Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

A Curse Marked Fate

6: Bright Eyed

The moment had been like time travel.

He had looked into the audience and, for an instant, he had thought he'd seen Shinichi—his Shinichi from eight years ago. If anything, the boy had looked even younger than that. Which, naturally, meant it couldn't have been Shinichi at all, but the resemblance was so striking that the image of the boy remained seared into Kaito's mind.

Eight years ago, he had gone to Beika with his father when Kuroba Toichi had received a plea for help from a former student of his. He had ended up going to the local park instead of going with his father because Toichi had explained that the problem his student wanted help with was a very private one that couldn't be shared with just anyone. Kaito didn't think he was 'just anyone', but he understood that there were some issues that people had a right to keeping private. Granted, he still might have considered trying to eavesdrop (hey, he could keep secrets with the best of them, so what could it hurt?), but he knew that his father would know if he tried. So he'd saved himself the trouble and went to play in the park instead.

He remained glad to this day that he had made that decision because it was at Beika Park that he had met Shinichi.

Kaito had always made friends easily, but Kudo Shinichi had been special. He had been the first person his own age that Kaito had ever met who could actually keep up with him intellectually. The blue-eyed boy had been rather quiet and reserved at first, but, with some careful prodding from Kaito, he had begun to open up, and Kaito had discovered a soul who was not only intelligent but witty and thoughtful and almost ridiculously responsible for someone only eight years old. He cared a lot about things most people didn't start thinking about until they were a whole lot older, could spend hours on end doing nothing but reading, and had an incredibly cute blush that came rather easily to his face. But Kaito had also noticed a certain melancholy about the younger boy—perhaps a little loneliness and a touch of wistful resignation. The reason for that melancholy had been easy to guess when he considered the questions Shinichi had asked him on that first afternoon. Shinichi must have a Curse Mark. But since he hadn't shared that piece of knowledge with Kaito, the young magician had decided to keep his suspicions to himself. He had learned many things about Curse Marks and their bearers from his father, and he understood that the burden of such things was one that could only ever be borne by the people they were bestowed upon. And like with any serious problem, Shinichi would have to make the decision of whether to ask for help or not.

But not all of Shinichi's problems were tied to his curse, Kaito soon realized. A large part of it had to do with his enthusiastic but flaky parents and classmates who believed he considered himself to be better than them. Shinichi handled people who sneered at him based on their own biased assessments of his circumstances by simply ignoring them. This eventually made them go away, but it had given him a reputation among his peers of aloofness.

As someone who'd always enjoyed making people smile, Kaito had set about trying to cheer up his new friend. Since Shinichi liked mysteries, Kaito had started creating riddles and simple games just for the two of them, and he'd delighted in the joy that blossomed across Shinichi's face whenever he solved one of Kaito's riddles. What had started as a simple gesture evolved into a hobby of creating more and more elaborate mysteries then testing them against the observation and deduction skills of his new best friend.

Kaito had developed his own truly unique spell based on those games, and he had been looking forward to showing it off to Shinichi at another of their Beika Park dates.

Except Shinichi never showed up. In fact, Shinichi had disappeared completely.

After a whole month had passed without any sign of Shinichi, Kaito had gone to his father with a copy of the Curse Mark that Shinichi had drawn for him on a slip of paper to ask his father's opinion on what it might mean. Half of him had been afraid that something horrible had befallen his friend. He too had noticed upon reading the history that his mother had helped translate that the cursed rarely lived long lives. But he had never thought of what that might really mean until the thought hit him as he sat in the branches of their tree that Shinichi might have been in an accident or worse.

The lives of the cursed were fleeting and fragile, and the sudden understanding of that fact had left Kaito in a dreadful mood for weeks.

But then his father had told him that Kudo Shinichi was, in fact, the son of the student he had been going to see, and that it was Shinichi they had been discussing. He had told Kaito about Shinichi's Curse Mark and how his parents had decided that Shinichi should make the most of his next few years (before his curse really kicked in) by going abroad.

The news had both cheered and annoyed Kaito. He was glad that nothing terrible had happened to his friend, but he was annoyed that he had lost touch with the boy just as their friendship was really beginning to blossom. It wasn't fair, and why hadn't either of them thought to exchange contact information?

But it wasn't Kaito's habit to dwell on lost opportunities, so he'd stowed the memories of those pretty blue eyes away and moved on.

Still, he found himself drifting back to that park now and then until it became a ritual of sorts. He wasn't expecting to find Shinichi there or anything, though he'd be lying if he claimed that the hope hadn't crossed his mind. There was just something about the place and the memories it held for him that he found soothing even as it reminded him to never forget to cherish the present.

Now Kaito couldn't get the image of that little boy who resembled Shinichi far more than Kaito himself ever had out of his mind.

He shifted his weight to his other foot impatiently as the woman from the exam's administration finally concluded her longwinded praise of all the examinees' hard work and began explaining that it would be at least a week before they got their results. Then she went on to explain how their performance in each practical exam segment would be evaluated and where they could go if they had any questions regarding either their evaluations, their results, or possible retakes for those who did not pass. Since Kaito already knew all the procedures and was fully confident that he would pass anyway, he tuned her out.

The mini Shinichi lookalike had been seated with two teenaged girls. The taller of the two had looked eerily like Aoko in the same way that Kaito had looked like Shinichi, but other than that she had been unremarkable. The other girl, however Kaito had recognized. Suzuki Sonoko was the second daughter of the head of the Suzuki family. The body language of the three had told Kaito that they had attended the event together.

Kaito turned that piece of knowledge over in his mind for a moment then grinned as he began hatching a plan that would help him sate his curiosity.

X

Shinichi ran a hand over the embossed, leather covers of the large tome and felt a lump rise in his throat. This book had come to mean more to him than anything else he had ever owned—not because it was a valuable book, though that it certainly was, but because its stories gave him a sense of pride if not pleasure in being the bearer of a Mark. It had taught him that, whether he was doomed or not, his life still mattered. He had everything he needed to make something of himself—to make the world a little brighter and a little better with whatever time he had.

In that way, he was just like everyone else in the world, whether they chose to see him that way or not.

The things he had learned from this book would stay with him for the rest of his life whether the book itself did or not. And really, it had never belonged to him. It was Kaito's, and Shinichi had promised to return it one day. It was time to fulfill that promise. The question was how.

Now that he knew exactly who Kaito was, it would be easy to find an address and mail the book back, but he balked at the idea. What if the book was lost or damaged on the way? Besides, sending it through the mail just wouldn't feel right. He also needed to tell Kaito how much the book had meant to him and thank him for lending it to Shinichi all those years ago. He should probably apologize for leaving without a word like that too.

He couldn't go see Kaito though. For one, Kaito might not remember him, and that would be awkward. For another, Shinichi was currently a little child again, which would only make things both more confusing and more complicated. And he'd already decided he didn't want to get Kaito involved in his problems.

Maybe he should write Kaito a letter. He could place the letter in the book and then, well, he could make a the trip to deliver it by hand. If he ran into Kaito, he could say he was a cousin of Shinichi's. That was already what he and the Mouris were telling everyone about 'Conan' anyway.

Plans made, he hopped off his bed and laid the book gently on the corner of the desk before retrieving a sheaf of blank paper. Then he climbed into his desk chair, picked up a pen, and stared at the paper's plain, unblemished face. Where should he even start?

There was a knock at his bedroom door. "Shin—uh, Conan-kun?"

"What is it?" Shinichi called back. He was still just as unused to answering to his alias as Ran was to addressing him with it, but they were both working on it.

The door opened, and the brunette poked her head inside. "I just finished my homework for today. So, if you're feeling up to it, we can head over to the central library for another look at those archives."

Shinichi cast a glance at the blank paper on his desk then set down his pen. "All right."

They bid Kogoro a quick farewell, promised to be home in time to make dinner, and left the agency.

"You know," Ran said as they made their way to the bus stop. "I've been wondering if you wanted to try visiting that Choice Foundation place."

Shinichi shot her a startled look. "What?"

"I saw the flyer in your bag when I borrowed your math textbook," Ran admitted. "So I looked them up. They're supposed to be a nonprofit organization dedicated to studying Curse Marks and how to remove them. From what I could tell, they're not very large, but they have been active for quite some time, and they have really high end facilities and a lot of experts on staff. So I was thinking, maybe we should bring that Mark you saw to them and see if they recognize it. It would be a lot faster."

Shinichi frowned. "I guess we can consider it if we can't find anything ourselves."

"Why not just ask first?"

"If they're researchers, they'll ask a lot of questions," Shinichi reasoned. "And the more people we tell things to, the more likely the information we put out could find its way back to those men. I'd like to know more about any research group before taking that kind of risk."

"Oh." Ran considered it then sighed. "And we wouldn't want Sonoko's prediction coming true either."

Shinichi winced. That had been one aspect of his situation that he had been trying not to think about. The tales of mankind's greed for the secret of eternal life and youth were full of atrocities too awful to contemplate.

"The library it is then," Ran sighed. Though she was a good student, she wasn't really a bookish sort of person. Research was not something she either enjoyed or was particularly good at. But she felt she owed her surrogate brother all the help she could give him if only because she knew that he would never ask her to do anything for him at all if she didn't insist that he couldn't carry all his burdens alone.

The central library was an enormous building owned and run by the city. It had extensive archives of magical texts, lore, history, and anything else you could think of that might relate to such fields. Among its many treasures were multiple Curse Mark records.

These records came mostly in the form of the eighty two volumes of the Curse Mark Encyclopedia. Tasks, blessings, and curses were recorded separately because the combinations varied far too much for it to make sense to record every Mark as a whole. The problem was that there were a lot of Marks that were still a mystery, and only identified Marks were included in the encyclopedia. The second major roadblock lay in the difficulty of locating any single Mark unless you knew what name it had been assigned. There were broad categories that Marks were placed in based on their properties, but that meant you had to know the properties in question or make your best guess. As it was, Shinichi had decided that the only way to ensure that he didn't accidentally skip over the Mark he was searching for was to check them all.

He had sketched the Mark he had seen in the pocket notebook he carried with him everywhere. Then he set about comparing it to each recorded Mark starting with the very first listing in volume one of the encyclopedia.

It was tedious work, but progress was much faster than most people would probably have expected. The encyclopedias had a clean and well organized layout, so it took only a few seconds to check his sketch against each Mark. When he came across a Mark that seemed similar, he would pause for a closer examination and to read upon its properties and history. If it seemed like it might be relevant, he copied the image into his notebook and jotted down a few notes about it before moving on.

So far, he had found only two possible matches, and neither of them sounded truly relevant. But he still had seventy seven books to go.

He wondered if Ran was having better luck. She had volunteered to read up on amulets.

Flipping through the last few pages of the volume he'd been perusing, Shinichi shut it and stretched. A glance at his watch showed that they would have to start heading home. Two books was pretty good progress though, so he wasn't too disappointed. Hopping off his seat, he returned the book to its slot on the shelves, silently lamenting the fact that the Curse Mark Encyclopedia couldn't be checked out. Then he went in search of Ran.

He found her in the library's coffee shop. Unlike the encyclopedias, the books she'd found on amulets could be checked out, and so she had opted to read them in the coffee shop where she could enjoy a cup of tea at the same time.

"Here," she said when she saw him, handing him a small to-go cup of iced coffee, which he accepted with a grateful smile. "I just got a call from Sonoko. She's inviting us to a party."

"A party?" Shinichi repeated, confused. "For what?" He couldn't think of any special occasions that might be coming up that would warrant a party.

"It's being organized jointly by Archmage Toichi's family and the Tokyo Magical Advancement Association to congratulate all the Tokyo applicants who passed any of the exams from Seventh Level on up to Master. It's going to be a huge event! She's really excited. The details aren't out yet, but Sonoko's already planning her outfit. She wants us all to go shopping together after school next Tuesday. There are some major sales going on at the mall that day."

"Wait, wait," Shinichi said, holding up his hands. "None of us participated in any of those exams. Why are we invited?"

"Oh that. The Suzukis own the venue where they're planning to hold the party. So they're honorary guests."

"And we're the hangers on…"

Ran laughed. "I'm sure it'll be fun."

Shinichi had never found parties of any kind to be fun, and he was about to say so when he remembered that the man hosting the party was Kaito's father. And Kaito was one of the aforementioned applicants who had passed his exams (because there was no doubt in Shinichi's mind that Kaito would have passed with top marks). That meant Kaito would be at the party.

His heart skipped beat. If he went to this party, he might actually see Kaito again. Face to face… His stomach flip-flopped in a most disconcerting way, and he was momentarily swamped with a peculiar mixture of nausea and giddiness. What was wrong with him?

"Conan-kun?" Ran asked, leaning forward as a frown crept onto her face. "Are you feeling all right? You look pale."

Shinichi pulled himself together with an effort and forced a smile. "It's nothing. I'm fine. Just a little tired. So…are you ready to head back?"

Ran looked up at the clock on the coffee shop wall and promptly leapt to her feet. "I didn't realize it was so late!"

She stuffed her borrowed books into her bag and took her empty mug back to the counter.

Shinichi barely remembered the trip back to the Mouri Detective Agency, lost in a strange and inexplicable haze of nervousness, excitement, and dread. So lost in his own jumbled thoughts was he that he didn't even notice the small, blond child sitting on the top step outside the Mouri Detective Agency's front door until Ran addressed the girl.

"Miss, are you lost?" Ran asked, crouching down so that she could be at the child's eye level. The girl's clothes were dirty and a little torn, Ran noted with alarm. "Are you hurt?"

The girl shook her head and pulled her small, gray coat closer around herself. "I'm sorry if I'm in your way," she said in a calm but quiet voice. "I came here because I was told that this is where I might be able to find Kudo Shinichi. The detective."

Both Ran and Shinichi stiffened. The former cast a quick glance down at her surrogate brother before she cleared her throat.

"Actually, he left for America recently. He's spending some time with his parents there. But, if you need help, my father's a detective too. Would you like to come in and talk to him?"

The little girl looked at Ran for a long time, considering. Then she turned her disconcertingly piercing gaze on Shinichi. He found himself struggling not to shy away under her scrutiny. It felt like she was looking right through him. Who was this girl? And why was she looking for him?

With the questions whirling through his head, Shinichi wasn't sure if he was relieved or dismayed when the girl turned back to Ran and said that she would indeed like to see Mouri Kogoro.

TBC