-Love of Four-
Disclaimer: The works of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Gosho Aoyama-sensei.
Warning: KaiShin relationship.
A/N: Something akin to a 'regular' update...finally.
05: You Lucky Dog
"Class." The teacher of class 3B in Teitan called out for attention. A majority of the students were already in their seats. On seat in particular held a certain nervous, fidgety detective who kept glancing between the teacher and the doorway. Ran, who noticed this, kicked at Shinichi's table leg to have him stop this nervous action.
"Everything's going to be fine. No one would notice." She leaned over to whisper.
Shinichi nodded in slow movement, not quite believing but still chose to follow Ran's advice. He took a deep breath and tried to relax.
"Today we have a new student." She motioned towards the door, which promptly slid open. An elegant leg appeared, which drew the attention of many of the males in the room. The long leg was followed by thin waist and hip, silky black tresses, and a pair of startling blue eyes that had many people look back towards Shinichi.
Shinichi thought he was doomed, that everyone would find out. But strangely, all it provoked was Nakamura leaning forwards and tapping Shinichi on his shoulder.
"Is she your sister? Have you been hiding her in that big mansion?" Nakamura gave a playful punch on Shinichi's shoulder. "Having Mouri-chan doing your bidding is not enough, you even have your very own, lovely sister? Why didn't you introduce us before?"
His words were followed by many envious gazes in his direction.
"Class, this is Irie Shiina. She would be joining our class for the time she would be staying in Beika." The teacher tried to quiet the class down though without much success. Instead, she directed the girl to a seat next to Shinichi.
"Stop sulking." Shiina flicked Shinichi on the head. "Everything's going to be fine."
"You sound like Ran all of a sudden." Shinichi glanced up, rubbing the spot she flicked at.
"Good. She's a good influence." Nodding, she took the seat and quickly settled down. Throughout the exchange, the pair gained more envious gaze from both male and female. Ran, on the other hand, only sighed and shook her head.
Class, thankfully, passed by with relative normalcy for Shinichi most of the time. Though he was steadily becoming more annoyed by the backwards glance from the rest of his classmates. He was not sure whether Shiina was doing things on purpose but over the course of the class, she began to inch closer towards Shinichi, bringing both chair and table to the point where they were sitting side by side instead of having the aisle between them. Shinichi cast a weary look at her, to which was replied with a playful smile.
With a raise of his brows, Shiina seemed to understand his question and replied, "I don't have a textbook."
He nodded, laying the book between them so she could take a look. Even if Shiina's stay was not permanent, at least Shinichi hoped it was not, they had to pretend that Shiina exists as a person for now. Though he doubted the girl needed the book anyways, seeing as he did not need to use it all that often and it is logical to assume they share the same level of knowledge.
"Stop frowning. You were never one to pull on the grumpy face this often. And class is not rocket science, well technically it will be after lunch seeing as we have physics, but not now." Shiina nudged at Shinichi's elbow that had been resting conveniently between them.
"Not frowning." Removing his hand from the table, he turned to doodling on the near empty notebook. He can confidently say that he had not been paying any attention to the class, not that he needed to seeing as it was history and all it required of Shinichi to pass the exam would be copious amount of memorisation. That he could do easily.
"As though I believe you." She whispered softly, turning to her own notebook which already had a page full of drawings, mostly of roses and flowers though there was a gem here and there. There was no confusion as to what she had been thinking about.
"Please don't tell me you were lying during breakfast, that...you…" Shinichi's eyes widened, fearful that Shiina, his split counterpart, actually does have feelings for a certain indigo eyed magician.
"Nah, just wanted to mess with you for a bit. I have copied more of your, or should I say our, mother's humour." The glint in the eyes, even though they were far too playful, actually soothed Shinichi somewhat. She giggled softly before turning over a new page to start on another set of drawings. Her pencil glided over the page and Shinichi could make out two person sitting rather closely.
Unfortunately, the bell rang before she could add any more details to the outline and Shinichi was left to wonder what the subject matter of the drawing would be.
"Kudo!" Several of the football team members, who happened to be in the same class, immediately gathered around them. "Come on, introduce us!"
Shinichi looked between the males and Shiina, who gave an encouraging smile. Sighing, Shinichi went about to introduce Shiina to the rather enthusiastic group of males, many of whom swooned and tried so very very hard to win her affections from Shinichi's observation.
"How long have you known her for? And why did you keep this hidden you sly dog!" One of them pulled Shinichi into a rather strangling hug. "This is not something you hide from friends you know! Especially since you have Mouri already."
"I assure you, Shinichi was not trying to hide me." Shiina smiled, which managed to melt everyone nearby. Shinichi could not help but shiver at the effect, how people just seemed to melt at the softening gaze. He wondered if he too have the same effect on people seeing as they were supposed to be the same person, but soon realised he might not have the same allure as Shiina.
The buzz in his pant pockets gave him the excuse to leave the room, Shiina looked to him in equal parts of confusion and understanding before drawing the attention back to herself.
"What did you have for lunch? Did you even have lunch today?" The message from Kaito reminded Shinichi to go grab something from the cafeteria for himself and Shiina. Shinichi did not notice Ran inside the classroom but he remembered her friend had an emergency Karate Club meeting, so he might as well find something for her if he could. On the way, he typed a quick reply, "Sandwich from the store. Forgot to pack lunch this morning."
The cafeteria was packed full of students, many grabbing takeaway to be eaten outside so they could enjoy the sunshine. A large majority chose to sit indoors at the various tables inside the small space.
"Shinichi!" Ran called out from the seating near the cashier, Shinichi turned around in his position, mindful of the armful of food and drink. He quickly paid for the food and walked over. "Well, I can't say that it's a healthy selection, but at least you're eating something." She commented as she walked over from her place at the tables.
"You've finished eating?" He glanced back at the table to see several girls waving happily at him.
"Yea." Ran waved back and the girls turned back to their conversation. "You want some help with that?" She eyed the food, seeing how Shinichi struggled to stop them from falling towards the ground as he tries to reach for his wallet.
"Thanks." He offloaded half onto Ran and managed to find take his wallet out.
"At least you don't have to wonder what Shiina likes, you're practically the same person." She turned over the food load on her hand before brandishing the cans of coffee. "Though try to pull back on the caffeine? It's not good for you and we won't want you to become addicted."
"Too late for that Ran." He shook his head, taking the can out of her hands and placing them onto the counter ready to be checked out.
"I swear Conan drank less than you normally do. And here I was hoping that it stuck to you…"
"Conan drank coffee when your eyes were turned." He muttered softly, only to be heard and rewarded with a hit to the back of his head. "Hey!"
"You deserve that." After Shinichi's payment, Ran confiscated the two cans of drinks and walked determinedly out the cafeteria doors.
"Hey! Give it back." Shinichi chased after her, steps hurried, whilst still maintaining the various sandwiches in his hold.
Ran turned back with a rather playful smile. "Like I said, you deserve that."
After class, Shiina was called to the staff room to finalise the rest of the admissions procedure. Shinichi decided to head out first, wanting a bit of fresh air and to be away from the envious glares from the male student populace. Ran and Sonoko stayed, the latter wanted to make sure Shiina would not become lost inside the school. Though Shinichi was not sure how one could become lost in such a small school.
The moment he stepped out of the school gates, Shinichi was surprised to see Kaito leaning on the concrete surface, gazing up at the all-too-blue sky.
"Ka-Kaito! Wha-what are you doing here? Don't you have school?" He stuttered, taking quick glances back to the school building's entrance to ensure Shiina was nowhere to be seen. It would be rather confusing and bit of an embarrassment to explain the situation. Even though Kaito knew about his cross-dressing.
"I texted you half an hour ago, told you I'd be stopping by." Kaito offered the cup, which Shinichi accepted with a small blush, a soft thanks and a dip of his head. "I thought I'd walk you at least partway to where you needed to be."
"There's...there's really no need to trouble yourself. It's...you have a long journey. Um…" Shinichi stuttered over his words, nervously glanced back towards the school building once more, hoping that Shiina was still preoccupied. Knowing he had to steer Kaito away, lest all this mess was aired out into the open, he rummaged through his mind to figure out a reason for drawing the magician away. "I...think I have a bit of time for now. Um...why don't we walk a bit, maybe have a bite or something? Then...I'll walk you to the train station so you can go back to Ekoda at a reasonable time?" Shinichi need to remember to text Ran to meet up at the shopping street. They will have to buy Shiina's uniform and only Shinichi has enough cash for the job.
"Oh Shinichi!" Kaito pounced on his detective, "so considerate of you!" Then subsequently gave a rather playful and overly dramatic smooch on the cheeks. Shinichi blushed at the public display, not used to the sudden gesture of affection from someone outside of his blood relation (his mother often pounces on him and kisses him on the cheeks whenever they meet but outside of family, not too often in Japan. In the States, it might have been a regular occurrence but not in Japan even with the influx of foreigners).
"Ba-baka!" Shinichi pushed at Kaito, who immediately backed away. "I just don't want you to come all the way over for no reason…" He muttered softly, burying his words into the rim of the cup. He could smell the aromas of the coffee, soothing his senses immediately. He took a drink from the cup, savouring the taste on his tongue as he let out a soft involuntary moan at the comfort it brings. He was thankful Kaito did not notice his reaction to good coffee.
"It's never 'no reason' when you're here." Kaito admitted truthfully with a hint of shyness. Shinichi noted how Kaito tries to hide his face from him, spotting the tiniest tinge of pink on the cheeks.
"This is really good coffee." He abruptly changed the subject, slowly walking towards the direction of the station, though taking a rather long route and away from the bustling shopping district just in case the girls took the same route. "Where did you buy this from? Ekoda? I swear I've tried every coffee shop and cafe in Beika and none has beans with such aroma."
Shinichi glanced at the silent magician through their slow amble, curious and and worry showing through.
"Kaito?" Shinichi waved a hand in front of him. "Are you alright? You looked a bit out of it for a while? Maybe you should head back early…"
"No, no. I'm fine. And I can't waste this opportunity to spend more time with you." Kaito walked closer, "now, where should we go?"
"What do you mean where should we go?" Kaito's confused but adoring face made Shinichi nearly stutter over his next words. He took a moment to formulate his sentence, making sure to voice it so that it sounds believable, which was a hard task in itself seeing as the magician was a master of deception. "I'm walking you to the station. Then I need to head to my...appointment."
"Are you sick Shinichi?" Kaito leaned over, placing a hand on his forehead. "I don't feel a temperature…"
"No, not a doctor's appointment." He quickly added, shying away from the hand and hopefully away from and form of physical lie detection.
"Then where?" Large indigo eyes beamed at him like a puppy waiting on his master. It took much effort for Shinichi to turn away from such pleading gaze.
"I...need to meet a...um...client." He said softly.
"A special client?" For some odd reason, Shinichi detected a hint of fear in Kaito's voice. Shinichi felt he could be implying many things but he knew from early on that trying to read Kaito was like trying to find a drop of hot water in a cold bath, an impossible task. So instead of guessing, Shinichi took the direct route of asking.
"Why are you afraid?" Shinichi is the one with the reason to be afraid of shadows jumping from buildings.
"Nothing…"
"It's not nothing if you're being evasive." Shinichi stopped by the street, taking care to observe his surroundings just in case.
"I'm not being evasive, rather, I'm just surprised you've already established yourself quite well as a private-eye even if you're still in school." Kaito scratched his cheeks in embarrassment. "That and you take on clients of questionable nature."
"Wha-?" Shinichi was confused, how did Kaito get from special client to questionable clients?
"Isn't that the code word for clients that does not want their identities disclosed?" The way Kaito positioned his head was just too cute that Shinichi found himself stepping closer to the body of the magician. He managed to force Kaito to take a step back, his back hitting the closest wall as he boxed the magician in with both his hands and how he positioned his body. Kaito looked stunned for a moment before his face morphed into a playful, come-beckoning smile.
"Well? Is this how you interrogate your clients? Or your suspects even?" Kaito looped an arm around Shinichi and pulled him in, leaning close to his ear. Shinichi could feel the small puffs of air as Kaito breathed so close. He felt how lips barely brushed past the shell of his ear as Kaito whispered "I must say, I'd be quite jealous if it was the case."
Shinichi wanted to blame his actions on suppressed hormones, or the fact that the streets were devoid of people. Heck, he would be happy if he could blame his next actions on the passing dog for all he cared. But in reality, it was all Kaito and how the magician always managed to stir up something in him, which included the spontaneous grabbing and smashing his face into the magician's just so he could taste the words instead of hearing it. By the smile he felt from Kaito, Shinichi concluded the magician was rather satisfied and pleased with this outcome.
-TBC-
