stopped shivering and stared back at him, startled by the sudden question. Equally hesitant, he cooed an affirmative.
The magician stared at him for awhile longer then slowly shook his head, a smile playing across his lips. "Now, I've really seen it all. And you said you didn't believe in magic."
/ It wasn't magic, / Shinichi objected a little sulkily. / It was a scientific accident. /
However unlikely or improbable.
Of course, Kaito couldn't understand his actual words, but he got the idea from the dove's body language and laughed. He shook his head, his smile turning rueful. "What a way for you to learn my secret, huh?"
Shinichi didn't find this particularly amusing. He'd been brooding about it on and off since he'd woken up after the heist. Shifting a bit in the magician's grasp, pecking softly at a finger in a way he'd seen some of the other birds do to show affection. He wouldn't give KID's secret away.
"Well, that's good to know," the thief murmured, getting to his feet. "You know, I had been thinking about introducing you to Kuroba Kaito at some point. I suppose this is just a bit earlier than I'd planned."
Setting Shinichi back on his shoulder, he chuckled to himself. "I guess you really are Shin-chan. Life's full of coincidences, isn't it?"
.
Evening found the magician and the dove in the Kuroba living room. Kaito had rigged a sort of miniature computer-like device with a screen and a keyboard that included a few commonly used words so that Shinichi could type out whatever it was he wanted to say. It was actually quite a neat contraption, and Shinichi spent some time examining it before experimentally tapping out a sentence of greeting. When that turned out well, he quickly set about explaining to the magician exactly how he'd ended up small, white, and feathery.
Kaito sat on the carpet next to the low table, watching him with intense interest. "If you weren't so unbelievably smart for a bird, I'd find this entire story harder to believe."
/ You're telling me. /
"So, does that mean that, when your scientist friend finds a way to reverse this, you'll be a teenager again?"
Shinichi paused. He hadn't really given it much consideration. He'd been his right age for two days before being turned into a dove. Did that mean that the antidote had worked?
/ I don't know. /
"Hmmm." Kaito studied him with a calculating look then shrugged and grinned, reaching out to pet the top of his head. "You make a cute dove."
Shinichi shuffled away from his fingers, slightly disgruntled as he tapped at the keys, / They all look pretty much the same. /
"No they don't. I assure you that I can tell the difference between every one."
Deciding not to argue over the matter seeing as the magician had proven this true on several occasions, Shinichi opted instead to finally ask one of the other questions that had been nagging at him since this whole escapade began.
/ Why were those people shooting at you? /
"Hey, I'm a thief, remember? Thieves make enemies."
/ I didn't think you made many enemies who'd want to kill you. It's kind of extreme seeing as you tend to return what you steal. /
"Aw, so nice to know that you care."
Shinichi gave him a rather flat look. / You're avoiding the question. /
"Maybe," Kaito agreed with no trace of remorse. "It's almost the holidays. There's no point in dredging up shadows right now. First thing's first. Do you have anyone that you need to notify about your current, ah, condition?"
Shinichi ruffled his feathers unhappily at the change in topic, but he knew better than to even try pursuing the issue. / Not really. I already visited Haibara this morning. /
"Great. Then let's go Christmas shopping."
/ What? But it's already so dark outside. /
"Just my kind of hour, wouldn't you say? Anyway, most of the shops around here open late just before the holidays. They want all the business they can get out of the gift-giving season." Pausing in the doorway, the magician turned to give Shinichi a much more serious look. "I'm glad you ended up with me instead of getting picked up by somebody else. I was getting worried."
The blue-eyed dove sat quietly on the living room table for a long few moments after the magician had disappeared back into his room, then he shuffled back over to the key panel. For a minute or so, the clicking of the keys was the only sound in the room. Then he sat back and stared at the words he'd typed onto the screen.
/ I know. Thank you. /
TBC...
.