A/N: This is Misty-chan (Disconsolate Mist). LadyShadow26 agreed to let this story be a collaboration between her and me, so I have written this chapter (mostly)! And had a ton of fun doing it. XD
Anyway, not much else to say other than thanks to LadyShadow26 who started this story for me, and worked on/looked over this chapter with me!
Also, this story has a close bond between Kaito and Shinichi that is not really KaiShin/ShinKai, but could look like it if you squint. That's all! Enjoy!
~AN2~ This is Shadow. Thanks so much to Mist-chan for writing this. Looking forward to working with you more in the future :D
Standard disclaimer as always applies: We do not own Magic Kaito/Detective Conan. All are the properties of Gosho Aoyama. Please support the official work!
Kaito's tail flicked in a bit of annoyance as he lightly slapped Tantei-kun's face. The "boy" wasn't coming around very easily. This all must have been too much for his logical brain to handle, dang it. Honestly, it was beginning to be a bit too much for Kaito as well, though he was better at hiding that than Shinichi was. Plus, he was pretty used to this kind of thing.
Secrets seemed to be a pretty common element in his family he was finding. Plus there were any other number of weird elements in his life: be it a crazy robot clone who wanted to "delete" him, a now supposedly deceased pirate who had come seemingly out of the pages of "Treasure Island", or need he mention the still active insane voodoo witch who wanted him as her eternal slave. Yeah, honestly, turning into a kitsune for some odd reason seemed to be pretty tame in comparison.
"Hey, Tantei-kun!" Kaito cringed at his own high-pitched voice. It had been a rough night for them both, hadn't it? On top of it all, the teenage magician was still feeling a bit weak… for one reason or another. He wasn't positive it was because of pure exertion anymore. Could it be it had something to do with the strange magic at work here? There was certainly something… off about it. "Hey! I can't carry you forever! The Shield is heavy enough on its own."
Kaito had only managed to carry the shrunken detective on his back for about twenty minutes before he was unable to keep going. He had been heading towards Akako's, but he wasn't really sure he wanted to go that way.
Shinichi blinked groggily, looking up through squinted eyes at Kaito. Finally, he was awake. Thank goodness, for many reasons.
"Shinichi…?" Was the first word that came off the detective's lips, then his eyes sharpened, face shifting into full-on shock. "C-Conan?" Was the second word. After that, he shook his head, sitting up slowly with his hand on his forehead. He blinked at Kaito a few times, then his eyes widened considerably. And finally came his third word: "What?!"
Kaito tried his best to keep himself from bursting out into laughter. Yet, he managed to keep a straight face. Kind of.
He said nothing, partially because he was afraid the laughter would probably be released if he did. He watched carefully as realization, surprise, and disbelief all crossed Shinichi's face, almost simultaneously. It was quite an interesting and truly amusing progression.
"Oh, Kamisama…" The detective uttered, burying his face in his hands. There was a tiny moan before he spoke again. "KID, just give me a second." He waved his hand at Kaito, who backed off a bit, letting him slowly collect his bearings. It was an awful lot to process all at once.
After a minute or two, he just let out a sigh and stood up. Brushing off, he walked over to the now-shrunken magician. Kaito watched him with a gentle smile, walking to meet him midway, his tail swishing elegantly.
"Alright, where to now?" Shinichi asked, his voice all business. He could tell the shrunken detective had merely pushed his shock back to think through later. Well, at least they would make progress now.
"I'm not really sure at this point. I was thinking of going to a witch 'friend' of mine." He mumbled under his breath something about using the term "friend" lightly... "But she can be somewhat terrifying and may or may not want me dead. So, if you have a better idea…" Kaito trailed off when he noticed that Shinichi's eye was twitching a bit. Maybe the mention of a witch had thrown the detective off a bit. Oops.
Shinichi rubbed his head, taking a deep breath. "I'm just going to choose to ignore that last bit-"
"Wise choice," Kaito cut in, feeling his ears lay flat involuntarily against his mess of hair. Just the thought of Akako seemed to put his senses on high alert.
Shinichi gazed blankly at him. He then blinked, quickly pulling himself back together. "As I was saying; I don't really have any ideas on where to go at this moment. And, while I don't want to deal with a witch, I don't think any of my friends can help you with the problem you're having. They don't really do magic, as far as I'm aware."
Kaito nodded slowly, biting his lip as he tried to think. He didn't want to risk going to his house in case they ran into Nakamori-keibu. He would probably be coming home late due to the Snake issue.
It would be bad if he ran into Nakamori, as the officer knew what he had looked like as a child. Though, now that he thought about it, he could probably figure out how to get both Shinichi and himself into his house without much chance of anyone noticing them. He was a magician, after all. He just didn't know if he was up to it strength-wise.
"Okay, I have an idea," Kaito announced. Shinichi looked over from where he had started staring off into space, seemingly pondering on something himself, tipping his head curiously.
"Go on." The shrunken detective waved his hand a little impatiently, indicating the magician should continue.
"We can head over to my house. I have food and stuff I can prepare. Then, we can figure out why all this happened." Kaito's tail wagged, and he grinned, showing sharp canines. He had to admit, this situation didn't seem all bad. Still, he was rather curious and a bit excited to find out why he was like this, and how he may be able to change back.
Shinichi broke into a smile as well, not really able to help it. Kaito's smiles seemed to be oddly contagious. "Sounds like a plan. I'm starved! You better be a good cook."
"I'll let you be the judge of that." Kaito called with a snicker, shooting ahead on surprisingly light feet. He heard the pattering of feet behind him as Shinichi scrambled to keep up.
"Oh, by the way, don't be surprised if we have to do some things you wouldn't expect to get into my house," Kaito threw back at the not-child, who was now not too far behind him.
"As if I could be surprised by anything after this whole experience…" Kaito's sharp hearing caught Shinichi's muttered reply.
_ ~^.v.^~ _
Conan flopped back onto KID's couch, closing his eyes. At this point, it was past one in the morning, and he was purely exhausted.
KID looked even more tired than he did, as much as he attempted to hide it. He was practically panting, his head falling to the side every now and then as he tried to keep awake. His ears and tail were drooping, and his whole body slumped.
"I didn't realize how late it was," KID mused, as he placed the shield on a table, managing to keep any signs of exertion out of his voice.
Conan let out a hum in reply, not caring to open his eyes. His hopes that this could possibly be a dream had vanished by now. It was much too real, even though it seemed so impossible. There was no way he could deny the facts at this point. There was one thing, though…
"I'm supposing you don't know how to become yourself again?" Conan inquired, opening an eye to look at the phantom thief.
KID bit his lip, seeming to be putting a huge effort into pondering over the matter. Or something along those lines. Conan closed his eye while he did so, taking a deep breath and relaxing as much as he could.
After a minute or two, the teenage thief let out a sigh, and Conan looked to see him shake his head disconsolately.
"No, I don't think I can. It hurts quite a bit when I try," KID explained, getting up from where he had been leaning against the wall and coming to flop down next to Conan.
"Hmm…" Conan could feel himself drift off temporarily, sleep almost overtaking him. "Fox form?"
There was a minute of silence, then a poof sound as KID switched to a fox. Conan blinked his eyes open, looking down to find the phantom thief turned Kitsune panting heavily in his lap, eyes shut tightly.
Conan's hand went automatically to the thief's soft fur, and he stroked it gently. It really was one of the softest things he'd ever felt, he mused. It was so thick and plush. "Does it hurt?"
KID gave a tiny nod, his chin lifting a bit from Conan's lap, then falling back. Conan cringed, hating how weak the thief was now. He'd only ever seen him as strong, in body and will. Yet, whatever that gemstone had done seemed to have sucked a lot out of him.
He had to wonder briefly why no one else seemed to be affected by the shield and consequent gem's power. He had seen for himself that the shield held some other sort of magic in the reflection of his normal form inside it. Could it be that it varied based on the one who interacted with it? KID seemed to know quite a lot more about this than he did, but even he acted pretty confused about the ordeal.
Conan knew very little of supernatural magic, and how it could possibly work. He was raised on human science, after all. Still, here beneath his hands stood irrefutable evidence that it was, in fact very real. He really didn't know what to make of it.
It was only a matter of time before there was another poof, and KID was back in his Conan form. His ears were flat against his head and he cringed a little. The shrunken detective slid his clothes back on, which the thief had most likely slid off before attempting to turn into a kitsune. Conan then chewed his lip, then put his hand against Kaito's head. It was oddly cold, sucking the warmth from Conan's own hand. He pulled it away quickly, shaking it.
"I'm going to take you upstairs, Kuroba. You aren't looking well at all," Conan whispered in the currently boy's ear, gently lifting the thief's head off his own lap.
Kaito raised his brow, eyes closed tight. "How'd you know my name?"
Conan chuckled, working to lift Kuroba onto his back. "It was simple. 'Kuroba' was on the nameplate in front of your house. You also left your homework out on the desk over there. You have 'Kuroba Kaito' written on it."
Kuroba gave a huff of laughter. "Heh, of course. I'm such an idiot."
"No argument here," Conan replied with a chuckle, proceeding to work his way up the stairs with the thief on his back. "Now, which way is your room?"
_ ~^.v.^~ _
Kaito blinked his eyes open, light flooding in between his eyelashes. He looked over to the window, the source of the light invading his room. The curtains were closed, but they were rather thin, so they didn't keep the light out very well.
He then looked down as something on his bed shifted to find none other than Tantei-kun curled up by his feet like a cat. His breath was steady as he slept peacefully.
Kaito watched his tiny chest as it rose and fell, frowning. His mind was quick to go to their conversation last night. Even with all the craziness that had happened around it, it stood out the most. They had revealed so many things to each other, not caring that they had never met outside of heists. There was something almost magical about how it had happened. Well, if he thought about it, it really was magic that had led up to the whole thing. He couldn't help but laugh, it was just so strange; how the world worked.
Kaito slipped out of bed, pulling his cover back to drape it over Shinichi. He then walked out of his room, tail swishing. He could hear the birds outside his window better than he ever could before, and the scents in his home were almost overpowering. His canines were quite sharper than they had been before as well. There were many other notable changes, but Kaito had thought first on the main and biggest ones, and didn't care to attempt to think on the rest.
He hummed as he walked down into the kitchen, his stomach rumbling slightly. Speaking of which, he had promised Tantei-kun food last night, hadn't he? The "boy" was probably starved! Well, Kaito would just have to make him something extra amazing for breakfast. After moving the Shield into the KID hideout of course.
Kaito did plan to call his mom too. He would just do it after he made breakfast, as he wanted to have it prepared by the time Shinichi woke. Then, maybe he would set up something with Tantei-kun to surprise her. She deserved it after obviously withholding information from him. Oh, yes, that was a great idea!
He quickly ran into the living room. He then found where he had placed the Shield, swiped it up, and proceeded to patter up to his room. Careful not to wake Tantei-kun, he placed his hand on his dad's picture and fell gently into the hidden room.
The teenage magician found a reasonable place to keep the piece of art. Once he had made sure it was safe and secure, he proceeded to pad down to the kitchen.
Kaito could feel his silky white tail wagging as he turned on the stove, after grabbing a few chairs he could use to stand on. His mom surely knew what was happening, hence the warning, and he was going to make her spill it all to him. Then, he would find a way to return to being himself again. And after that, he would go back to how life was before. With the exception of Tantei-kun and the help he would surely need with his problems.
"Kuroba?" Piped the person that had just been on Kaito's mind, letting out a huge yawn.
"Good morning~~" Kaito sang joyfully as Shinichi walked over to the table and pulled out a chair.
"You're awfully exuberant, after everything you went through last night," the shrunken detective commented dryly, yawning once more. Kaito looked back to see his whole body slouching, and a grumpy expression on his face.
"Someone's not a morning person," Kaito mused, pushing a chair towards a cupboard and getting atop it.
"Mm, you have coffee?" Came Tantei-kun's reply as Kaito pulled out a few dishes and mugs, balancing them on his hands.
"Yep, I'll get you some in just a second." Kaito jumped down from the chair, the dishes leaving his hands for a mere second in mid air, then landing perfectly back on his hands. Kaito then went to set them up on the table.
"So, are we just going to spend all our time here until you figure out a way to change back on your own?" Shinichi inquired as Kaito pushed a chair over to the coffee machine.
"Yeah, for a day or two anyway. Then I think I'll go to my witch friend. You don't have to stay with me, though. You do have people who'll worry about you, don't you?"
"I already called Ran using Shinichi's voice, telling her that I'm with him-"
Kaito interrupted Shinichi by clicking his tongue. "You really shouldn't talk about yourself like you're a whole other person."
Tantei-kun stared at Kaito for a bit, then gave a huff. "I guess not, eh?"
Kaito smiled, moving away from the coffee machine. "That's a good detective~," he teased, giving a thumbs up to Shinichi, who merely rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, I called Ran using my actual voice, so I'm good there. I told her I went to visit me in the country my parents are in. My Shinichi ones, of course. I notified them of this. Then, I told the professor that I got stuck with a friend and would be stuck with them for a bit. Haibara was suspicious, but I didn't tell them where I actually was, so we have a bit before they manage to find us. Which is unlikely, but they might enlist help," Shinichi explained, grinning. "So, I'm staying here for a bit. I couldn't leave after something so curious happened, after all. It's not every day you see someone turn into an entirely different species in front of you. "
Kaito made an 'o' shape with his mouth and gave a small round of applause. "Nice planning, Tantei-kun! When did you have time to do all that, I wonder?"
Just now, and before I drifted off to sleep last night," the shrunken detective shrugged, though a look of sadness crossed his gaze for a second.
Kaito smiled gently, picking up one of the mugs and bringing it back for Shinichi, filled high with coffee. "Need any cream or sugar?"
"Just a little cream, please," Shinichi requested.
"Sure thing!" Kaito then trotted over to the fridge to get the cream. "How long do you plan to stay?"
"As long as need be." Tantei-kun held his mug tightly, giving it a soft smile, taking the delicious scent in with upturned lips.
"Got it," Kaito said. "Oh, and how do you feel about dressing up as my twin…?"
_ ~^.v.^~ _
Chikage was quite shocked when two considerably younger Kaitos showed up on her computer screen. They looked very much the same, wearing the same ball caps, having the same hairstyle, and even very similar facial structures. The only difference was that one looked rather bored, while the other had a cool, slightly smug expression, his arms crossed over his chest.
"K-Kaito," She stuttered, raising her eyebrow a little. "Why are you… two… calling?"
"Just wanted to see how you were doing, Kaa-san~," the one with the cool, sly expression sang.
"That's all…?" Chikage replied slowly, knowing fully well that there was another reason. Her son hadn't heeded her warning, after all.
"Is it so wrong for a son to want to call his parent for no apparent reason?" The cool, sly Kaito whined.
The other one let out a sigh, dropping his face into his hand and muttering; "why in the world did I agree to this?"
She was still attempting to figure out why there were two young Kaitos. With completely opposite personalities, at that. She could only think it as some result of the magic the gemstone Kaito had targeted held. She had been expecting something completely different from what she was seeing, though, and wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
"So, I want you to fully explain-" the cool, sly Kaito removed his hat, revealing a pair of lovely, pure white ears with raven black tips. He then shifted a bit, causing a blue tipped tail to pop up behind him. "This."
Chikage's body suddenly went frigid, and she glanced over to the bored Kaito, who didn't even bother to look over at his twin. This sure was… curious. It seemed the gemstone had done what she'd expected it to. Yet, something else had happened as well. Something she could only come up with one explanation for.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Kai. I'm sorry," Chikage said earnestly, though a bit coldly. She had been sworn to secrecy, and there was nothing she could do about that now. It didn't stop a twinge of guilt in her stomach, however.
"Oh, now why might that be? I've been turned into a kitsune, and my mom, who seems to know something about it, doesn't want to give me even a little information?" There was such a heavy amount of betrayal in her son's voice, it made Chikage cringe. She really hated that she couldn't tell him…
"Kai, as I said, I'm terribly sorry. One day, I swear, I'll tell you everything. There are just some things I have to do before I can." Chikage grabbed the top of her computer, preparing to close it on her darling son. "For now, I'm afraid I must go. I love you, Kai-chan, and please take good care of Shinichi. Oh, and keep that shield in a safe place and away from yourself as much as possible..."
With that, she slammed the top of her laptop closed, taking a deep breath. As much as she hated lying to her son, she knew it couldn't be helped. She was just glad that he had managed to find the one person who could help him get through this best, even if that person was in a child's body. It had been such a long time since they had seen each other.
_ ~^.v.^~ _
Kuroba huffed, puffing out his cheeks as an annoyed child would. He crossed his arms, hopping down from his chair. "She's so difficult sometimes," he muttered as he walked out of the room.
Conan just continued to stare at the screen, quite a bit confused. "Hey, Kuroba? Did you tell your mom that I was Shinichi?"
Kuroba's footsteps sounded as he padded back at the sound of Conan's voice. He poked his head into the room. "No, but she has a tendency to know strange things. As you could probably tell from our conversation with her just now."
Conan pursed his lips, brow furrowing. Even though she did seem to know things she maybe shouldn't, it still didn't make sense. There must have been something he had done that had tipped her off. Maybe a movement he had made? He was pretty sure he had never met her before, so she must have seen him do something he had done on the news before. The question was what? He just couldn't think of anything.
Conan pushed it to the back of his mind. It wasn't really important at this moment, he guessed. He could try and figure it out later. There weren't really many clues as to how she had discovered he was Shinichi, anyway. For all he knew it could be more of this magical nonsense.
The shrunken detective hopped off the chair, padding out of the room after Kuroba. He followed him down into the living-room, where the not-child magician had turned the TV on, messing with some cards as he watched it intently.
"So, what's your plan now?" Conan inquired as soon as he was seated next to the thief.
Kuroba groaned, his ears flattening unhappily. "Well, I can only think of going to Akako. She's the witch friend I was talking about."
Conan's chest tightened a bit. Great, another dose of what should be the impossible for him. He figured he should be used to it by now, but it still shocked him that witches and kitsune could indeed exist.
"Don't worry, you don't have to come if you don't want to," Kuroba said, probably having noticed Conan's reaction to his words.
"I'll come along. As much as I don't like the idea of meeting a witch, I have to say I'm a bit curious. Plus, I want to hear for myself what her explanation is." Conan shrugged, fiddling with his thumbs as he watched the documentary Kurobas eyes were glued to.
"Alrighty, then. We'll head over to Akako's house right after the school day ends." Kuroba decided, his ears still down.
_ ~^.v.^~ _
Kaito bit his lip, looking up at Akako's large, dark, foreboding home. He caught a raven's caw in the distance, seeming to almost tell him that he shouldn't come here. He could feel his tail puffing up, as his ears tried to go even flatter against his head. The whole place just gave him the creeps.
He looked over at Shinichi, who was standing next to him. The shrunken detective was clutching his arms across his chest, his expression dark. He seemed to be trembling a bit, though he was obviously trying to hide it.
"This place is… eerie." Shinichi stated, glancing over at Kaito.
The magician merely nodded.
With that, they started up the path, keeping close to each other. The trees bordering the path loomed over the moon, their branches reaching out. They were almost black, just as the whole area around the large mansion was. There were tinges of red here and there, some blood-red roses standing out the most. Perched in various places were unkindness of ravens, fluttering their wings and cawing at the two "boys" walking up the path.
As soon as they got to the door, it swung open. The person who had opened it was a small, hunched over old man. He smiled at them, showing strangely sharp teeth, almost like a shark's. His eyes sunk in, and the skin on his face drooped. He had thinning gray hair, and was simply all around creepy.
"Come in. Mistress Koizumi-sama is waiting," said the man, presumably her butler, in a grizzly voice.
Kaito gulped, entering alongside Shinichi.
The interior was even more creepy than the exterior. It was decorated with the skulls of various different animals, including some that looked scarily human-like. The shelves were stacked high with books, tiled things such as: "How to Curse People From Afar", to "Death Omens: What To Do When You Know The Worst Is Coming"*, to "Graves, Spirits, and the Underworld". There were also other creepy things such as paintings with eyes that seemed to follow you, colored bubbling liquids in various odd shaped flasks, and the claws of some unnamable creature.
The walls were a deep red color, extending high. The roof was black, covered with cobwebs and a few chandeliers.
He could feel Shinichi shudder against him, taking a deep breath. Kaito himself was a little more than terrified, all his hairs standing on end. He really wished his current situation hadn't called for this.
"Kuroba-kun! Welcome!" Koizumi Akako called out, suddenly coming around the corner and heading down the stairs towards them. "It's so nice of you to make… it…" She trailed off, her gaze being drawn down towards Kaito and Shinichi. "Well, isn't this an unexpected surprise."
Kaito, feeling strangely protective of Shinichi, stepped in front of the shrunken detective. He held his arm out, glaring up at the teenage witch. "Akako."
Akako cackled, holding a hand up in front of her mouth. "Oh, don't worry! I won't hurt your little friend."
Kaito didn't move. Shinichi, however, did.
"Kuroba, I can take care of myself." Shinichi came around his arm, pushing it down gently along the way. He then shoved his hands into his pockets, standing defiantly in front of Akako.
Akako gazed curiously at Shinichi. She then knelt down in front of him, raising her eyebrow a little. "Hmm…" She seemed to be musing over something. After a minute, in which both Kaito and Shinichi stood tensely, Akako stood up. "Well, I would like to know how you two met, and what happened at the heist. Please do follow me."
Akako started to clop towards the staircase, followed closely by her supposed butler. Shinichi was next to follow, taking a deep breath before he did so.
Kaito remained where he was for a few moments, chewing his lip. He really hoped this wouldn't end terribly.
_ ~^.v.^~ _
"Well, seems you two had an eventful night." Akako stated once Kuroba had finished his explanation of all that had happened. Minus of course a few of the more private details. Conan took special note of how Kuroba had left out the part regarding his mother's odd involvement in all this, as well as the fact that he had failed to divulge Conan's own secret at any point. He appreciated the effort, however the witch was like to find out fairly soon, anyway.
Conan looked around the room. It was upstairs, and surprisingly normal looking compared to the rest of the house. It consisted of a couch, a coffee table, and a few shelves filled with strange books and a few creepy decorations.
"May I take a blood sample, from both of you?" Conan jerked back to attention at the words "blood sample". "It would help me find some of the information you, and I, are looking for."
Conan gaped at Akako, processing what she had just said. Wasn't it dangerous to give blood to someone with magic? He felt like she'd have the ability to do strange things with it. Weren't there curses you could place on people using their blood in all those fictional books on witches? And since it seemed witches indeed existed, that meant that those fictional spells could as well.
"How do we know you won't do something with it?" Kuroba seemed to be on the same thought track he was.
Akako paused as if thinking over it for a moment, her eyes wandering to the ceiling. "Well, I can give you a way to monitor me with it, but I have the feeling that you still won't feel completely satisfied. So, all I can say is I hope you find the information you'll receive worth the risk."
Conan watched as Kuroba worked his jaw, pulling out a deck of cards to fiddle with. As much as he felt it was risky, the shrunken detective had to admit that he was curious. Partially as to why she wanted his blood as well. In the end, he decided that he would leave it up to Kuroba.
"Fine." Well, there was his answer. Conan closed his eyes. He really hoped they wouldn't regret this.
_ ~^.v.^~ _
It was about an hour before results came back from Akako. During this, they were served coffee and an assortment of sweets, given a stack of books they were allowed to look at, and carefully monitored by Akako's butler as they kept a close watch on Akako.
She came back, looking rather proud of herself. "Well it seems I've got some interesting results." Handing two vials of blood back to Kuroba and Conan himself, the witch took a seat across from them.
"Well, tell us what you got," Kuroba demanded, stuffing his blood-vial in his pocket.
"I'll start with you, then, Kuroba-kun." Akako shifted in her seat. "You were a kitsune all along, as I was expecting. The gemstone merely revealed your true form."
Kuroba stared in shock, his eyes wide. "What?"
Akako chuckled, a satisfied smirk on her face. "As I said, you've always been a kitsune. You do have a bit of human blood in you, so I'd say either your father or mother was a hanyo, while the other was pure-bred kitsune."
Kuroba's jaw fell open.
"Now for you, shrunken teenager," Akako said, revealing that she had indeed figured out Conan's "little" secret. He had to briefly wonder what else she had to tell him. As far as he was aware, he didn't have any magical connections. "You're a wizard."
Conan felt like he had just been punched in the gut. That was the last thing he had been expecting to hear.
A/N: Misty-chan again! Thanks for reading, and review? ^^