Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK. Don't sue me... I really need to get to sleep right now.
Tuesday.
The sky was as dark as Shinichi's hair, a deluge of bucketfuls of water pouring down. Stormy winds blew through the city, raging like an ill-tempered child, or perhaps the conflicting emotions in the detective's heart.
His instinct of curiousity needed to know. His logical mind agreed. Some other part of him - something that seemed new, something he couldn't place - didn't want to find out. It wanted to just accept blindly and chase after Kaito.
Kaito, who had declared love for him on what was (for Shinichi, at least) the first day that met. Kaito who had run after him, only to dash away again. Somehow along the way, it almost felt as if their positions could have revered.
Needless to say, Shinichi arrived at Kaito's house very much soaked to the bone. The day that someone bothered to gather evidence on a possible KID suspect when even Hakuba Saguru had given up finally saw light. Now to see the sun rise up from the west...
He rang the doorbell, trembling all over. The detective could spot a light inside, so that meant someone was home, at least.
His efforts were rewarded with an indistinct holler and a bucketful of mud poured on his head.
The door opened.
A woman, Kaito's mother if he had to guess from previous photos, arrived. She looked rather apologetic about the entire situation.
"I'm sorry, my son tends to play tricks on people... I'm Kuroba Chikage and you would be...?"
"Kudo Shinichi, I'll be in your care."
"As my son is in yours," she replied, leaving him no doubt that she knew exactly what type of relationship they had, "But that is neither here nor there. Why don't you borrow the shower for a bit, then stay for tea?"
"If it doesn't trouble you," Shinichi said, stripping off his shoes and socks. "Where should I put these?"
"Oh, I'll just take them. The bathroom's on the second floor, between the bedrooms. You can clean yourself up in there; be sure to dry your hair so you don't catch a cold!"
"Pardon the intrusion."
The shower was warmly welcomed by the detective's mud-encased skin. Why some people paid small fortunes to slather the stuff on, he would never know. He dried himself out with a towel, putting on the blue shirt and white pants his hostess had provided, thanking his lucky stars that his underwear was not soiled.
Hunting around for a hair dryer, Shinichi noted that - despite all indications that this bathroom usually only serviced men - there was a notable amount of make-up. It wasn't like casual, everyday things either, with silicone pads and several brands of everything from cheap to very posh. There was a fair lot of grease paint too, as if this was his mother's cosmetics table.
Finally finding what he needed, the detective turned the device on and thought about KID and his disguises.
A thump! in the other room roused him from his thoughts.
As if by instinct, he was out of the bathroom and peering into an adjacent bedroom in record time. He thought he saw, for a fleeting moment, a human movement as he shoved the door open. There was no one.
"Everything all right?" quieried Kuroba-san from halfway up the stairs. Shinichi stuffed his thoughts to the back of this head, preparing himself for a speech. Or a tirade. Whichever one Kaito's mother leaned toward, it did not particularly matter.
The detective allowed her to drag him downstairs to listen to Kaito's first magic tricks, his father's death, his changing from a toddler to a boy, and his craziest childhood shenanigans.
Shinichi was let out with an umbrella and a smile.
And roses, as if they were weathervanes, leaned ever-so-slightly away from the incomming wind.
Hello... I fell asleep again... and I've had a headache for much of the day. Reviews are like sunlight - very welcome when its been cloudy all day, like it has been here.
I'm bad at writing conversations, not surprising considering how much time I spend avoiding them.
If anyone's seen MK, you will know what's going on *wink*.