A.N: This one's a little short, but hopefully fun ^^

V.N: I really like this one, mostly because I can't seem to get the third photo out of my head :)

Disclaimer: We don't own DCMK

Timeline Explanation: We were asked when the first photo was from. For that one, think late high school. We'll try to make it clearer for future ones ^^

Caught on Camera

Photograph: Toddler Toys

Shinichi wasn't sure if he wanted to turn to the next page really quickly so as to make the embarrassing first page disappear or stay with the evil that he knew for fear of what else might come. The rest of the apartment's occupants however were all for moving forward so Kaito flipped the page. He was mildly surprised to find that the second page of the album was occupied by two photographs of a pair of toddlers.

The first showed the couch in the Kudo Manor living room. A much, much younger Kaito was sitting on one end, dark brown hair wild as ever. He was peering towards the other end of the couch where a slightly smaller shape was curled up clutching a stuffed dove slightly bigger than he was with a pacifier in his mouth.

The second photo showed the two toddlers now both on the same end of the couch. Only now the stuffed dove was lying on the floor and its owner was wearing a wide-eyed expression. His pacifier was gone too, now in the clutches of his fellow toddler.

"Oh, I remember that," Chikage chuckled…

. . . . . . . . .

Kaito had only recently discovered the joys of crawling. It was a tiring activity to keep up for long periods, but he'd been born with an insatiable curiosity that demanded he master mobility quickly.

Right now he was wondering what that thing curled up on the other end of the couch was. It was blue and white and bits of it looked kind of fluffy. Making up his mind to go investigate, the messy-haired boy began to make his way across the soft, unstable landscape of couch cushions. As he got closer the fluffy white bits revealed themselves to be bits of a stuffed animal. The blue bits on the other hand belonged to a person.

Interest piqued, he crawled closer to investigate.

Looking up from the book of Italian recipes she'd been perusing, Chikage smiled at the sight of the children and picked up the camera on the table before her.

As she watched, little Kaito finally made it to the other toddler's side and was now examining Shinichi with the curiosity he seemed to have for everything. Suddenly he reached out with one hand and grabbed the pacifier, yanking it out of its owner's mouth.

Little Shinichi's eyes popped open as he dropped his stuffed animal in surprise. Glancing around in an attempt to figure out what had happened, his gaze landed on Kaito who had sat down and put the stolen pacifier in his own mouth. Big, blue eyes began to water moments before little Shinichi burst into tears.

Chikage got up quickly and hurried to the children's couch.

"There, there," she said soothingly, picking the stuffed dove up off of the floor and carefully tucking it back into the bawling child's arms. Little Shinichi grabbed the fluffy toy and clung to it, but the volume of his cries didn't really subside.

"Kaito, look what you did," she sighed, trying in vain to quiet the distraught child.

Little Kaito glanced up at his mother then turned to take note of the wailing Shinichi. He paused and contemplated the situation for several moments before starting to crawl back over. A small hand reached out and curled into soft, black hair. Shinichi's wails diminished temporarily in favor of blinking up at the other boy in confusion, at which point Kaito promptly pulled the pacifier out of his own mouth and stuck it back in Shinichi's. The sniffling stopped. Satisfied by this outcome, Kaito glanced back at his own spot all the way on the other end of the couch. Deciding that he had exhausted his crawl quota for the hour, he settled down on the cushions next to Shinichi and wrapped his arms around the dove as well. It was certainly big enough to share.

. . . . . . . . .

"…I'd never seen Shinichi cry that loudly before," she recalled then smiled, her gaze drifting to the third photo in the set where the two toddlers were both holding the giant, stuffed dove.

"Don't you still have that old stuffed animal?" Yukiko asked, turning to her son who sank a little lower in his seat. "I remember seeing it on top of the dresser in your room."

"It's on top of the dresser in our room now," Kaito supplied.

"Can we please talk about something else now?" Shinichi groaned, trying in vain to hide his blush (which was starting to feel like it would never go away).

TBC

A.N: This is to everyone who still has a stuffed animal from when they were little ^^ Well, I have a final exam to take real soon, so wish me luck! And again, suggestions are welcome/helpful.