Disclaimer: "Detective Conan" belongs to Gosho Aoyama, and "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" belongs to Naoko Takeuchi.
This is an alternative story to my other fanfic "Encounter in Venice" and one of the possibilities of what could have happened if Ai had taken the antidote before Shinichi brought down the Organization.
Thanks a lot to my friends and betas Rae (Astarael00) and SN1987a and the Aicoholics on LiveJournal, without whom I would never have started this fic.
FS
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Ghost at Twilight
(edited version)
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For what feels like a…
For what feels like a whole century, you only stare at Yaten Kou while Yaten Kou, in return, is staring back at you. Indistinctly, you can hear Seiya introducing his brothers to you even though you can't tell what he is saying with the continuous buzz in your ears. That late summer afternoon in Tsukino-san's café, which has been haunting you all night, has been revived with a vengeance in the figure of this stranger, who doesn't only possess the scent of the red-haired girl but also Gin's hair and eyes. As irrational as it is, you have the feeling you're facing the personification of your guilt—and from the look on his face, you surmise that, for some obscure reason, Yaten-san is going through the same turmoil as you.
After the initial fright, however, your mind begins to acknowledge the differences, breaking the spell. Yaten-san's hair, as smooth as the finest piece of silk, is of a pure silver-white—with no tinge of either red or gold even in the vermillion light. His round, childlike eyes, opalescent and bright like those of his foster brothers, are of a warm green several shades paler than Gin's. In spite of his lovely feminine face, whose flawless features challenge even Kaioh Michiru's ethereal beauty, Yaten-san is also unmistakably male. At second glance, you notice that he is not as tiny and frail as you thought. Slender limbs, toned muscles, relaxed shoulders of perfect proportions, and a comparably long neck compensate for the delicate stature. And when he slowly rises from the bench, you notice that even though he is resting his weight on his uninjured foot and leaning against Taiki Kou's arm for effect—the wimp is mimicking an invalid!—he is still taller than you by a few inches.
With a deep sigh, he takes Seiya's blue helmet into his hands. And as the image of the red-haired girl and her blue-clad biker flashes through your mind, you're struck by an idea which you immediately dismiss as ridiculous although you know that it will be nagging at you from now on.
"I've told you over and over again that you shouldn't leave them on the seat," Yaten-san complains, deliberately ignoring your presence by keeping his gaze fixed on Seiya. "One day, someone is going to steal them."
"Why, no one has tried to steal them yet." Seiya lets go of your hand to catch the helmet, which his brother has just tossed at him. "This is Miyano Shiho," he casually proceeds with his introductions after the small digression. "Since we got drenched on the way to Two Lights', she had to stay here for the night."
"I've called you!" Ignoring the introduction, Yaten-san knits his perfectly groomed brows with the righteous indignation of a betrayed wife. "But you didn't answer your phone."
"Forgot it in my jacket, which is still hanging in the bathroom. I've tried to call you back. You should have waited for a few hours before smashing—"
"I didn't smash it—only turned it off and dumped it into the trash! That's where mobile phones belong if they don't serve their purpose!"
"You're such a spoiled brat." Seiya gives his shorter brother an affectionate pat on the head before retreating into the bedroom to place the blue helmet on his bedside table. The white helmet, which you've been wearing when Seiya and you were roaming Roppongi (and which is still lying next to the medical kit), must belong to Yaten Kou then, according to your deductions. Apparently, Seiya and his oldest brother are sharing Seiya's bike or even riding it together.
"You impudent little scamp!" Yaten-san's eyes are still glued to Seiya as if you didn't exist. "You forget that I'm five months and twenty-two days older than you."
"I'd remember it if you acted your age—"
"—says the one whose behaviour hasn't changed since he was eleven! Why are you wearing the shirt you wore at the circus, by the way?" Yaten Kou wrinkles his nose with the distaste of a bona fide fashionista and, for the first time during the talk, darts you a curious look. "Since when do you like frills?"
"Shiho has chosen it for me." Seiya winks, but you can't say whether he has winked at his brother or at you, as you only caught it in your peripheral vision while you're still busy studying Yaten Kou.
Will you ever feel threatened by the ubiquitous beauties—groupies, actresses, musicians, dancers, even Odango's friends—flocking to your boyfriend? With a pang of jealousy, you realize that the real threat to Seiya's affections is Yaten-san, whose insults are uttered in a tone so extremely caring that you begin to suspect that the centre of their erstwhile love square wasn't Kakyuu as you automatically assumed. Even Taiki Kou is regarding you coldly, looking you up and down with an expression of dislike, worry, and reluctant interest. Nevertheless, the hint of hostility leaves his lustrous eyes immediately when you meet his gaze. It looks like the actor has just stepped onstage. And the smile he gives you afterwards is so amiable that you almost wonder whether you're projecting your feelings onto others and have only imagined his antipathy.
"Miyano-san? I think we must apologize," Taiki-san begins, his dramatic, edgy voice turning softer as he is speaking. "I thought it was only one of Seiya's voice-imitation pranks. He can be such a kid at times… So you two got caught in the rain on the way to Two Lights'? Your clothes must still be in the dryer at the moment. And I suppose you two refused to come out because you didn't want us to misinterpret the situation."
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To your surprise, Taiki-san, who is indisputably Seiya's more pleasant brother when he is not provoked—has just given you the chance to save face although he must have seen you two holding hands when Seiya opened the door. Or perhaps he is so convinced of his brother's innocence (or is so clueless himself—you aren't sure) that he didn't suspect anything, thinking that you and his brother can only be at the hands-holding stage. For a moment, you are tempted to take the bait, put on a demure smile, and lead him to believe that you've been worked up over a potential misunderstanding. But since Seiya and you have decided not to hide this relationship from his brothers and it would be a pain pretending to be the angel you aren't, your moment of weakness doesn't last long.
"There isn't much to misunderstand, actually." Seiya is right and you might as well bring it behind you now. "I'd have preferred to meet the two of you when I'm wearing my own clothes. But now that the damage is done, I'll just pretend that oversized bathrobes have come into vogue this season."
Both Yaten and Taiki Kou only stare at you, scandalized. Expecting Seiya to be proud of you for holding your own against his overbearing brothers, you turn to flash your boyfriend a victorious smirk. However, he has just picked up Kaito's card, which must have fallen out of your bathrobe unnoticed, and is now crouching on the carpet, beholding the Queen of Spades with an unreadable expression. When he raises his eyes to meet your gaze, you can tell that he has spaced out so completely that he has missed your riposte.
"Kuroba has given you one of his double-faced cards?" It was less a question than a statement, and you believe to hear a trace of anxiety in his voice, which you, after a glance at his smiling face, reinterpret as harmless curiosity. He joins you at the door while flipping and turning the card in his hand, studying it from every angle. "It's extremely well-done! From the side, it's as thin as a normal playing card."
"I met him in Ueno-koen before he went to Two Lights' for his performance," you inform Seiya in an irrational urge not to conceal the smallest detail from him. "This is supposed to be a token of his affections. A lucky charm, so to speak."
"But why did he give you a death card as a lucky charm?" Seiya looks intrigued.
It surprises you to hear that the Queen of Spades is a death card. The moment you laid eyes on it, you felt that the black lady was a most fitting card for you. Recalling Kudo's remark that both the Ace of Spades and the Queen of Spades have negative connotations, you regret that you haven't been interested enough to ask Kudo what the cards mean. While you believe in tarot readings as much as you believe in astrology or in the existence of aliens on earth, you thought it was delicious irony that Kaito has accidentally drawn you a death card although he wanted to give you a lucky charm.
"Kaito originally wanted to give me a wild card symbolizing the unexpected," you tell Seiya, wondering why both Yaten and Taiki Kou are now watching you with growing interest. "But then the unexpected happened and he drew the wrong card for the first time in fifteen years."
Chuckling into his fist, Seiya looks inordinately amused by Kaito's blunder.
"But it seems like you did pick a wild card for yourself, after all." He flashes you an enigmatic smile. "Or your wild card has found you on its own…"
Shaking his head, Taiki Kou gives a sigh, which almost sounds like a suppressed groan of pain.
"It seems the days of the good lyrics are over now," he observes in resignation. "I'm going to write the lyrics for our songs from now on."
"You sappy idiot!" Yaten-san mutters under his breath; and when Seiya mouths back something you can't guess, you wonder in irritation whether the two of them are exchanging these endearments on a regular basis and whether you're up to their eccentric flirting, as you honestly can't tell what the repartee was about.
"Is the Queen of Spades really a death card?" you ask to change the subject, reaching out for the card Seiya is still holding.
Before you can take the card, however, Yaten-san has already snatched it out of Seiya's hand.
"The Ace of Spades is generally seen as the death card or at least the card of misfortune." He gazes at you directly for the first time, rolling his pretty feline eyes with exaggerated boredom. "The Queen of Spades, on the other hand, is supposed to be a malicious, cunning woman, and indicates the betrayal of a lover or a friend." His eyes bore accusingly into yours as if he weren't talking about the Queen of Spades but you. "When it serves as the Queen of Swords, a tarot card, it represents intellect and sound judgement independent of emotions. "Reversed," he turns the Queen of Spades upside down, whereupon you notice for the first time that this Queen of Spades is not reversible like court cards usually are, "it means the opposite, indicating that your emotions are interfering with your judgement and distorting your perception."
"The Ace of Spades can mean either death or the opposite, luck defying death, whereas the Queen of Spades sometimes carries connotations of death as well—for example when it's delivered to your door by the Mafia." Taiki-san takes the Queen of Spades from Yaten-san, throws an almost tender glance at the Queen's face, and returns her to Seiya, who doesn't show the slightest inclination to give her back to you. "And sometimes, the Queen of Spades doesn't bring death in the literal but rather in the figurative sense, like in the song by Styx."
"Styx?" You give him a blank look, as the name only reminds you of the river on which Charon's boat carries the souls of the dead to their final destination. While you're well versed in Greek mythology after your education at Infinity, you don't know anything about the musical world.
"Beware of the Queen of Spades," Seiya begins to sing quietly, taking you by surprise, as you aren't prepared for his tantalizing singing voice despite having heard it on the radio once—a voice so dangerously seductive and yet so unattainably distant in its unique beauty that it's impossible for the enthralled victims to escape the rush of longing. "Her black widow's curse might find you yet… Beware of a love that you will regret… Her love means only your death…" He trails off, leaving you with the same sense of emptiness as years ago when his song on the radio ended and you wished that he would start singing again.
"Don't worry, it's not about love," Yaten Kou looks down at you with a condescending smirk. "It only means that you should never gamble because luck is a bitch and you'd better not depend on it."
"Yaten!" Taiki-san gives his brother a reproving nudge.
It's hard to believe, but this grumpy guy is extremely talented, Seiya apologetically says. The perpetually bad mood is partly caused by his frail health, which is so tyrannical that he would fall ill if he doesn't get the right amount of sleep, food, and exercise for just one day. "Yaten doesn't only sing, dance, model, act, and master any instrument after learning it for two weeks, he also has an uncanny knack for reading people." Apparently, The Talented Mr. Shortie (as you've secretly dubbed Yaten Kou in your mind) has also designed this gorgeous set of playing cards, Seiya tells you, which is why you can see their small 'family' immortalized in it.
"I can't see any of you on this card," you indicate the Queen of Spades and, drawing on your good mood from the "olden days" when Seiya and you were still alone (it seems to you as if those moments are now gone forever), pretend to compare each of the three brothers to her.
Unamused, Taiki-san only raises a serious brow and wrinkles his high forehead while Shortie, who is now leaning against the door frame, blows at his side-swept bangs with an exasperated sigh. Seiya is the only one who smiles.
"Since he is such a cocky narcissist, Yaten is the King while Taiki is the Jack. The Jack doesn't match Taiki's character, but there wasn't any court card that would have fitted Taiki."
"I'd have expected you to be the Jack," you tease him, whereupon Seiya winces.
"How kind of you! Well, Yaten, who is less nice, has also designed a card for me even though I haven't agreed to come back with them yet—"
"Shizuka-san has already begun to sell the cards to the fans," Taiki-san dryly informs him. "So, if you do come back with us, your card will be a free addition to the set. If you don't, our fans will still be able to play almost any card game without you."
"So which card are you?" you thoughtlessly ask, giving Seiya's unruly locks, which seem to have grown overnight, a few strokes with your fingers, before the obvious answer dawns on you and you finally comprehend why he claimed you've found your wild card without Kaito's help.
"There is only one card in the whole set which fits you, fool!" Shortie hisses.
Seiya and Taiki-san laugh at his customary insult. You, on the other hand, have begun to feel sick as your gaze has fallen on the auburn tresses of the Queen of Spades, who might as well be a stylized version of the red-haired girl…
"And this," Seiya inevitably continues, absently caressing the Queen's pale cheek with his thumb, "this is Kakyuu."
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A/N: Finally I've arrived at the chapters which are more fun to edit, which is why I'm on an editing spree. Sorry for spamming the readers who receive FFNet alert emails for this fic.