Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

A Curse Marked Fate

29: Star Bright

"It might be kind of dusty," Shinichi warned as he pushed open the door to the Kudo Manor. "Ran and I come over every now and then to clean, but it's been a few weeks."

"Don't worry about it," Kaito assured him. "Dust doesn't bother me. And, if it's really that bad, I know a few good dust-away spells."

"Would you like something to drink?" Shinichi offered on instinct before remembering belatedly that, since no one was currently living in the house, the pantry was pretty bare. "Uh, I'm afraid we probably only have water. Though there might be a few boxes of tea if I can find them…"

Kaito chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I don't need anything at the moment. Unless you're up to giving me a tour?"

"A…tour?"

"If you're up to it," Kaito reiterated. "But if you're tired, we can leave that for some other day."

"Oh, no, I'm not actually that tired. I was thinking of doing some reading.' Shinichi smiled a little hesitantly. "But I can show you around first."

Kaito beamed. "Splendid."

It was an extremely odd tour, seeing as Shinichi really hadn't lived in the house since he'd been eight. After returning to Japan from Hawaii, he had immediately moved in with the Mouris. And since his parents spent most of their time abroad, he had only ever visited on the occasional holiday when his parents came home. Otherwise, he dropped by the house only to keep the place from falling into disrepair. As such, though the house wasn't alien to him, it wasn't familiar either, especially since he and Ran had developed a sort of routine over the years of who cleaned which rooms when they came by. So it was really no surprise when he accidentally opened a door he thought led into a guest room to be met by a broom closet.

After the initial embarrassment, however, Shinichi found himself warming to the task of showing the older boy around. The tour evolved into a joint exploration, and Shinichi rediscovered the house right alongside of Kaito.

As such, they decided to go ahead and brush their teeth when they discovered a bathroom with a stock of brand new toiletries and mentally catalogued the locations of the various guest rooms.

"And this is the library," he announced, running forward with an excited bounce in his step to show off his favorite part of the house to the friend who had been his first. He flipped on the lights and turned to grin at the wide-eyed Sky Mage standing in the library doorway.

The wonder on Kaito's face was gratifying considering Shinichi was usually the one being shown wonders and treasures by his melodramatic friend.

The Kudo Manor library truly was a wonder in its own right. Tall, dark shelves stood from floor to ceiling all around the great, circular chamber, each packed from wall to wall with books. There were reference books on every conceivable subject and historical texts on peoples and places from around the world, numerous versions of science textbooks from different years and even an entire shelf of travel guides. But most of all, there were novels: mystery novels, classics, historical novels, adventure novels, romance novels, fantasy and science fiction novels and novels on the recollections of those who had been Marked and those whose lives had been touched by them.

This was a working man's library, Kaito thought, a workshop where inquisitive minds could explore, wonder, ponder and eventually, hopefully, maybe, understand.

He could see how this place had shaped his dear detective, preparing him for the tasks that Fate had lain upon his slender shoulders from the day he'd turned thirteen.

"So…yeah, that's pretty much everything," Shinichi concluded, scratching his cheek. He found himself at a bit of a loss. Was he supposed to just show Kaito to a guest room now? He still wanted to read though. On the other hand, even he knew that leaving a guest to go read a book was rude.

He cast his memory back to the few times Sonoko and some of Ran's other friends had slept over at the agency. What had they tended to do? Since he had tended to stay in his room during said events, he really didn't know much except that the murmur of their voices had often droned long into the nights. Considering Sonoko's personality, they had probably been gossiping about boys and the purported relationships of various schoolmates and celebrities.

Shinichi tried to picture himself and Kaito sitting around to gossip about their crushes or whatever.

Yeah, the picture was so ludicrous that Shinichi almost laughed out loud. Even had he been inclined to indulge in such inane conversations—which he wasn't, he wouldn't even know where to start. Besides, he found he really didn't want to know if Kaito had a girl he liked. He spared a moment to wonder why then shook the thought away as irrelevant for the time being.

What else had Ran and Sonoko done during sleepovers? There had been some midnight snacks, but he and Kaito had just eaten. What else?

"Did you want to watch a movie?" Shinichi asked a bit uncertainly.

Kaito quirked an eyebrow at him. "I thought you said you had some reading to do?"

"Oh, well, it's not required or anything, so—"

"I don't mind if you want to do some reading," the Sky Mage cut in. "In fact, I'd like to join you, if you don't mind my helping myself to some of your collection here."

"Are you sure?" Shinichi asked. "If you're tired, we could ready one of the guest rooms first…?"

He let the question hang, gazing up at Kaito with the big blue eyes that the Sky Mage had always found captivating.

"I'm not tired yet either," Kaito decided at once.

Once he was sure that his guest didn't need anything, Shinichi pulled a book from the shelves and settled into one of the library's large, plush armchairs. Kaito spent several minutes wandering around the library before picking a book from one of the foreign language shelves. Since Shinichi was reading about detectives, it amused him to pick a book about thieves, and he chose the original French version of one of the Lupin books because it had been a while since he had read anything in French. He wouldn't want to get rusty. After all, language was one of mankind's greatest tools, and good craftsmen honed and maintained their tools.

Book in hand, he wandered back to the armchairs. He picked one that would give him an easy view of the little detective curled up with his book and settled in for a little light reading, though he was watching Shinichi just as much as he was his book, fascinated by the play of emotions across the younger boy's face.

The longer they sat there, the more his attention shifted from the words on the page before him to the boy in the chair opposite. A soft smile played across the Sky Mage's face. He wished he could see Shinichi as he should be.

Suddenly, he remembered the mosaic of photographs he'd spied down in the sitting room. Grinning to himself, he traced a circle on the page he'd been reading and whispered a spell.

His finger left behind it a thin thread of golden light. At the completion of the circle, the thread of light flared bright, and a second, identical circle popped right out of the first to hang just above the page so that Kaito appeared to be seeing double. Kaito flicked his finger, and that second circle lifted up to hang in the air before him. Below it, the circle on the page no longer encircled printed words but an image of Shinichi still reading in his armchair.

With a thought, Kaito sent the hovering, magical lens floating out of the library. The image on the page before him shifted as that lens moved to show him what it saw.

Down the hall and then the stairs, he sent his magical spy glass and right into the sitting room. There, he had to adjust his spell to penetrate the darkness of the room, but soon he was looking at the wall of photos just where he remembered it.

Kudo Yukiko had clearly loved taking pictures of her son. And here they were on the wall, a swirl of vivid colors like tiny windows into other times.

The baby pictures made Kaito grin. His Shin-chan had been a cute baby. Kaito particularly liked the one where the toddler was sitting next to his mother, both with their hands on their chins in a thinking pose.

It seemed Shinichi's entire childhood was documented on that wall. Indigo eyes tracked the blue-eyed child's growth, pausing when he found photos that must have been taken the same summer he and Shinichi had met. Kaito lingered on those images as a wave of nostalgia swept over him. Eventually though, his gaze moved on to a spread of pictures that must have been taken in Hawaii judging from the tropical backdrops. Kaito's favorite here depicted Shinichi festooned with flower wreaths with a pair of brightly colored parrots perched on his shoulders and another lying on its back in his cupped hands. Quite aside from being a fun picture, the smile Shinichi was wearing in it was one of genuine delight. About there, however, the slew of photographs came to an abrupt end.

Frowning, Kaito skimmed his spy lens over the entire mosaic again, but he couldn't find a single picture of Shinichi from after that time in Hawaii. Perhaps he shouldn't be surprised, seeing as Shinichi must have moved in with the Mouris right after he got back, but surely his parents had visited him since then. On the other hand, they didn't really live here these days either, so perhaps it simply hadn't occurred to them to update the mosaic.

Disappointed, Kaito banished the spell by sweeping his hand over the circular image. He supposed he would have to poke around the Mouris' if he wanted to look into his dear detective's more recent years.

The thought reminded him of a question that had been nagging at him ever since he'd taken Shinichi to visit the institute.

"Hey Shin-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you really not going to tell your parents?"

The question had Shinichi looking up from his book. He appeared confused for a moment before understanding dawned, and he looked away. "I know I'll have to tell them sooner or later," he admitted. "But there isn't any reason to rush. I thought I'd give Haibara some time to work on lifting the curse first. After all, if she can solve the problem soon, there's no point making a bigger deal out of it than it has to be."

"And if she can't?"

"Then I'll tell them." He sighed, leaning back into the cushions. "I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. But, if it does, they'll probably have to declare me legally dead or something and make the Conan identity official."

Kaito winced at the words 'declare me dead'. Granted, what Shinichi was proposing was the logical progression of events—and a safer plan than announcing his true identity and, by default, the existence of some form of fountain of youth magic. But Kaito couldn't help but find it disturbing to hear Shinichi speak so casually of throwing away sixteen years of identity. It sounded as though part of the detective had already resigned itself to the possibility. Was it prudence or pessimism?

Kaito chewed over that thought and the sense of unease it inspired in him. There was, he realized, just something about the tone of Shinichi's voice whenever he talked of the future—which was rarely—that didn't sound quite right. Yet try as he might, Kaito had yet to be able to put his finger on what it was.

He thought a touch ruefully that he'd just ask Shinichi straight out if only he knew what the right questions were.

TBC