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

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Chapter Rating: T

Collection Summary: In an infinite number of universes, they still always manage to find each other. A KaiShin supernatural and sci-fi collection. (This is the supernatural/science fiction counterpart to the Different Suns fantasy AU collection)

Chapter Summary: For agents Kaito and Shinichi of the Milky Way Agency of superpowered individuals, ghost ships and cursed treasure are nothing new. Or are they?

Heroes and Villains: Blue Moon Island

[Superpower Verse]

Part 3

"I say it's most likely that she had a power," Kaito said later as they sat in a picturesque little seaside coffee shop. "She could have the power to conceal things from various types of detection. That would explain why we were the only people who saw her booth and why you couldn't sense anything from her wares."

Shinichi frowned into his coffee mug. "That might explain why no one else could see her stall, but I'm still not picking up any impressions from this marble." He lifted the hand not holding his mug, which was currently occupied with the marble he'd purchased. "Any concealment she could have placed on it would have faded by now."

It was Kaito's turn to frown. "I guess that does complicate things. But she didn't strike me as the villainous sort."

"Me neither," Shinichi admitted. "It could just be nothing. I don't know why it's making me jumpy."

"Well, maybe it's because you're not used to being unable to read something from an object these days," Kaito reasoned. "For you, encountering an object with no impressions would be like it'd be for me to touch an object and discover it's got no molecules in it. It wouldn't make sense, and that makes it feel like it's got to be part of some plot. But it could also just be that there are more powers out there than anyone's realized yet, and these are just a few more that aren't hurting anyone."

Shinichi sighed and drained half his mug. "You're right. I guess…it's just a little hard for me to not think that something's up when people are obviously hiding things from me."

"Was she though?" Kaito prodded, sounding amused. "She was pretty forthcoming about the pros and cons of her wares—or what she believed their pros and cons were anyway. And I doubt she knew anything about your powers. It was probably just coincidence that whatever she does neutralizes whatever it is you can sense."

"Then why use any concealments at all?"

"To enhance her mystique. Considering her line of business, it's practically a necessity."

"I…guess you're probably right."

"Of course I am. Now I say we stop trying to find things to worry about before we see any evidence that anything is wrong and enjoy ourselves a little."

On their way back to the Blue Moon Rose, Kaito and Shinichi passed what felt like half the island's population lined up outside a small, red-painted building. Curious, they attached themselves to the end of the line and asked the people in front of them if the food was good (assuming that good food was the most likely culprit when it came to getting hordes of civilians to spend hours upon hours in line).

"Oh, Koko's food is pretty good," the woman they'd asked said. "But none of us are here to eat."

"Then what are you here for?" Kaito asked, just as curious as Shinichi. "Is there some kind of party?"

The woman laughed. "No, no. We're all here for our fortunes!"

"…What, you mean like there's a fortune teller working at the restaurant?" Shinichi asked.

"You could say that. Maybe that's it and that's why it works." The woman looked thoughtful for a moment then shrugged and went back to peering impatiently ahead to see if the line was moving any faster. "We're here to order takeout, but Koko's always has fortune cookies in their takeout. That's why we're here."

"I…see," Shinichi said, though he did not see at all.

"Are Koko's fortunes that good?" Kaito asked.

The woman laughed. "Depends on what you mean. The one my sister got told her that her husband was going to leave her."

"That's…not much of a fortune."

The woman waved away his comment. "No, no, I wasn't finished. That was just the first half of the fortune. It went on to say she'd meet someone even better and be happier for the loss of her first husband."

"Okay…"

"The very next day, her husband announced that he wanted a divorce because he was going to marry his secretary, with whom he'd been having an affair. You know, the usual lousy story. My sister was devastated. I took her out for a girls' night to calm down, and we met this guy at the restaurant. He was subbing in for their usual chef. He and my sister hit it off, and he proposed to her the day after that. And you know what? It turns out he owns his own fancy restaurant in France—the kind every foodie would trade an arm or a leg to eat at. So he's rich, famous, passionate about his work, cooks like a dream, and head over heels for my sister. That fortune came true."

"It certainly did," Kaito agreed (beside him, Shinichi was mouthing 'two days' with an incredulous and mildly horrified expression).

"And then some!" their informant exclaimed. "Hers wasn't the only one either. There was this tourist who got a fortune saying he would make a fortune that very day if he went for a walk on the beach. So he did, and he stumbled across this really strange-looking clam of a breed no one recognized washed up on the shore. When he opened it up, he found a huge, perfect pearl inside. When he went to the jeweler to get it appraised, one of the jeweler's clients went ahead and bought it for a small fortune."

"Is everyone here hoping to get their own miracle then?" asked the magician, sweeping his gaze down the length of the meandering line.

The woman considered this for a moment then laughed. "I suppose we are. But I'd say it's just as much for the fun of it. I mean, you gotta admit it's pretty exciting, the idea that you can get a glimpse into your future like that. The more miraculous outcomes just make the whole thing that much more novel. It's like buying a lottery. You don't necessarily expect to win, but it's exciting regardless. And there's always the hope that you'll hit the jackpot."

"What about bad fortunes though?" Shinichi asked.

"I don't think anyone's actually gotten a completely bad fortune," she replied. "But fortune cookie fortunes are like that. None of its ever truly bad. The closest are things like the one my sis got, but there's always a positive spin at the end. Although quite a lot of the fortunes have been pretty unremarkable—if you discount the fact that they all come true anyway."

"Like what?"

"Oh, like fortunes about how you should order the mystery special at a certain restaurant for a splendid surprise or how you're going to hear from an old friend in the next few days or that you shouldn't give up on the problem you're having because it's going to work out soon. For something a level up, there are fortunes like the one my coworker got that told him his life would change for the better if he posted a table for sale on a used furniture site. He happened to have a table he wanted to get rid of, so he did. He's now dating the girl who bought it."

Kaito shook his head, bemused. "Man, I gotta say, now I'm curious."

"I'm not," Shinichi muttered under his breath.

Kaito looked amused. "Would you prefer we eat elsewhere?"

Shinichi shook his head. "We might as well eat here since we've spent time waiting in line. Besides," he added in a much quieter voice. "If all of that was true, this could be a sign that there really is something strange on this island."

Kaito's laid back expression didn't change, but Shinichi could see from the glint in his indigo eyes that the same thought had already occurred to him.

Mysteriously prophetic fortune cookies aside, however, Koko's did indeed have good food, so neither Milky Way agent felt any reason to regret making it their stop for dinner. The fortune cookies themselves arrived at the end of the meal along with their bill.

"So shall we see what our futures hold?" Kaito quipped, picking up a cookie.

Shinichi took a cookie as well and cracked it open. A tiny slip of paper fell out. It looked like any other fortune cookie fortune Shinichi had ever seen—a plain, white strip with a line of type on it.

"The answer lies in a childhood love," he read out loud then blinked and frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Good question," said Kaito. "Is that all it says?"

Shinichi turned the paper over then nodded. "That's it."

"Huh. Well, I guess one way to be accurate is to be so cryptic that your words can be applied to anything," the magician mused.

"I suppose," Shinichi conceded. "But I can't imagine what kinds of questions would have an answer like this."

"Hang onto it then and see if it makes any more sense later. Now let's see what mine says." Kaito cracked open his own cookie and extracted the fortune. He skimmed over it, blinked, then smirked, amusement lighting in his eyes. "I certainly intend to make this one true. I guess there really is something to this place's fortune cookies."

Shinichi eyed that smirk suspiciously. "What do you mean? What does it say?"

Kaito flicked his wrist, and his fortune paper vanished.

Shinichi scowled. "Hey. I told you mine."

"I'll tell you later," the former thief promised.

This did not in any way make Shinichi feel better. If anything, it set off all kinds of alarms.

"What are you planning?" he demanded, blue eyes wary.

His partner put on an innocent expression that would have fooled anyone who didn't know him personally (anyone who did know him had learned long, long ago that that look was something to run away from as fast as your legs could carry you). "Nothing."

Shinichi's expression grew flat. "That's not even a good lie," he grumbled. "You're always planning something."

"Indeed," Kaito agreed, completely unrepentant. "And since you know that, you really shouldn't have to ask."

Shinichi would have liked to press the issue, but he knew a lost cause when he saw one. And besides, Kaito was Kaito. Trying to get him to share something he didn't feel like sharing was like trying to stop the tide. Shinichi would simply have to content himself with the knowledge that Kaito wouldn't keep the note to himself if there was anything remotely dangerous or untoward predicted by its handful of words.

The two of them wandered back towards the Blue Moon Rose along the beach, watching as tourists and locals, families and friends, adults and children alike all walked, ran or sat about on the beach, enjoying the day-warmed sand and the gleam of the incoming surf. It was beautiful and peaceful—something neither of them could claim to see for very long or often in their line of work. So they allowed themselves to simply wander and take it all in, appreciating it and reminding themselves that this was what their work as Milky Way Agents was for.

This laughter and peace and the fun times that brought people together—these were what they, as agents, fought and would continue to fight to protect and to share so that more people could find their own versions of this peace no matter who they were, where they came from, what odd features and abilities might set them apart, or what economic status they had to work with.

The moon was high by the time they were back in their own suite. Shinichi threw the balcony doors open wide to allow the moonlight to cascade in sylvan sheets across the floors of the room and over the furniture and bed. And there, beyond the silver gilt railings of their tiny balcony, lay the vast, silver mirror of the sea lying between a darkening sky.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Kaito murmured, coming up behind him and looping his arms around Shinichi's slim waist to pull the smaller boy back against his chest.

"Yeah," Shinichi agreed, allowing himself to melt just a little into that comforting, protective embrace that never failed to make him feel safe. To make him feel loved.

Kaito smiled down at the relaxing detective, pleased to see him looking so content. Their lives had always been and would probably always be hectic and fraught with challenges, but he knew that, as long as they had moments like these (and Kaito fully intended on making sure that they always did), they would always be all right.

Shinichi started out of the relaxed daze he had drifted into when he felt a calloused hand slipping up under his shirt to rest flat against his bare stomach. He shifted a little to look back at Kaito only to find his lips captured in a hungry kiss. Kaito's other hand came up to cup the side of his face, keeping Shinichi in place as the magician's tongue plunged past his lips to ravish the cavern beyond.

Shinichi moaned into the kiss as a shudder of pleasure raced all the way up his spine. Turning around fully in Kaito's embrace, he slid his arms around the taller man's neck and pulled him in closer. Kaito's hands fell to his hips, and the next thing Shinichi knew, he was sitting on the balcony railing with Kaito between his thighs.

He broke the kiss with a gasp as he wrapped his legs around Kaito's waist (more, at the moment, out of trepidation than passion). "I don't think this was made for sitting on," he warned. "We're going to fall."

"I wouldn't let that happen," Kaito informed him, but he took the hint and scooped Shinichi up into a bridal carry. "Let's take this somewhere more comfortable, shall we?"

The intent he could hear in Kaito's voice made Shinichi shiver in delighted anticipation, and he buried his face in the crook of Kaito's neck to hide his blush. The rhythmic crashing of the waves followed them back into their room. For the detective and his lover, however, the ocean's ceaseless, age old song was soon lost to another—a song of fire and pleasure and the twining of two souls into one.

Overhead, the moon shimmered silver in a sky dusted with stars.

-To Be Continued-