Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

Illusions of the Sun

9: Rising Shadows

It was the same vision. Over and over again, day after day, night after night. He had never had the same vision so many times before. And he still had no idea what it was trying to tell him. All he knew for sure was that it always left him feeling sick with dread.

Shaking the ominous thoughts from his mind, he turned his attention back to the heaping piles of, well, everything imaginable really that he was currently browsing through. Their project group was meeting again later that day and he and Kaito had decided to go look around for supplies beforehand. Kaito had gone to the arts and crafts store and Shinichi had opted to go search the thrift shop. Their group had decided to dress their parts, so they would need costumes.

So far he hadn't seen anything he thought would be particularly useful though.

Frowning, he moved on to the next batch of random stuff. This place was one horrible mess. The sooner he got out of here, the better.

"Shinichi?"

Startled, he straightened and turned to see Ran standing a few feet behind him. Sonoko was a little farther back, flipping quickly and expertly through a rack of various old garments.

The oracle blinked then laughed, scratching at his cheek. "I guess we had the same idea."

"Looks like it," Ran agreed with her own smile. "So, no luck I take it?"

Shinichi sighed at that. "Afraid not. I—"

He cut himself off abruptly as he felt a chill race up his spine. They were being watched.

"Is something wrong?"

"What? Oh, no, nothing," he said absently as he took a covert look around them at the rest of the shop then out the window to the street beyond. There were five of them. Two men and a woman had actually come into the store earlier. He hadn't thought much of them then but now he could see them casting looks in his and Ran's direction. Looks he didn't like. The last two were hanging around on the other side of the street, sitting outside the Italian restaurant there like they'd just stopped by for a quick rest. "You know what? I don't think we're going to find anything useful here. Why don't we head back?"

Sonoko straightened from her investigation of odd clothes to frown at him. "No way! We just started looking. If you give up that fast we'll never find anything."

"But the others could be waiting for us," he pointed out.

"Even more reason not to go back empty handed."

"But…" Shinichi trailed off, trying to come up with a good reason to leave that the girl wouldn't be able to rebut.

"Um, Shinichi,," Ran piped up, sounding somewhere between confused and concerned. "Do you know those people?"

The oracle followed her gaze to see the three watchers in the shop making their way through the piles of stuff towards them. They weren't moving very quickly but the fact that they were getting closer set Shinichi's nerves on edge.

"We have to go," he hissed at the two girls and was gratified when Ran didn't ask questions. Instead she took Sonoko by the arm and hauled her towards the door against her confused protests.

Trying to look like nothing more unusual than two teenagers pulling their shopping-obsessed friend away before she could get too into it, Shinichi held the door open as Ran herded the other girl through it. As soon as the door swung shut, he began to talk quickly, keeping his voice low and his head angled so that neither watching party would be able to see his face.

"You have to leave—go to our place. Kaito should be home by now."

"Why?" Sonoko demanded, finally wrenching her arm out of Ran's grasp and beginning to straighten out her clothes. "Honestly, what's the matter with you guys?"

"Those people—aren't friendly," Shinichi tried to explain as best he could when he didn't really know what was happening either other than that the watchers weren't friendly. Trying to explain how he knew this would probably just make her think he was crazy.

A thoughtful look crossed Ran's face as a hint of understanding crept into her eyes. "But who are they? What do they want?"

"I'm not sure what they want but they'll follow me. I'm not leading them back to my home. Now go!"

"I'll stay too then," she declared then before turning to Sonoko. The shorter girl snorted but she spun on her heels and bolted.

At her sudden departure the watchers across the street stood up. The shop door opened right behind them at almost the same time. Shinichi grabbed Ran's arm and bolted in the opposite direction from the one Sonoko had taken.

X

Shinichi hadn't come home yet. He'd been gone for far too long for someone who was only supposed to be picking up project materials. Kaito had done the same thing at the crafts store and he'd been home for nearly an hour already.

The doorbell rang and the magician darted into the hall and yanked open the door. He was disappointed to see Hakuba and Hattori on the other side, but he supposed he should have expected that. Shinichi wouldn't have needed to ring the doorbell.

"Is Ran here?" Hakuba asked, glancing down at the single pair of shoes by the door. "I guess not."

Kaito frowned. "Wasn't she coming with you?"

"She was, but then she said she and Sonoko would run down to that thrift store by the local supermarket to see if they could find anything we could use for the costumes," Hattori explained. "They didn't come back when they said they would so we thought maybe they came here without us. You know, so they wouldn't have to lug everything around."

Indigo eyes narrowed. "Shinichi went to do the same thing. He hasn't come back either."

There was a beat of silence before Hattori let out a strained laugh. "Maybe they hit the jackpot or something. I mean, what could possibly happen to them in a thrift shop? It's Sonoko! You know she's the king, the queen, and the court of all shopaholics."

"I've been there. It's barely more than thirty square feet in size," Hakuba said dryly. "We should go look for them."

"Better run if we want to keep up," Hattori replied, pointing to where Kaito was already almost out of sight.

They never reached the store however.

Only two blocks from the house Sonoko came dashing around a corner and nearly ran right into Kaito. The magician was faster though and he caught her before she could run smack into him.

"You!" she exclaimed the moment she saw him. Her words were broken and raspy as she tried to talk and pant for breath at the same time. "There's like these five weird people by the thrift store. He kept saying we had to go for some reason and that they were going to follow him and Ran. He said to come tell you. What the hell is going on? Are you guys in some kind of trouble or something? Because if you are, you should've told us!"

At that point Kaito tuned her out and picked up his pace.

"Hey!" she yelled after him in indignation.

"Just go home, all right?" Hattori said as he and Hakuba caught up to her. "We'll do the project some other day." And they were off too.

Sonoko gaped after them before her mouth snapped shut and she stamped her foot. "Ugh, way to say thanks!" she shouted after them. Then she whirled on her heel and stormed off.

X

Kaito was not pleased. They had combed the area around the thrift shop for hours but found no sign of either Shinichi or Ran. The handful of people they'd questioned who actually remembered seeing the two didn't know much more than that they had passed by. A part of him wanted nothing more than to go running off all over the city, but the rest of him knew that would be pointless. So instead he was now pacing back and forth in the living room, hoping his mother wouldn't be back too soon.

"It's too bad Shinichi's not here," Hattori muttered, staring at the empty coffee table where they had all been working not all that long ago. "He could use his powers to tell us where he is."

"What exactly was the point of that statement?" Hakuba asked dryly.

The other boy glared. "Can't I just be voicing my thoughts?"

"I see. I did not realize your thoughts were so…"

Green eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Like hell it was nothing!" he retorted. "What were you going to say?"

Kaito gritted his teeth as he listened to the two bicker. Usually he found their antics amusing, but right now it was grating on his nerves and he was going to tape their mouths shut if they didn't shut up soon.

Breathe, he reminded himself. You have to control your emotions, his father had always said. Magic was both fueled and shaped by emotions. According to his father, if you weren't careful—got carried away—well, you wanted to control your magic, not the other way around.

"Um, hey," Hattori said suddenly, his tone changing abruptly from outraged to wary. "There's this really sinister looking black car parking on your driveway…"

Hakuba turned to follow his gaze as Kaito moved to stand by the window. There was indeed a night black car pulling up outside. Not only was it black, but its back windows were tinted. The whole thing gleamed like it was brand new.

The three teens watched as one of the car's back doors opened and a single person stepped out. Kaito recognized the young, blond woman now making her way up to their door.

"Wait here," he ordered before going to answer the door. Behind him, Hakuba and Hattori traded looks. The latter shrugged and they both sat down on the couch. The murmur of voices from the hallway reached their ears before Kaito returned accompanied by the blonde they'd seen only moments ago. She paused for a moment when she saw them, her gaze sharp and impassive. Being under that gaze felt like being under a microscope in all the most uncomfortable ways.

"This is Heiji Hattori and Saguru Hakuba," the magician introduced. "Guys, this is Shiho. She's an old acquaintance."

"It's nice to meet you," the detectives said politely, to which the young woman only nodded.

Her ice blue gaze returned to Kaito. "You want to talk here?"

He shrugged, his smile an odd mixture of sharp and sardonic. "Might as well. These two here are detectives, you know."

She shot the two seated teens another look then apparently decided to ignore them for the time being. "I'll get to the point then. Our database was hacked last week. Someone accessed the Wraith files."

Kaito stiffened. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" he demanded.

Shiho looked away, guilt clear in her eyes if not on her face. "We—did not wish to cause unnecessary panic."

"Oh yes, very unnecessary," the magician said sarcastically. "Do you know what happened earlier today? Shinichi's disappeared along with one of our classmates."

Her gaze snapped back to his. "What?"

It was Hakuba who answered. "He and our friend Ran Mouri were visiting one of the local shops. Now we cannot find either of them. Ran is not picking up her phone. In addition, our other friend who was with them told us that they were being followed."

"I see." She fell silent for a long moment then sighed. "How much do you two know?"

They stared at her blankly. "About what?"

"They know what we are," Kaito supplied, taking a seat. "But we didn't tell them anything else."

Her breath left her in what sounded like an irritated sigh. "I suppose I'll start from the beginning then. I'll try to make this brief."

TBC

A.N: A little shorter than normal, I know. Next one will be longer. See you next time!