Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

Illusions of the Sun

2: A New Beginning

Yoshino waited for her students to stop buzzing. Not, she mused, that she could really blame them. It had been a while since they'd had new students at the school. Most of these people had grown up knowing each other. And now they had two new students at once—two rather strange new students at that.

Their facial features were similar enough for them to be brothers despite their family names being different, but where the taller one had an air of boundless energy and looked like he was about to go haring off somewhere the other had an aura of quiet calmness—almost of waiting. Altogether Yoshino felt it would probably be impossible to get the two confused. If anything the more she looked at them the less alike they seemed, but that wasn't really important right now. She had a class to teach after all.

Calling for the class to be quiet, she directed the new students to two empty seats by the window.

X

Sitting down in the desk closer to the window, Shinichi couldn't help but cast his gaze outside at the flawless blue of the sky. He couldn't seem to get enough of seeing it. There was, he had decided, nothing more beautiful than the open sky. A whole month of being able to look upon it every day hadn't changed his mind. He doubted anything ever would.

"I'm not here to hurt you. My name is Jodie. I'm with the FBI."

"You were the ones who attacked the island."

She looked slightly surprised at the tone of absolute certainty in his voice, but she'd nodded. "We are. And we would appreciate it if you could tell us what you were doing there."

The woman and her comrades had fished them out of their drifting boat. Once everything had been explained, they had offered to help them find a new home—set up a new life. It had sounded like a dream. It had sounded impossible.

And yet…and yet here they were, new students attending school for the first time in ten years. They had even been provided with a small but comfortable house within walking distance of said school. Kaito's mother had been placed in the city's hospital due to ill health resulting from long term stress, but the doctors had all assured them that she would be fine soon. As for Shiho, the girl who had helped them escape, she had volunteered to assist in cleaning up the rest of the Wraith case (it turned out she had been a member of the research team pressed into service because of debts owed by her deceased family) and would be settling in a new life of her own soon.

Sometimes, Shinichi still thought that he was dreaming.

"Exciting, isn't it?"

Tearing his gaze from the sky, he turned to see Kaito grinning at him. He couldn't help but smile at the way his companion practically seemed to be vibrating with glee. It had been a long time since he'd last seen Kaito so excited about anything. "Yeah. It seems…kind of surreal."

Indigo eyes grew serious, almost fierce. "It's how things should be."

How things should be… Shinichi turned the phrase over in his mind then nodded slowly. Yes, this was how things should be.

Class began as the teacher began to give the day's announcements. Shinichi listened to her talk, reveling in the feeling of just being there. Most of the rest of the class seemed to have fallen into various stages of stupor but he couldn't understand why. Perhaps it was because school had become so routine to them that they just couldn't see the wonder of it anymore.

Things were going well until halfway through their second period when the world around him seemed to flex unpleasantly. He stiffened, his hand tightening convulsively around his pen. The lines on the paper before him shimmered and began to writhe as the edges of his vision faded first to black then red then green. His thoughts raced with sudden panic. He couldn't go into a vision here! What would they tell their classmates?

He had lifted his pen away from the paper as the lines continued to wriggle and his hand started shaking too much to write with. His other hand slid into his lap where it clenched into a tight fist as though he could physically grasp the world and hold it still.

It didn't work. Maybe if he could get the teacher to let him go to the bathroom. Could he get to the bathroom? Collapsing in the hall didn't sound very appealing. Maybe—maybe—

A hand grasped his under the desk and squeezed. He focused on the sensation with all his might until the creeping colors on the edge of his vision finally receded and he let out a quiet breath of relief.

The bell signaling the end of class chose that moment to ring and he blinked in surprise, eyes flickering up to the clock. Half the class had gone by without him even noticing. Dismayed blue eyes fell to the notes he'd been taking which had similarly come to an end far before the class itself.

"No need to look so horrified," Kaito's voice murmured into his ear, sounding slightly amused but also a little worried. "You can look at mine." He paused, studying the oracle's face. "Are you all right? Do you want to go home?"

Shinichi shook his head quickly. "No, I'm fine now. It's just—I didn't think…" He sighed, shaking his head. "I was stupid. I forgot to consider… It's not like the visions are going to disappear just because we're not there anymore after all."

Kaito was silent for a moment. "Are you sure you don't want to go home?"

Shinichi glanced again at his half finished notes, frowned, then nodded, a determined gleam lighting in his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure. We've waited so long…I'm not going to hide away just because of this."

The magician smiled faintly before the expression shifted into a more customary grin. "We'll find a way," he declared with the assurance of someone who had not only decided but made a solemn vow.

Because it was the only choice they could make now—the only one either of them was willing to accept.

X

"Those two sure do seem to know each other well," Mouri Ran remarked, watching the two new students whispering to each other several rows in front of her.

"Yeah, a little too well if you ask me," her friend Suzuki Sonoko remarked. "It's like they don't notice anyone else. That's not normal."

"Just because you're naturally nosy doesn't mean other people have to be," the dark skinned boy seated behind her snorted.

Sonoko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, don't tell me you can't see how close they're sitting."

"I'm guessin' they just moved here together. Some long time family friends do that—move together, you know. Why do you care anyway? One of 'em strike your fancy or something? Man I feel sorry for Makoto."

Sonoko's jaw dropped as she seemed to swell with indignation. "I never—how dare you say such things to me?"

Sighing, Ran did her best to tune the two out. She didn't understand why she always seemed to be surrounded by people who liked to argue. If it wasn't Sonoko and her current verbal sparring partner Hattori Heiji, it would be Heiji and Hakuba Saguru—who was currently giving her a knowing look.

"There is something strange about those two," the blonde in question said quietly, shifting forward in his desk so that she could hear him over the bickering going on right beside them. "The one by the window seems…ill, to me."

"Ill?" Ran repeated, glancing back towards the boy in question. "He…seems okay to me." Though now that he mentioned it the guy did look a little pale.

Saguru shrugged. "I could be mistaken. Perhaps he is simply nervous about being at a new school."

Ran hummed a little in agreement, though she couldn't help but remember how neither of the boys had seemed nervous to her when they had introduced themselves to the class.

X

When lunch period rolled around Shinichi discovered to his chagrin that he had missed another fifteen minutes or so of class to another tussle with insistent visions. Frustrated and tired, he didn't argue when Kaito offered to go get them lunch. He just smiled in gratitude and watched Kaito leave before putting his head down on the desk with a sigh.

Relief was short lived however.

"Hey, so where did you guys move from?" a curious voice inquired from somewhere in front of his desk, making him jerk upright in surprise.

"Do you play any sports?" someone else asked.

"Are you going to join any clubs?"

"How are you liking it here so far?"

"Do you guys want someone to show you around?"

It seemed like everyone in class had a question and none of them was willing to be heard second. Shinichi could only sit in the midst of it all, not sure where to begin. He could feel his own heart rate picking up as they crowded around him, all talking at once in increasingly louder voices as each attempted to be the first one heard. Their voices were blending together into an indistinguishable roar and it was suddenly a bit difficult to breathe.

For ten whole years the only people he'd interacted with were Kaito and a handful of Wraith scientists who were anything but good company. Now he was being swarmed by total strangers. He knew they were only curious, but it was hard to remember that with the panic welling up inside him.

Kaito chose that moment to walk back into the classroom, two lunches in hand. He stopped short in the doorway, taking in the sight of the curious students and Shinichi wearing an expression that made him think of a cornered animal. He had seen that look before when the scientists were still trying to figure out how Shinichi's powers worked.

He forced down an irrational surge of anger, reminding himself that these were harmless high school students. They had nothing to do with the Wraith. The Wraith were gone. They were just curious. They weren't trying to hurt Shinichi, even if their thoughtless crowding was obviously unnerving the oracle.

Taking another moment to study the situation, he checked that he had the supplies he'd spent the last couple days before they started school finding, and made his move.

Several people in the room shrieked and yelled as a small series of explosions cracked the air around the room. Students scattered, confused eyes jerking ceiling-ward to stare in shock at the myriad of little, colored paper stars now raining down all over the room. Their surprise turned to wonder as the colored stars swirled together and melted into a single, billowing cloth that shimmered through all the colors of the rainbow. Kaito caught a corner of the cloth and jerked on it, making it ripple towards him whereupon it vanished as though it had never been.

Now that everyone was watching him, he grinned and swept into a deep bow, pulling a white hat out of nowhere as he did so. Straightening, he placed the hat on his head to the sound of applause. He could feel the grin growing impossibly as he basked in the attention. He'd spent so long being a shadow that he'd forgotten what this was like. It brought back memories of his father that he hadn't allowed himself to dwell on in years. He would, he decided, definitely have to do this more often.

X

"We're going to the hospital to visit your mother, right?" Shinichi asked as he and Kaito left the school.

"Yep. Did you want to swing by home first or just head there from here?"

"Why don't we go straight there? I brought a map so we wouldn't have to detour just to find our way."

Kaito laughed. "All right then. Wouldn't want your efforts to go to waste, would we?"

The oracle rolled his eyes but refrained from commenting as he produced the aforementioned map.

The two boys made their way along the street. All around them people talked, laughed, and argued, each in his or her own world yet somehow all one world at the same time. It was a little strange for them both to think that now they were part of that world too, but it was a good kind of strange.

Kaito paused by the window of a small bookstore that stood between a flower shop and a crafts supply store, gaze resting on the books currently being showcased behind the massive display window. A memory flashed across the canvas of his mind—shelves full of books in a library long ago and the excited light in bright, blue eyes as he was presented with what Shinichi had claimed were the best books ever written.

He glanced quickly after Shinichi, who was still examining the map in his hands and hadn't noticed yet that his companion had stopped. Making up his mind, he jogged to catch up and tapped the oracle on the shoulder.

Shinichi jumped and glanced up. "Just give me a moment, I think I've almost got it. We just have to turn left at the—"

"Actually could you go ahead without me?" Kaito interjected. "There's something I need to do first."

Shinichi frowned slightly in confusion but nodded. "I guess so… But you are coming right? I mean, we haven't seen her for days."

"I'll be there," Kaito assured him hastily. "I just wanted to get her something."

"Oh." Blue eyes lit with understanding. "Well, do you want the map then? I could just, you know." He waved a hand vaguely, glancing around to see if anyone was watching them.

Kaito shook his head. "I'll just ask for directions. I don't think you should be using that when you don't have to. Maybe things will get better if you give it enough time."

"Well, if you're sure," the oracle replied a bit doubtfully.

"I'm sure. Now go on, I don't want Mom to think we forgot or anything."

"She wouldn't," Shinichi replied, but he turned anyway and continued down the street, unfolding the map again.

X

Kuroba Chikage smiled as the door to her hospital room opened and Shinichi peeked inside to make sure she wasn't sleeping before coming all the way in. Seeing him reminded her of two of the best friends she'd ever had who she'd never see again, but at the same time she was oh so grateful that she still had both him and her son. They were all that was left of her world—of the man she had loved and the friends she would miss for the rest of her life. How she wished that things could have been different, but at least the three of them were here now and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that they could live life as they should have been able to long ago.

"Kaito said he had an errand to run but he'll be here as soon as he can," Shinichi explained as he took a seat beside her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Very well, thank you," she replied, smiling softly at him. "How was your first day of school?"

"It was—kind of strange," he admitted a bit sheepishly. "There's…a lot of people. But it was interesting. They gave us a lot of extra homework though since we're starting late."

"That's only to be expected. Are you two finding your way around okay?"

Shinichi nodded, beginning to describe their day (though he left out the bit about the visions. Making her worry was the last thing he wanted to do now especially when it was prolonged stress that had put her in the hospital to begin with). He was telling her all about the strange food Kaito had brought back from the cafeteria when the magician in question came waltzing into the room and presented his mother with a colorful bouquet and a hug. The rest of the evening was spent simply enjoying each other's company until Chikage insisted that the boys head home before dark.

"That homework isn't going to do itself," she reminded them, earning a melodramatic groan from Kaito.

X

"Did the doctors tell you when she'd be discharged?" Shinichi asked as Kaito unlocked the door to the house that was now their home (what a beautiful word, home).

"I was told it'd be in about another two weeks," Kaito replied, performing a quick check of the house as he did every time they got home. You couldn't be too careful after all. "There's takeout on the kitchen counter," he called back as he made his way upstairs to look through the second floor rooms. "Might have to heat it up."

"All right." Stepping into the kitchen, Shinichi grabbed the boxes off the counter and sorted them into various microwavable containers before putting the first in to heat. That done, he took two plates and some silverware to the table where he paused. There was a large package sitting on the table that hadn't been there that morning. Kaito must have brought it back when he bought dinner.

Curious, he put the plates down and went to examine the package. It was rather heavy and well wrapped in plain paper. It didn't make any sound when shaken either.

"You can open it you know," Kaito remarked from the kitchen doorway, sounding far too amused.

"What is it?"

"I'm not telling~."

Rolling his eyes, Shinichi set about unwrapping the package with careful fingers. As the paper fell away he found himself looking down at a rather compact set of books.

He blinked down at them, his breath hitching in his throat. "Is that…?"

"The complete collection," Kaito asserted with a broadening grin. "Saw it on sale at the bookstore earlier."

And as he watched Shinichi's face light up with mixed wonder and sheer delight he couldn't help but laugh. It was a laugh that bubbled up from somewhere deep inside—bright and real and full of awe because for the first time in a long time he found that he could really feel the warmth of the sun again.

TBC

A.N: And there's chapter 2. ^^ I've had a headache on and off all week and computer screens don't help so I'm going to go now…