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

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Chapter Rating: T

Warning: None

Collection Summary: No matter where or what they are, their lives are always entwined. KaiShin stories in fantasy settings.

Chapter Summary: A snippet of life at Clover Castle during which everyone is busy, but no one is too busy for some gossip and teasing.

A Castle Moment

[Castle Verse]

The library at Clover Castle was, on most days, one of Shinichi's favorite places to be. He'd loved books even as a child, preferring to read while other children just wanted to horse around. The village he had grown up in had been small though—too small to have its own library. So the library here at the castle had been the first place of its kind that Shinichi had ever seen, and it would hold a special place in his heart just for that. But though that was important to him, it and the many, many books from all around the world on every topic imaginable were not the only reasons Shinichi loved this library.

To put it simply, the library was also his refuge from the hustle and bustle of castle life. Not only was it a space in which everyone was typically expected to keep quiet and in which naturally quiet activities took place, it was also one of the few places that were spared Kaito's more elaborate pranks (because even the crazy magician knew that valuable books needed to be treated with respect. It probably helped that some of those books were magical in more than just their contents and might very well explode if disturbed unduely). In other words, the castle library was the one place that Shinichi could count on for some peace and quiet when the general chaos of Clover Castle got to be a bit much.

Unfortunately, this was no longer the case.

Shinichi and Kaito had recently, after much searching and some scheming, gotten their hands on copies of some of the books that Kuroba Toichi's murderers had been interested in. Their copies, however, were temporary, magical reproductions that would retain their features for only two weeks. This meant that they had to get the entirety of each book copied out again via more mundane methods before that time ran out and the copies reverted to nondescript blocks of wood.

To this end, the entirety of the Clover Castle staff had been organized into shifts who took turns copying pages in the castle library. There were, for better or worse, thousands of pages of material. So even with everyone from Kaito all the way down to the new gardener's assistant who'd only started work at the castle last month working at it, the process was taking quite some time.

And so Shinichi's quiet sanctuary had turned into a twenty-four hour workshop in which at least five people were hard at work at any given time. He wouldn't have minded this so much if everyone had been working quietly, but it seemed that more than half the staff had to converse while they worked, and most of that conversation tended to revolve around castle gossip. This naturally meant that his usually quiet library became rather less quiet. Even that would have been tolerable if one of the castle staff's favorite topics of gossip hadn't been his and Kaito's relationship, which resulted in moments like these.

"I was wondering, why is one of these a mystery novel?" asked the new gardener's assistant as he set aside the page he had just finished copying so that the ink could dry and moved to retrieve a fresh piece of parchment. "It doesn't really fit with the others. IS there some kind of secret magical code in it or something?"

Hattori Heiji, the chef's assistant who was not actually on the work roster but who had shown up in the library anyway on his break, snickered loudly. "Oh that's simple. It's here for the same reason you always include tulips when it's your turn to put fresh flowers in the vases downstairs."

The younger boy's ears turned red, but he looked confused. "I don't get it."

Heiji looked at him askance. "Really?" His tone made it clear that he thought the new guy was being dense.

Toyama Kazuha, who was seated next to him, took a moment from her copying to drive an elbow into his side, making him yelp. "What he means, Jirou," she said brightly to the gardener's assistant, "is that you always include tulips because you know Sakura likes them and she does a lot of work in the rooms where we have those floral displays—she's noticed, by the way, and she appreciates it. Master Kaito is basically doing the same thing for the person he likes."

"O—oh." Jirou blushed at the realization that his crush had been noticed then frowned in sudden puzzlement. "I didn't know that the master had a lady friend." The words had no sooner left his mouth then he brightened abruptly. "Oh wait, it's her, isn't it? The girl in that picture on the wall in his study. She was very pretty."

Haibara Ai, the young girl Kaito and Shinichi had rescued not long ago from the city of Ebon, smirked. "The master does like pretty things." She shot Shinichi a sidelong glance which Shinichi studiously ignored.

"I've never seen her at the castle though," Jirou went on, oblivious to their exchange. Where does she live?"

Shinichi ducked his head to hide his growing blush. He didn't have to look to know that everyone but Jirou was now trading amused looks.

"Actually, the girl in that picture lives right here at the castle," Heiji gleefuly informed the gardener's assistant.

"That can't be right," the boy objected immediately. "I'd have noticed."

"Perhaps you have not been looking in the right places," Hakuba drawled. "People rarely sit for portraits in their working day clothes."

"Oh, right," the boy said, realization dawning. "So maybe I just haven't recognize her because I haven't seen her dressed that way at the castle. That makes sense. Actually, now that I think of it, I've never seen a dress like that before at all."

"It was a traditional Ebon dress of the type worn by young women during the ceremony of engagement during which their betrothals are announced," Ai supplied (making Shinichi blanch. This was news to him). "A girl who is engaged will also often choose to wear this style of dress to visit the city's shrines on festival days in the hopes that the heavens will bless her marriage with happiness and good fortune."

"Oh." Jirou's eyes grew wide. "Does that mean the girl in the picture and Master Kaito are engaged?"

Heiji guffawed (most inappropriately, in Shinichi's opinion). "I'd say they're well past the engagement period."

He shot Shinichi a leering look that had the castle librarian turning ten shades of red.

"Everyone should probably start finding a good place to pause," Shinichi announced hastily, cutting off any further discussion. "It's almost time for lunch."

"Oh that's good. Any more and I think my hand was going to cramp," Kazuha said with a heartfelt sigh of relief.

The comment earned her an incredulous look from Heiji. "What, from just writing? That's not even hard work."

Kazuha looked annoyed. "Copying pages upon pages of text is too hard work. And don't you dare claim otherwise. You didn't even qualify to help."

"I was exempt so I could do more important stuff," Heiji huffed.

"No you weren't," Hakuba said dryly. "You were exempt from copying duty because no one in this entire castle can read your chicken scratch."

Heiji glowered. "Oi, keep insulting me and I won't make ya any lunch."

"How very professional of you," the blonde replied sarcastically.

The two immediately fell to bickering, and, for once, Shinichi blessed the fact that the two seemed incapable of staying off of each other's nerves for more than five minutes at a time. If they were sniping at each other, they weren't talking about him. And the allure of lunch had everyone else busy finishing their work for the session and packing up to leave.

As they were leaving, however, he overheard the gardener's assistant mentioning to Ai, "You said Ebon, right? That really isolated place in the mountains?"

"I did."

"So that must be where that picture was drawn."

"That would be logical, yes."

"The thing is, I did hear that Master Kaito went on an expedition there, but I was told that the only person who went with him was Shinichi."

"And?"

"Well, shouldn't his lady friend have gone with them too?"

"What do you think?"

There was a pause. Then a sudden "oh" of surprise followed by an even louder "Oh!" of understanding.

Shinichi buried his face in his hands and groaned.

Kaito found him like that a few minutes later when he came to collect Shinichi so that they could head down to lunch together.

"What's the matter?" he asked, gazing with mild concern at the way his beloved was slumped over his desk with his face hidden in his arms.

Shinichi turned his head just far enough so that he could glare at Kaito with one eye. "Did you have to hang that picture in your study?"

Kaito didn't have to ask which picture he meant.

"I hung it in the study because you refused to let me hang it in the entrance hall," the magician replied.

"Why did you have to put it up at all?"

"Because it's a beautiful picture, and I like it," Kaito said in a matter-of-fact tone as though he thought the answer should be obvious. Then he offered Shinichi one of his soft, truly genuine smiles—the ones that always made Shinichi feel warm and tingly inside. "Looking at it makes me happy."

The comment, simple and honest, made Shinichi blush in mixed embarrassment and happiness. Maybe he didn't mind that Kaito had hung that picture up in his study after all.

He'd still say no to having it put up in the entrance hall.

-End of Chapter-