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Caught on Camera

Photograph: Fleeting Moments

"Now this one was definitely all my idea," Kaito declared, still a little annoyed at having had to share credit on the last one.

Shinichi examined the photo for a moment, calculating angles, then frowned at their parents. "I didn't know you guys were there too."

Toichi chuckled. "Kaito isn't the only one who thinks such things shouldn't be missed."

"But then why didn't you guys say anything? You could've at least lent me a jacket or something."

"We didn't want to interrupt."

The detective rolled his eyes, but he might admit privately that he was glad about that, even if it had been cold. He looked down at the picture again.

A ten year old Kaito sat with his arm around something that looked at first glance like a fluffy cocoon. There was a familiar tuft of black hair peeking from the top of what turned out in actuality to be a cocoon of blankets. The two children were rather small in the photo where they sat near the bottom of the frame. Above them, the night sky stretched dark and glittering with starlight…

. . . . . . . . .

"Kai…it's two in the morning…" Shinichi knew he was whining, but he was too sleepy to care about dignity at the moment. All he wanted was to go back to his nice, warm bed and the dream he'd been having about meeting Sherlock Holmes.

"I know. That's why we have to hurry!" his friend explained, not making any sense at all. Even as he spoke, he dragged Shinichi, blanket and all, the rest of the way to the window—at which point he pushed the smaller boy out of it.

If he'd been more awake, Shinichi might have screamed (like any normal person would when being pushed out a window). As it was, all he managed was a confused 'eep' before he landed in something that bounced and swayed violently under his minimal weight. With his arms and legs tangled in the blanket he'd refused to let go of, he could only stare around blearily in the darkness of the night. It felt like a hammock? A moment later the whole thing rocked again as Kaito landed beside him. There was a horrible, fleeting moment when he thought he was going to go tumbling over the edge, but Kaito grabbed the edge of the window sill by his head and steadied them. Then he was tugging on something and they began to rise.

When Kaito had rigged a pulley system outside his bedroom, Shinichi had no idea. But he was definitely dismantling it first thing tomorrow morning. Although he supposed it might be gone by then already since Kaito had obviously set it up for this occasion. The magician was pretty good about hiding his tracks lest his tricks be unraveled too easily.

"Where are you taking me?" he grumbled.

"Not far. Just up to the roof."

"But we're not allowed up there anymore, remember?" he pointed out, fighting back a yawn.

Kaito only laughed. "No one has to know."

The hammock came to a stop and Shinichi found himself being herded onto the roof whether he wanted to go or not.

"Okay, we've got two minutes left," the magician announced after checking his watch.

"Two minutes left for what?"

"You'll have to wait and see."

"…I should've known." Still a little grumpy about the whole situation, Shinichi wrapped himself firmly in the blanket he still had a hold of until he resembled a sulky cocoon. Only his head was visible amidst the fluffy barricade.

"Don't fall asleep," Kaito warned.

"How can I? It's too cold up here."

"Here." Scooting over so that he was right next to his blanket-encased friend, Kaito put an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders. "Better?"

The blankets under his arm shifted in what felt like a shrug. Kaito only grinned and ran a fond hand through the other's soft hair. Slowly, the shoulders under the blankets relaxed from their upset hunch.

As if on cue, the entire sky came to life. Millions of lights blossomed from the darkness, streaming across the sky like the world's largest swarm of fireflies. They didn't streak so much as they drifted majestically in a soundless dance through the fathomless reaches of the heavens.

It was like magic, he thought, leaning against Kaito's side as they continued to stare up at the ethereal display. It was breathtaking and humbling all at once. Looking at that myriad of moving lights, he found himself really thinking about how vast a place the universe really was. Vast and full of wonder.

The meteor shower ended far too quickly, leaving behind it nothing but a dazzling memory and a night sky that seemed just a little too empty in its absence. The two boys continued to sit there in silence, their eyes trained on that vast, velvet blackness.

After a while, the memory of those brilliant, shooting stars faded enough to let the more normal stars shimmer back into their awareness.

It was only then that Kaito turned to his friend with a broad, self-satisfied grin. "So? Aren't you glad I didn't let you sleep through that?"

Shinichi looked down, blushing a little. "Yeah… Thank you."

. . . . . . . . .

…Shinichi smiled faintly, tracing a finger over the motionless lights in the photographed sky. It was a shame that the photo couldn't really capture the real majesty of that moment, but he knew that that was one night he would never forget.

Although he could have done without the cold he'd caught afterward.

TBC