Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Rating: M

To Light a Hearth

[Nature of Love series]

Part 9

A light snow began to fall outside as Kaito and Shinichi made their gingerbread men. Shinichi was mystified to find that, even though they were using the same standard gingerbread man cookie cutters provided by the bed and breakfast, all of Kaito's gingerbread men were coming out with top hats. It was kind of fun too though, so he decided not to comment.

The extra dough was made into gingerbread doves that were so cute that Shinichi wasn't sure he would be able to eat them.

With the cookies laid out on their trays, ready to be placed in the oven, Shinichi moved to check if the ovens had preheated properly. Assured that they had, he began slotting trays into the oven.

Since this was a one-man job, Kaito disappeared off somewhere, saying something about putting up a few more decorations and surprises. Shinichi barely listened as he was setting the timer on the oven.

He was not going to have their hard work wasted because they missed the timer telling them that it was time to take the cookies out of the oven.

It was only once he was satisfied that everything was set and in order that he turned around and realized that his alpha had pulled a vanishing act.

Curious and a little wary, he washed his hands, dried them on the kitchen towel, and made his way out of the dining room and back into the common room where the tree stood majestic beside the equally grand rock fireplace—

Which now had a fire leaping cheerfully in its depths and a nest of blankets and pillows arranged on the floor before it.

Shinichi had only a split second to take in the sight before he was grabbed and pulled flush against a hard muscular chest as a hungry mouth crashed down upon his own. The kiss was rough and deep and full of fire.

Strong hands found their way to his backside and squeezed as Kaito rolled their hips together.

Shinichi gasped into the kiss as his knees gave out, and he ended up clinging to his mate for support.

Kaito pulled away just far enough to grin down at him. "I do believe I've discovered my new favorite Christmas tradition."

Still dazed and aroused by the kiss, all Shinichi could manage was an incoherent, "Wha…?"

"Mistletoe," Kaito explained cheerfully, directing Shinichi's gaze upward to where a sprig of said plant hung wrapped in sparkly red ribbon.

"Oh." Shinichi blinked then snorted. "I should have known."

Kaito laughed and tilted his head down to brush his lips over the omega's. "Now where were we?" he murmured.

It was Shinichi who closed the distance this time, eager for more.

Of course that was when the kitchen timer went off.

Shinichi let out an involuntary groan of frustration, and Kaito laughed.

"We better go or the cookies will burn," Shinichi grumbled.

Kaito dropped a kiss on the tip of his nose. "No need to be disappointed. I promise we'll pick up where we left off later."

Shinichi blushed. "I'm not disappointed," he lied vehemently. "Do you want to decorate the cookies or just eat them as is?"

"Half and half," the magician decided.

-0-

Later, they sat cuddled together on the nest of blankets and pillows in front of the fireplace, having finished a scrumptious dinner and topped it off by toasting marshmallows in the fireplace. They had been very careful so as not to leave sticky marshmallow goop on any of the surfaces, and it had been a wonderful and peaceful hour of Christmas splendor, surrounded by lights and warmth and the laughter of two people who had seen the worst and the best of the world but who had come out disheveled but victorious, ready to face the future than they had chosen for themselves.

"You know," Shinichi murmured to Kaito as he finished off another toasted marshmallow sandwich and leaned his head against his alpha's shoulder. "Before I met you, I really didn't see much point in bonding and romantic relationships in general. It often seemed like just one more thing for people to argue about and kill each other over."

"And now?"

"Well…now I think I'm starting to understand why people like Sonoko were always out hunting for the perfect mate. It's this…I'm not sure how to put it." He waved a hand vaguely to indicate the both of them. "This sense of trust. Of understanding. This knowledge that you're part of something more than just yourself. I think that, deep down, everyone wishes that they had someone they could just bare their souls to. If not a mate then a friend, relative or colleague. It's the need—the hope—that someone out there might actually understand you and still like you afterward. Because it's when you find that person that you know you'll never be alone again."

"Okay. So you now see some value in that relationship-hunting that Suzuki-chan forced on you."

Shinichi snorted then sighed. "Yeah. I guess I do. But only because it's how I met you."

That made Kaito smile.

"So I redefined your understanding of mating," he mused. "And you redefined my understanding of detectives. If it weren't for you, I'd still think detectives were all boring, stuck up twits."

Shinichi snorted. "Right."

"I'm serious." Kaito's grin faded. "Jokes aside, I really do have to thank you. You restored my faith in justice," he said quietly, eyes still and solemn pools of darkness like the depths of a moonless night. "You showed me that there are people out there who are willing to put everything they have into searching for the hard truth even when they could have just gone through the motions and settled for the convenient explanation instead. I needed that."

"Kaito…"

"I…sort of lost faith in law enforcement and all of that after I found out about Dad's murder. I mean, the police wrote it off as an accident—and I believed them for all those years. I just… What I mean to say is, I think—I know-that deep down, part of me blamed them for that. For not realizing. For just—letting it go. That part of me started to see all the flaws in the legal system. Stopped believing they could get things done. The things that mattered, I mean."

"But your notices, the police…"

Kaito held up a hand to stall Shinichi's words. "I know. I didn't say I wanted to think all that. I kept telling myself I shouldn't because everyone makes mistakes. I had my doubts about the police and their capabilities, but I still hoped they would pull their act together eventually and come through because I wanted—needed—them to come through."

Because if you thought you couldn't rely on the law then you were saying you had to rely on yourself, but when you relied on yourself to stop killers, you would inevitably have to cross that line. And he'd known from the beginning that he didn't want to cross that line because he refused to become the thing he hated.

"So I kept calling the police and throwing them at my adversaries and hoping. Or maybe I was waiting to see when they'd finally get the damned job done." He let his breath out in a pensive sigh. "I…guess I wanted them to make up for their mistakes. I felt they owed it to me, to Dad, to make things right."

They sat in silence for a long moment, just watching the flames dance in the hearth, all golden and full of motion and light and the hope for new beginnings.

Making up his mind to do something about the somewhat somber mood, Shinichi turned to slip his arms up around Kaito's neck and pull the thief into a kiss. Though surprised, Kaito was far from displeased, and he was quick to respond. Wrapping his arms around Shinichi's waist, he pulled the detective onto his lap and deepened the kiss.

Shinichi's scent filled his senses, like honey and fire and the whispers of spring and summer nights all rolled into one. Desire, coursed through his veins, spiking sharply as his omega moaned into the kiss.

Never breaking the kiss, he pushed Shinichi onto his back atop the nest of pillows and comforters they had arranged before the hearth. His skillful hands made short work of divesting them of their clothes. Though how he managed to do this while lip-locked, Shinichi couldn't even begin to guess (nor, at the moment, did he care).

Then those talented hands were roaming Shinichi's body. They knew all the detective's most sensitive spots and just how to use them to make him writhe.

The heat inside Shinichi spread in tingling waves all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes, and he moaned.

When Kaito's lips touched his throat, Shinichi immediately tilted his head back to allow his alpha access, submitting himself to his magician's whims. The gesture sent yet another spike of arousal pulsing through Kaito's veins, and he latched onto that pale neck, nipping and sucking until he'd left a prominent mark.

Shinichi's fingers tangled in his hair, encouraging. Kaito shifted lower, finding a new spot then another and another to nibble and tease.

Shinichi squirmed a little under him, letting out stifled giggles and breathy little gasps that had Kaito's inner alpha licking its lips.

Kaito left another hickey on his omega's hip then drew back slightly, indigo eyes gleaming with a predatory light.

Calloused hands stroked Shinichi's bare inner thighs, spreading them wide, exposing him fully to the alpha's hungry gaze. The intensity of Kaito's eyes as they gazed down at him, drinking him in, made Shinichi blush and try instinctively to bring his legs together, but Kaito was having none of that.

Gripping the undersides of Shinichi's knees, Kaito pushed Shinichi's legs up and farther apart, keeping them spread wide as he ducked to trail his tongue up the length of the omega's obvious arousal. Shinichi gasped and jerked under him, but Kaito's grip on him was like iron. It held him in place as the magician's skillful tongue and devious mouth teased and teased until Shinichi was all but sobbing with need.

Then Kaito had shifted lower, and a hot, wet tongue was pressing into his entrance.

Shinichi's hands flew up to cover a scream as he came. Stars danced across his vision. But the itch inside him only grew stronger.

Still panting for breath, he squirmed in Kaito's grip. A whimper escaped his lips. The whimper became a moan of delight when Kaito pushed three fingers into him.

Kaito smirked when Shinichi immediately shifted his hips to try and take his fingers in deeper. The alpha's arousal throbbed in response to his lover's eagerness, more than ready to answer the wanton invitation. Despite his own rapidly growing impatience, Kaito spent a few moments more making sure that his omega was properly stretched. Fortunately, a combination of Shinichi's heat and their extremely active lovemaking of the past few days meant that it didn't take long to ensure that Shinichi was ready for him.

Removing his fingers, Kaito shifted to press the tip of his erect cock against Shinichi's waiting entrance. There, he paused.

"Shin-chan. Look at me," he ordered.

Hazy blue eyes blinked open. Kaito caught their gaze and held it as he pushed himself inside.

Shinichi's eyes widened slightly as his alpha's cock breeched the ring of muscle guarding his entrance. His breath hitched, and a soft blush dusted across his cheeks as he lay there transfixed by Kaito's gaze. He felt strangely paralyzed. Held captive by that burning stare, he could only lie there and feel as Kaito pried him open and sank into him.

Kaito relished the breathless little cries that Shinichi couldn't hold back as Kaito slid deeper and deeper into him. He savored the feel of his detective's hot inner walls stretching and sliding around him, welcoming him in, eager for him to touch those places inside the omega that were his and his alone.

Kaito didn't stop until he was fully sheathed inside his detective's tight, velvet heat. Once there, however, he paused, both to give Shinichi time to adjust to his size and to give himself a moment to savor the pleasure of having Shinichi wrapped so intimately around him. Feeling Shinichi beginning to squirm under him, Kaito gave his hips an experimental roll and grinned when Shinichi tightened convulsively around him. He did it again, and Shinichi mewled.

The sound went straight to Kaito's cock. His next thrust had Shinichi arching off the blankets.

Realizing that Shinichi was still trying to muffle his cries, Kaito leaned over and took hold of the detective's wrists, pinning them to either side of his head.

"I want to hear you scream for me," he growled into Shinichi's ear and smirked when he felt Shinichi spasm around him at his words.

Kaito pulled almost all the way out of his lover then drove himself all the way into Shinichi again hard and fast. The detective tossed his head back with a cry and was rewarded with another deep thrust. He moaned loudly, clenching around the intrusion. Kaito made a low, almost guttural noise in the back of his throat in response as his eyes flashed, and his hands found their way down to Shinichi's hips, holding him captive as Kaito began pounding into him.

Again and again, the thief thrust deep into Shinichi in a rough, hard rhythm that had the detective writhing in helpless pleasure cries of ecstasy spilled unchecked from his lips.

Blunt fingernails scrabbled desperately at Kaito's back as Shinichi rode his alpha's thrusts with an increasingly frantic fervor that his lover couldn't help but respond to. And in the hearth beside them, the flames crackled and danced as though in celebration of their passion. Their honeyed glow slid over heated skin and threaded strands of gold through the lovers' dark hair.

Then Shinichi's fingernails were digging hard into Kaito's shoulder blades as the detective's back arched. He came hard, and his inner muscles clamped down around his alpha's hot, hard length.

Kaito managed two more deep thrusts before he followed suit. Shinichi gasped as he felt Kaito's hot essence spurting inside him. His hips twitched and rocked in instinctive response, eager for every drop of his alpha's seed.

Kaito muffled a groan of his own against the side of Shinichi's neck.

They remained where they were for a long, languid moment as they both caught their breaths. It was Shinichi who eventually broke the silence.

"We should just sleep here tonight," he murmured a little dreamily, running his fingers through his lover's messy hair.

"Sounds good," Kaito murmured back as he shifted to brush a chaste kiss across Shinichi's kiss-swollen lips. Then he drew back slightly so he could catch the omega detective's eyes and smirked. "Although I feel I should warn you that I don't plan on letting you sleep anytime soon."

-To Be Continued-

Notes: Well, just one chapter to go. I wish you all a happy new year!