Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

A Curse Marked Fate

17: An Overdue Reunion

This, Shinichi thought miserably, was not how he had envisioned their reunion. Well, perhaps reunion wasn't the right word. They had already met after all. Though this was technically their first official meeting without false pretenses, so perhaps he could still call it a reunion.

He knew he was stalling and distracting himself from the moment at hand, but he couldn't help it. He had no idea what to expect. Was Kaito angry? Maybe he was, since he'd said he wanted an apology.

Shinichi snuck another glance across the campfire at Kaito, but the magician was as unreadable as ever. He'd always had an excellent Poker Face even when they'd been kids. Now that he was older, he'd clearly perfected the skill. Now the silence hung thick and uncomfortable between them as they both marshaled their own thoughts.

A warm, furry body pressed into Shinichi's side, and he looked down to find that Orange had curled up on the grass next to him. They had decided to spend the night in the Hall of Plenty so that they would be fresh when they headed upstairs to face their next challenge. If the gateway closed in the meantime, they now knew how to open it. So Kaito had lit a smokeless magical fire that burned just above the ground, and they had shared another sandwich. It was about all they could manage to eat after sampling ingredients and desserts all afternoon. But now all the activity had come to an end, and they were left with nothing to do but to think, and Shinichi knew it was time for talking.

The problem was that he wasn't sure where to begin. It would be easier if he knew what Kaito was thinking. If the magician was mad or offended then Shinichi could apologize. If Kaito was annoyed at him for lying about who he was then, well, Shinichi could apologize for that too. And for not telling him when Kaito had said that Shinichi should return his book himself. In his mildly depressed state, he felt it seemed like he had a whole mountain of things he should be apologizing for. And that made starting the conversation even more difficult than it was already turning out to be.

"I just don't get it," Kaito said suddenly, breaking the silence and making Shinichi jump. "Why didn't you speak up when Suzuki-chan was telling all those stories about you? That would have been a good moment for introducing yourself properly. Or you could have just told me when we were in the Sakura Hall of Games. I mean, when you tried to return that book to me, you could have just said you were you. I would have believed you, you know. I already had my suspicions from the moment I saw you at my exams and learned that you were living with the Mouris. So considering you've had all these opportunities to tell me, I can only assume that you weren't planning to tell me the truth."

"It's not like that," Shinichi started to say then stopped, uncertain. He had had good reasons for wanting to keep his identity secret, but explaining would be to tell Kaito exactly what he hadn't wanted the magician to know.

"So you weren't trying to avoid me?" Kaito asked in a half jovial, half mocking disbelief. "I suppose that's one piece of good news. Why didn't you ever come back to the park?"

It took Shinichi a moment to process the sudden change in topic and another moment to decide how he should answer. He wasn't going to lie, but he wasn't entirely sure what the truth was either.

"I don't know," he said finally, looking away. "I…guess maybe some part of me wants the park to be exactly the way it was. If I see it again, I'll see how it's changed, and…well, it wouldn't be the same place anymore."

Kaito nodded thoughtfully as though he understood. Maybe he did.

"You've been back in Japan for a while though," he said.

"A few years," Shinichi agreed.

"I was really worried, you know," Kaito said softly, gazing into the flickering flames. "When you stopped showing up, I thought maybe something bad had happened. I convinced myself that you must have gotten into trouble. But Dad told me I was wrong and that you'd only left the country. I thought I'd never see you again after that."

"I didn't think I'd see you again either," Shinichi admitted, looking down at his hands where he was plucking idly at the grass.

Kaito cocked his head slightly to one side. "Did you want to?"

"Of course I did," Shinichi blurted out then blushed, ducking his head. He felt foolish and self conscious. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything."

Kaito shrugged. "What's done is done. I would like an explanation though."

Shinichi opened his mouth then shut it again, not wanting to lie but also unsure as to how much he should say. "It's…complicated."

Kaito laughed at that. "I could have guessed that much on my own. Does this have anything to do with why you don't seem to have grown at all over these past few years? I mean, you were always a little small for your age, but this is a bit ridiculous." He gestured at Shinichi's diminutive frame. "If anything, I'd even venture to say you've shrunk. Has someone been keeping you locked up under a stasis spell or something? Because if they have, you should tell someone."

Shinichi snorted then laughed. "It's nothing like that. I did grow. I was only a few inches shorter than you are a few weeks ago."

"Oh?" Kaito leaned forward, indigo eyes gleaming with reflected firelight. "So what changed? Met a witch maybe who gave you a box you were told never to open?"

"No. Nothing so fairytale," Shinichi replied dryly before he let out a resigned sigh, rubbing one hand across Orange's warm, furry back. He wondered what he could say that would satisfy Kaito's curiosity without giving too much away. Then he wondered if it would really be so bad to tell Kaito everything. He wanted to. It was an almost desperate yearning to just talk to someone who he was almost sure would understand.

He sat there for a long moment, locked in a struggle with himself, torn between the wish to tell Kaito everything and his innate reluctance to bother other people with his problems. Looking across the leaping flames, he found Kaito watching him intently. He felt heat climbing into his cheeks again, and he wondered with some exasperation why he couldn't seem to stop blushing. He supposed it was the embarrassment of being caught in his pretense. Whatever it was, it gave him the push he needed to decide to take the plunge.

He took a deep breath then let it out slowly, forcing himself to relax.

Then he told Kaito everything. He told him about his time in Hawaii and learning about his curse. He told Kaito bout the curse itself too and how it had brought him to the Mouris and to the path of a detective. He even told the magician about Shiho, now Haibara Ai, and the Choice Foundation and the roles they'd played in bringing him to his current state.

"But all my memories are all intact," he concluded. "So it hasn't really made much difference."

"You mean other than having to live under a fake identity, retake ten years worth of school, and grow up again?" Kaito asked wryly.

Shinichi ducked his head. "Er, well, I'm not saying it hasn't caused problems… It's just that it could have been worse."

The smile fell from Kaito's face as his expression darkened. "True. You could be dead."

Shinichi winced, feeling strangely guilty like it was somehow his fault that everything had turned out this way. But maybe it was, he thought in a moment of melancholy. After all, it seemed to be his fate to constantly be stumbling over crime. It was only a matter of time before one of the criminals he either interrupted or uncovered decided that they didn't like being caught by brat detectives who couldn't even use magic.

His lack of any magical abilities had always been a sticking point with the police and criminals alike. The police felt it put him in danger, and the criminals were offended that their complex schemes, often supported by various spells and magical implements, could be so easily unraveled by a mere boy who couldn't cast even the simplest of spells.

Shinichi liked to think that that just went to show that magic, for all its uses, wasn't strictly necessary to a successful life. The world didn't revolve around the powers you did or did not have. But for all that he truly believed that, he also knew that, no matter what he did, his life would forever be governed by those very same powers. It was one of the great ironies of the universe, he supposed, that it was all the mages in the world who had a choice regarding whether they wanted magic to be a significant part of their lives. Those who bore Curse Marks, though denied the use of everyday spells, inevitably had their lives shaped by magic.

"What are you thinking about?" Kaito asked, drawing Shinichi's thoughts back to their little campfire. The cheerful yellow light caught Shinichi's gaze and drew it in.

With a shake, he drew himself out of his trance.

"It's nothing," he said, earning himself an incredulous look from the magician.

"I see you haven't gotten any better at lying," Kaito noted. "Kind of surprising, considering your situation. You need to work on those essential skills."

Shinichi made a face. "I wouldn't call lying an essential skill."

Kaito chuckled. "It all depends on how you look at things. In your case, though, I wouldn't say there's much to debate."

Shinichi suspected that he couldn't, in good conscience, argue with that. This was not an uplifting realization.

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner," he said.

Kaito made a face at him. "Stop apologizing already. You're making me feel guilty, and let me tell you, that is no easy feat."

Shinichi blinked. "What do you have to feel guilty about?"

"That gloomy look on your face, naturally. Really, I'm not angry."

Shinichi tilted his head to one side, puzzled and a little uncertain. He really wished Kaito was easier to read. "You're not?"

"No. I was just teasing you." He laughed outright at the incredulous stare that the admission elicited from the younger boy. "How about we start this over?"

Hopping to his feet, Kaito circled the fire in two quick strides and dropped to one knee next to the startled Shinichi. There, he produced a pink rose with a flourish and offered it to the now furiously blushing detective.

"It's a pleasure to see you again," he said. "I do hope you enjoyed your trip abroad. We should have lunch sometime and catch up."

Shinichi goggled at him. He looked from the magician to the rose and back again. Then he turned and buried his face in Orange's fur, not sure whether he should be laughing or groaning. He ended up with something in between.

Kaito quirked an eyebrow at Shinichi's shaking shoulders. "Are you laughing at me?"

Pulling himself together with an effort, Shinichi straightened and turned back to Kaito. He managed a shaky smile. "You always manage to make things sound so simple."

Eyes softening, Kaito sat down next to him and handed him the rose. "In my experience, most things are simple. It's people who go out of their way to make them more complicated than they have to be."

Shinichi gazed down at the flower in his hands. It was a lovely specimen of a rose. For a moment, he felt like he was eight again and back on the shore of a very different lake, meeting this strange, pushy but kind young magician for the first time all over again. And his heart ached with a sudden, fierce longing to be able to go back to that summer where the days had been warm and thick with dreams of new beginnings and mysteries and a blossoming friendship that might have been the start of something beautiful.

What would have happened, he wondered, if he hadn't left that summer. He might have spent these last few years meeting up with Kaito every week or so to talk about school and friends and books and games. He would still have become a detective, though he supposed that the cases would have been more dangerous without Kogoro to balance out his ill fortunes. Kaito, on the other hand, was a highly skilled Sky Mage with a mind as twisty and devious as they came. He would have helped Shinichi with his cases, Shinichi was sure of that. They might have gone on to solve cases together and maybe even made a name for themselves as a team.

The thought made him laugh and shake his head. Always a million maybes. None of them mattered. What mattered now was that they were both here, and the truth was now out in the open.

All of it.

"Can I see your Curse Mark?"

Shinichi's head jerked up, nearly hitting Kaito in the chin because the magician had been bending over him.

He leaned away as best he could and twisted his head around to gaze, wide-eyed, into the most serious face he had ever seen the magician wear.

"That mark you drew for me that first day we met," Kaito said quietly. "It was yours, wasn't it?"

Slowly, Shinichi nodded.

"Will you let me see it?"

This was not the first time someone had asked to see his Curse Mark. Classmates were always speculating where the Mark was and what kind of mark it was. Curse Marks were, to most of them, something of a novelty. They enjoyed the mystery and prime gossip material. None of them gave a second thought to the true import of such Marks. Even those who believed he somehow brought death down on those around him said so with the sort of horrified glee that people reserved for freak shows and other such crass entertainments.

He knew though that Kaito didn't see him as a mere curiosity. So, hesitantly, he shifted to sit with his back to Kaito and reached back to push his collar down. He felt Kaito's hand brush his own as the magician leaned over him to study the dark blue birthmark. His breaths were warm against Shinichi's skin. The detective shivered and wondered with mild exasperation if his blush would ever recede.

Kaito traced a fingertip over the Mark, and Shinichi flinched. The magician drew away quickly.

"Sorry," he said.

"It's okay," Shinichi replied just as quickly. Scooting back around to his original sitting position facing the campfire, he straightened his collar. "I've never shown anyone before… Other than my parents, I mean."

Kaito looked surprised. "What about the Mouris?"

Shinichi shook his head. "They know I have it. But they've never really needed to know where it is or what it looks like."

"I imagine it must get some attention at pools and the like though," the magician reasoned.

"It probably would, but I don't go swimming much," Shinichi admitted. His mother had recommended that he grow his hair out long, but Shinichi had felt that it was easier just to avoid places and activities that would expose his Mark in general, especially since he knew that there were plenty of nosy classmates who were itching for a look at his Curse Mark. He always used a cubicle when he had to change for gym, and he had a note excusing him from swimming altogether.

Kaito hummed in understanding, secretly pleased by the discovery that he was the first person Shinichi had chosen to show his Curse Mark to. He liked knowing that he knew something about Shinichi that even the Mouris didn't know.

"I guess your curse is also why you've been so nervous about spending the week in this Vision Book."

Shinichi inclined his head in ascent. "I don't know if it'll start acting up or if it will operate according to the time outside. Though after that near fall we had, I suspect it's the former. So really, if there's like an emergency exit spell or something, I think we should use it."

"Don't be ridiculous. Our hiccup over the cliffs was my fault for being careless. And these Vision Books are packed full of safety spells. There's no reason to leave early."

"So there is a way then," Shinichi concluded. "To leave early, I mean."

Kaito sighed. He hadn't meant to let that slip. "Fine. If you really must know, there is an emergency exit, but that means it's for emergencies only. So no, I am not going to use it. You're stuck with me for another five days and that's that." He smirked and slung an arm over Shinichi's shoulders. "You still owe me for lying about your identity after all."

"I thought you said you weren't mad."

"I'm not. Doesn't mean you don't owe me. You can start by forgetting about all that work you've piled up for yourself back home and focusing on having fun for the rest of this quest. This is the first real vacation I've had since my exam, and you've obviously been stressed, so that really is the least you can do for the both of us."

"I can try," Shinichi said a little dubiously. "If that's the start, what's the rest?"

"How about you agree to answer every question I ask you between now and when we get out of this Vision Book?"

"Within reason," Shinichi said.

"That's too vague," Kaito argued. "How about I only ask you questions about things that happened. You know, facts and events. Things your other friends would know. I won't ask you personal questions like who you have a crush on or something. Sound fair?"

Shinichi considered the proposition then nodded slowly.

Kaito beamed. "Great Then you can start by telling me what happened at Harumina Girls High School. Suzuki-chan never did get around to finishing that story."

Shinichi wondered if it was too late to rescind his agreement.

TBC

A.N: Again, for now, I'll be alternating between updating this and The Show Goes On. Thanks for reading, and take care!